Automotive Update 9/30/08

The Associated Press reports that Bill Heard, the largest volume Chevy dealer in the United States, was closing its doors. Some of the dealership locations will reopen under new ownership while others are expected to shutter their lots for good. The Heard chain consisted of 13 dealerships at the time of the announcement. GM has already reduced its total dealership count by over 200 so far in 2008 with a goal of 400 by the end of the year.

Elsewhere in the GM world, the automaker may have approval for its Volt to become the first vehicle produced with a 100-mpg rating, opening the flood gates for hyper-fuel-efficient hybrids. Volkswagen's clean diesel Jetta TDI is currently leading the race at 58.82 mpg.

CSM Worldwide anticipates the slump in truck sales will continue through the year 2010 after bottoming out at 1.7 million units according to a review of the findings by Automotive News.

AutoTrader.com reports that a quarter of automotive dealers are getting into the viral video market, using online video to attract attention and sales leads.

The U.S. government is granting a $25 billion loan to the auto industry, but the question of timing remains. Some estimates place the arrival of those funds at 18 months in the future, a point which may not be satisfactory for those trying to help the automakers more rapidly. The stipulations on the loan and other details are still being sorted out, but the loan may be used to advance the hybridization of America's automobile fleet. Read more here.

Finally, for those interested, Automotive News will be hosting a free Webinar on October 15, 2008, at noon Eastern with the title "Accountable Advertising on the Internet." The registration page can be found here.

Real Estate - Industry News Briefs

Goomzee, real estate marketing and technology company, recently announced the launch of a new mobile too that allows prospective home buyers the opportunity to access virtual tools through the use of their mobile SMS (text message) service. The platform allows interested individuals the opportunity to request an eight-photo tour by simply texting a code to the system. Goomze is currently running a demo to illustrate the features of the new product. To see the demo, text 10056 to 44133. Source: Inman News

The Associate Press Reported home prices fell by the sharpest rate ever in the month of July, according to Standard & Poor's housing index, released today. Home prices in July, over the July 2007 figure, fell 16.3 percent. Index creators do not expect to see a bottom to the declines, despite information illustrating a slowing decline rate over the last three months.

Help Your Readers with Their New Year's Resolutions

Here are a few of the holidays and events happening December 28th - January 4, 2009:

• Islamic New Year (29)
• New Year's Eve (31)
• Make Up Your Mind Day (31)
• Diet Resolution Week (1-7)
• New Year's Day (1)
• Trivia Day (4)
• World Hypnotism Day (4)

Around the New Year, many people are making commitments to themselves to try to improve. Here are a few markets to look into around this time of optimism and self-reflection:

1. Fitness Clubs

They definitely will want in on the business from the many "New Year's Dieters." Those who have resolved to lose some weight or shape up will be looking for a gym to join. Creating a "Family Fitness" Business Building page might be a great way to help your readers find gyms, sports clubs, trainers, dietitians and physical fitness classes.

2. Smoking Cessation

Counselors and therapists can help with mental health issues such as addiction. Most smokers claim they'd like to quit but have been unsuccessful in trying. A directory full of mental health professionals, and even physicians might be of interest to those who are finally ready to make the commitment.

3. Adult Education

"I'd like to learn Spanish." "I'd like to learn to cook." "I'd like to learn tennis." "I'd like to learn about finances." For all of those New Year's Resolution-Makers who want to expand their horizons, an adult education directory might be of great help. Community centers, colleges, private businesses and even high schools often offer classes for adults in various areas. With a simple, accessible directory will help people find the classes they're looking for, and maybe a few more interesting ones.

More Reasons to Subscribe!

Our blog has been providing valuable business-building dates for months. As we transition our print product, you'll be noticing this space will hold more of the content that we gather for newspaper advertising executives in order to provide that information in a more timely fashion. Specifically, in addition to business-building dates, news that would normally be contained in features like Bits&Bytes, Brand News, Ignition, Industry Notes, NameDropping and more will be featured in this space. For those familiar with the print product's offerings, here is a rough schedule of what to look for each week:

Monday - Business-building dates (Call Center/Creative Selling), Automotive news (Brand News, Ignition)
Tuesday - Real estate updates (Industry Notes, More News&Views)
Wednesday - Recruitment (WaterCooler)
Thursday - Online (Bits&Bytes)
Friday - NameDropping

Obviously, as other news breaks, we'll do our best to stay on top of that, regardless of the day. Watch for vertical-specific keywords to stay on top of trends in both advertising and the economy in order to more effectively work with advertisers to plan advertising campaigns. We hope you'll enjoy the increased "free" content, and please let us know if you have any suggestions for improvement either on the blog or the print product.

Thanks,

The MacDonald Editorial Team

Online - Bits&Bytes

Yahoo announced the launch of a new digital ad platform it is calling APT. APT is a web-based platform that allows for the selling of ad inventory across a wide range of Yahoo's publishers, advertisers, ad networks and agencies all in a single interface, according to Wired.com. The new platform could help the newspaper industry by enabling publishers to reach more users in more targeted audiences, enabling them to drive more revenue through the use of specific niche advertising. San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, a subsidiary of Media News Group, is a partner in the launch and plans to be fully on the program by Thursday.

Editor&Publisher reported the Baltimore Sun has teamed up with a local non-tribune television station, forming a partnership in which the station and the newspaper will share story leads, video and editorial content. The television station will provide news video to Baltimoresun.com and will also be responsible for selling advertising inventory for videos that run on the newspaper's Web site.

According to Wired.com, the average U.S. mobile user is more likely to send SMS text messages than to make mobile telephone calls. For the second consecutive quarter, American mobile patrons sent more text messages than they made phone calls, with the number of text messages sent up approximately 450% from two years ago. Teens are still the heaviest users of SMS service, averaging approximately five times the overall average for text messages sent.

Editor&Publisher announced yesterday the 30 top newspaper Web sites in terms of time spent on the site, per person in August 2008. The figures were compiled by Nielsen Online. The top 30 are as follows, ranked in order of the site's unique visitors (time per person indicated in hh:mm:ss):

• NYTimes.com (0:29:48)
• washingtonpost.com (0:10:48)
• USATODAY.com (0:16:20)
• LA Times (0:06:48)
• Wall Street Journal Online (0:13:57)
• Chicago Tribune (0:07:33)
• Daily News Online Edition (0:05:16)
• Boston.com (0:09:09)
• SFGate.com/San Francisco Chronicle (0:16:37)
• Politico (0:10:29)
• New York Post (0:14:50)
• Chicago Sun-Times (0:08:22)
• The Houston Chronicle (0:27:08)
• International Herald Tribune (0:03:04)
• DallasNews.com - The Dallas Morning News (0:04:04)
• Newsday (0:04:48)
• Star Tribune (0:24:47)
• Baltimore Sun (0:06:37)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution (0:14:08)
• Philly.com (0:03:02)
• The Seattle Times (0:07:26)
• Azcentral.com (0:12:40)
• Detroit Free Press (0:13:33)
• Village Voice Media (0:04:12)
• KansasCity.com (0:08:44)
• Ottaway Newspapers (0:04:01)
• NJ.com (0:07:51)
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer (0:11:55)
• Sun-Sentinel (0:06:25)
• Orlando Sentinel (0:07:59)

Real Estate - Industry News Briefs

Late last week Zillow.com launched a targeted advertising platform which appears directly on its homepage. The platform features sponsored graphical listing ads based on a user's most recent search criteria, including zip code, neighborhood, size and price. Participants in this targeted advertising platform may include both national and regional brokerages giving both the opportunity to reach more than eight million Zillow.com visitors each month. Century 21 is the first national brokerage to participate in the program.

Obeo, a provider of virtual home tours for agents and builders, has engaged in a partnership with Xpressdocs, a producer of marketing materials, to launch a print and marketing center for Obeo patrons. The Obeo Marketing Center will allow customers to customize and print flyers, business cards and other marketing materials. Agents have have the option to save multiple mailing lists, customize Obeo templates and view instant proofs over the internet.

Automotive - Green and Selling Machines

NADA honors 20 dealers for energy initiatives

Of those dealers taking the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Energy Star Challenge, 20 were honored in September by the national organization. Dealers each reduced electricity or natural gas by 10% or more since the beginning of 2007. The NADA and United States Environmental Protection Agency estimate that if all dealerships reduced energy consumption 10%, they would save $200 million while cutting about one million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Dealers honored for their efforts were ranked at three levels. Gold dealers cut energy by 30% or more, silver dealers by 20-29% and bronze dealers from 10-19%. Gold dealers included George Haddad, Haddad Toyota, Pittsfield, Mass.; Jim Hand, Hand Motors, Manchester Center, Vt.; and John Lambert, Lambert Auto Sales, Claremont, N.H.

Silver-level winners were Bill Currie, Bill Currie Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Tampa, Fla.; Bill and Bob Weiss, Crest Chevrolet and Crest Chrysler, North Conway, N.H.; Jeffrey Wall, George Wall Lincoln Mercury, Shrewsbury, N.J.; Jim Fyles, Gil's Jeep, Stratham, N.H.; Dennis Roberts, Hillsboro Ford, Hillsboro, N.H.; David Lynch, Lynch Chevrolet, Burlington, Wis.; and John McEleney, McEleney Auto Center, Clinton, Iowa.

Bronze-level dealers were Dennis J. Gaudet, AutoServ Tilton, Tilton, N.H.; Karl Wuesthoff, Concours Motors, Glendale, Wis.; Ed Reilly, Ed Reilly Subaru, Concord, N.H.; Paul Holloway, Holloway Mercedes-Benz, Greenland, N.H.; Rich and Linda Lovering, Lovering Volvo at Nashua, Nashua, N.H.; Susan McFarland Moynahan, McFarland Ford, Exeter, N.H.; Chuck Dupler, Nissan of Keene, Swanzey, N.H.; Doug and Greg Grant, State Motors, Manchester, N.H.; and Dan Enxing, Subaru of Nashua, Hudson, N.H.

One interesting trend in the winners for 2008 was the disproportionate number of New Hampshire dealerships, as over half of those represented were from the Granite State. The New Hampshire success was credited to the state automobile dealers association, which voted to embrace the initiative in October 2007. Twenty-nine of its 160 members are enrolled in the program, and almost half of those participating are already showing award-level success.
More than 750 dealers nationwide are participating in the Energy Star challenge, but only four of the 20 winners were located outside the northeast — one each for Florida and Iowa and two in Wisconsin.

Recruitment - Four Ways to Deal With Recession

In their payscale.com article “Overcome Your Recession Fears,” Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell offer four different responses to the current economic recession in the United States, including:
• Overestimating the damage. “If you are over seven years old, you have survived at least one recession,” the authors say. Instead of panicking, people should look back and see how past recessions were dealt with. Also, it is important to learn from others by watching what they are doing to cope. Keeping a career goal will decrease energy spent on panic and maximize energy spent on being productive.
• Hiding from the storm. “Did you know that ostriches are the fastest animal on two legs? Isn’t it ironic that the big bird has the reputation for putting its head into the sand as opposed to running away from a serious threat? Maybe that description also applies to you!” the authors write. Ostrich-like people should try to stay up to date on current events, take more risks and respond quickly to opportunities.
• Waiting for the company to go down. Employees who expect their company to crumble should try to look ahead to their next opportunity, look for signs of life inside their company and try to keep a positive attitude.
• Rising above all the trouble. In order to excel through a recession, employees must anticipate problems before they arise, take actions that are unexpected and keep a successful vision in mind.
A little hard work and perspective can help any employee come out on top from the current recession.

A Religious, Practical, and Downright Fun Week on the Calendar

Although in the past I have shared ideas for (almost) daily calendar dates; it might make more sense to simply cover holidays and events one week at a time in order to give you better, more succinct content. So, the following holidays and events are for the week of December 21-27, 2008:

• Yule, Yalda, Winter Solstice, First Day of Winter (21)
• Chanukah (22-29)
• Christmas Eve (24)
• Christmas Day (25)
• Boxing Day (26)
• Kwanzaa (26-1)

Consider using one of these three holiday ideas this year to increase your revenue:

1. If your city has a large spiritual community, take a tip from the Houston Chronicle and create a guide for religious celebrations going on during the holiday seasons. Whether it be special dinners, performances, services or masses, keep your readers informed on what's happening in churches, cathedrals, synagogues and other temples this season. Readers will enjoy being able to find out what is happening, and the advertisers will love using it as an outreach opportunity. See the December issue of Inside Call Center for more information.
2. Yule, Yalda and many other celebrations take place in honor of the Winter Solstice, the first official day of winter on December 21st. What comes to mind when Americans think winter? The first thing may be the holidays, but I guarantee in the top five would be high utility bills. This may be the best time for certain businesses such as "green consultants," window specialists and others who may help readers out with this big worry to advertise. Money is getting tight because of gift-giving, and nobody wants to sacrifice the comfort of their warm, cozy home because of fear of a high gas bill. Consider what can be done to solve this problem and create a feature out of it. Whether it's a business-building page or a "winter utility tips page" on how to conserve energy, your readers will be grateful. 
3. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! Do you remember when there was nothing more exciting than seeing tons of presents under the tree? Add to that excitement by creating something for the kids. A great idea would be to provide a special page with blank lines, check boxes next to each one, and a banner that says "My Christmas List" at the top. Be sure to surround the empty space with toy ads, so Mom and Dad will get some extra ideas too. Kids will love having a feature just for them, and they'll feel special writing up their very own Christmas list. 

Promote Tolerance in Your Community

Here are a few holidays and events for December 19 & 20, 2008:

• Underdog Day (19)
• International Human Solidarity Day (20)

For International Human Solidarity Day, consider hosting a forum on tolerance in your community. The Christmas holiday can be stressful for some, but for most it is still a time to be a little more forgiving and loving. Imagine what such a forum would do for the reputation of your newspaper. Make sure to invite people from many different races, religions and backgrounds. Also be sure to do a small publication for the event and allow a few of your advertisers to sponsor the event.

Raise Their Voices, Raise Your Profits

December 18, 2008 is International Migrants Day.

Immigration is a hot issue in the media today, so tap into it and get your readers talking. Create an editorial page full of opinions, personal anecdotes and feelings of a wide array of people. Allow one of your advertisers to sponsor the page. It will surely get attention — which the advertisers will love — and the readers will enjoy getting to discuss such an important issue in the public forum.

Responsiveness Analysis Shows a Silver Lining

According to Michael Bush from Advertising Age, "Traditional (advertising) channels lesser evil among consumers."

An analysis from Mediamark Research & Intelligence measured "responsiveness to ads across media." Although about a third of consumers said they do not enjoy seeing any ads at all, 17% of the 26,000 U.S. adults actually enjoy seeing ads in print. This matches the 17% who would rather see ads on TV, radio and the internet. Only 9% said they would be fine with seeing ads on emerging media vehicles — such as mobile devices and product placement in entertainment media. Those claiming to be receptive to emerging media vehicles tended to be younger than their more traditional-minded counterparts. Although experts expect this number of high-tech consumers to rise, still more people would rather see ads on the road or at events, at 12% and 13%.  Read the rest of the story at adage.com.

Although the largest group was "ad adverse" — not wishing to see any advertising anywhere, the large fraction of print-receptive consumers is great news for the Classified business.

Tap Into Local History

Here are a few holidays and events falling on December 16 & 17, 2008:

• Jane Austen's Birthday (16)
• Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party (16)
• Wright Brothers Day (17)

Cities like Boston have an immense amount of history just waiting to be discovered around every corner. You might be surprised, however, to find out some of the history behind your own city. Even small towns have heritage and historical events to be proud of. After doing a little research, consider creating a special tab that serves as a historical guide to your town.  

Food Allergy Restaurant Guide

A few of the holidays and events falling on December 14 & 15, 2008 are:

• Gluten-Free Baking Week (14)
• National Children's Memorial Day and Worldwide Candle Lighting (14)
• Bill of Rights Day (15)

On Gluten-Free Baking Week think about all of those readers who have special dietary needs. Consider putting together a "food-allergy guide." Consider peanut, wheat, gluten and sesame allergy sufferers and find restaurants to list some of the dishes they have that are available for those people. Food allergies can be extremely dangerous and even deadly, especially for children, so creating a guide for safe dining would make a big impact.

Notes from the VendorSphere

For those who follow news of vendors and partners to the newspaper advertising industry, a few important announcements came out this week, including:

Zillow.com expanded its partnership with almost 300 newspapers to create an ad network

Classified Intelligence rebranded itself as AIMGroup.com

Classified Concepts announced the launch of its CC Text program, a mobile initiative allowing users to push content from CC's maps to their mobile phones

Create a Dealership Directory

Here are a few holidays and events falling on December 11, 12 & 13, 2008:

• International Mountain Day (11)
• Frank Sinatra's Birthday (12)
• International Shareware Day (13)
• National Day of the Horse (13)

Let's face it. Horses are great but they are not quite as central to our daily lives as they used to be. They've been replaced with cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, etc. Consider creating a valuable tool for your readers who are searching for vehicles. Take a tip from the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press and create an "Auto Dealer Directory" in your classified section. A feature organized by brand that includes names, addresses and phone numbers of local dealers will be a great tool for buyers. Your dealerships will love it too.

Unskilled Workers Job Fair

December 10 - 17, 2008 is Human Rights Week. Increase revenue and fight injustice with this great idea:

 One of the great things about our country is the resources that allow a person to work his or her way out of poverty. Be a major catalyst for that cause and work with local businesses to create a job fair for individuals without professional skills. Target recruiters with entry-level positions attainable for such individuals and higher education recruiters. Create a tab for the event and get the participating recruiters to place ads in it.

WCAA, Portland, September 9-10

Additional quotes from this morning's outsourcing session:

“In every one of your categories, look at the herds – what people currently buy from you now, particularly those who buy by choice. How many more other than the four or five things they buy should we be offering?” – Mike Kment, Gannett

“Customers will pay you to simplify things; they won’t pay you to complicate them. See if you can – as quickly as possible – remove all the obstacles.” –Mike Kment

“Ninety percent of the time a call rolls over to Buffalo, no one knows the call rolled over to Buffalo, and that to me is key.” – Rebecca Bradner, Las Vegas Review-Journal


8:10 a.m.
Another beautiful morning in Portland - the first day we really saw any form of clouds coming over the mountains just in time for us to head out around lunch! To begin today's entry, I'll wrap up yesterday's events:

Tony Lee led the Automotive afternoon off with his proposed best practices for automotive, which included reverse publishing, widgets, expanding beyond automobiles (RVs, motorcycles, etc.) and building brand awareness through social networking avenues.

Shannon Kinney followed up with her analysis of "The New Reality" of the automotive market, noting that the Internet is the number one palce people are going for used cars in the United States and that 1 in 4 late model vehicle buyers used the Internet in 2007. She noted that user-generated content is trusted by other consumers and should be encouraged by the newspaper through whatever means they can gather or distribute it. Consumer reviews help build community and drive traffic to dealers who are recommended. Consumers want good editorial, information about new vehicles and their manufacturers, reviews from other consumers (preferably in the market) and information on certified vehicles. They want to know more about the dealers, so branding and service ads can help drive traffic to specific dealerships. Within ads, Kinney said consumers primarily want prices, fuel economy and make/model info.

Dealers, on the other hand, want media consultants rather than sales reps - people who can advise them on how to navigate all the media options in a market and come up with a comprehensive plan for advertising effectively. As profit per vehicle and total vehicle sales are declining, dealers have less and less money each year with which to advertise. Since dealers make the most off certified pre-owned vehicles and service, helping them to promote those divisions in addition to new vehicles will ensure that local dealerships can stay afloat. From the newspaper standpoint, though, dealership consolidation has reduced the number of potential dealer clients in the United States by about 4,000 dealerships in almost 20 years, a number representing roughly 16% of dealers.

Kinney emphasized that newspapers need to offer readers multiple search options in addition to information on financing, new cars, the industry, CARFAX, directories and aftermarket parts providers. One key to success in automotive is getting to know the dealers and merging used and new advertising locations so that people looking for vehicles can see them side by side with comparison shopping. The newspapers also need to educate dealers about online options and offer Web 2.0 features such as blogs, forums and other means of gathering user opinion and reviews to create an online community.

Among the best practices offered in real estate and automotive yesterday afternoon were ideas to build trust and relationships with real estate agents and automotive dealers, means to adjust to a world in which advertisers shy away from lengthy contracts and opportunities for partnerships with area real estate agent or builder organizations.

After the best practices session, Carol Richer Gammell and Janet DeGeorge teamed up to talk about how to motivate staff in a down economy. For a taste of how the presentation went, check out this video.

After the session on motivation, the attendees spent time talking with vendor partners and enjoying a wine tasting from Classified Concepts at which they unveiled their CC Text program (more details later), which seemed to garner interest from those watching the presentation.

On a personal note, after the vendor session and a combination of a Cubs and Red Sox loss, I found myself at McFadden's with Patrick and Steve Rosenfeld of Bluefin discussing the industry and soccer, of all things. After spending a bit of time there, we shifted to Kells, which was another very enjoyable night with some great people, a good musician and a wonderful atmosphere. Then we caught the train back, talked to a few people in the hotel bar for a few minutes and headed to bed as Wednesday is travel day.

This morning, I was up on time (hooray, alarm clock!) and headed down for early birds. I'm currently trying to figure out how to get chairs with umbrellas attached to them shipped to Indiana while listening to Bev Crandon of AIM Group moderate a panel of Rebecca Bradner (LVRJ), Shawn Palmer (The Day) and Mike Kment (Gannett) in a conversation about outsourcing. It's been a great conference and this is a good note on which to start our last (half) day here. This session will be followed by a conversation about motivating yourself in a down economy as a follow-up to yesterday's conversation about motivating staff. Since I'll be heading straight to the airport after that, I'd like to take a moment now to thank all of you who tuned in for these WCAA updates and bid a fond farewell to all of those who I finally met (or met in person at least) at this conference. I'm looking forward to doing it all over again this time next year in Las Vegas at the Red Rock Casino!

Indiana, here I come!

WCAA, Portland, September 8-9

4:05 p.m, Tuesday, September 9
Much to update! We have had presentations from Tony Lee and Shannon Kinney as well as an idea-sharing session each for real estate and automotive sessions. We also had a helpful panel this morning from a real estate agent, a broker and a builder. Here's a break down of our Real Estate morning:

Tony led off the morning talking about real estate best practices, including offering great community information, utilizing map features, using e-mail communications, utilizing micro-sites and widgets, maximizing SEO and pairing content with strong editorial.

Tony was followed by the panel of real estate professionals from Portland, Ore., who talked on a number of topics. My seven favorite quotes from the session were as follows:

“The days of the ‘can you fog a mirror’ loan qualification are gone.”
“Buyers are cautious because we’ve had some depreciation in our market.”
“In my view, a lead is anyone who’s going to contact you with an interest or a question. We’re going to figure out how to address their question, because they may not be in a position to do business with you at the moment, but they may later.”
“What’s changed in my business is that the leads I’m after are buyer leads. I’ve had more opportunities than ever to list properties as they’re coming out of the woodwork. What I want and need is more buyer opportunities.”
“I have a difficult time putting together a long-term consistent marketing campaign in any of the publications in my marketplace, and I’m one of the more successful in my marketplace.” -Craig
“The more you can be that one-stop solution shop, that’s huge.”
“I want you to embrace, as you leave this conference this week, that real estate is local. What goes on as it relates to the country and what the AP is putting out applies on a national basis, but if you’re going to make a report in a specific area, take that national AP data and go to the local Realtor association and ask them for an area or neighborhood specialist that is potentially affected by the subject matter and talk to two specialists in those areas. Get the local perspective on the news. For a statistical standpoint, go to your MLS. If you need to speak to a neighborhood specialist, go to the Realtor office and ask for one.”

After the regional specialists spoke, Shannon Kinney took the stage to talk about some online opportunities in the real estate realm. Acknowledging that the market is rough but that real estate agents are still striving for their 6% commissions, she talked about trends in the marketplace, including accountability for ROI, shift of buyers and listings online, growth of micro-sites for different audiences, an evolution of virtual tours from photo slideshows to video and a shift of agents' focus to their own personal Web sites. She added that the key to winning over real estate agents is demonstrating ability to generate leads and, more importantly, referrals.

In terms of needs for real estate sites, consumers want updated local information, easy-to-use, organized sites and efficient and powerful search. Advertisers want options they can afford, the ability to build their own ads how and when they want and the ability to zone/target their listings. She walked through a number of online competitors and encouraged attendees to offer assistance to advertisers as advertising consultants rather than as sales reps.

More to come on our Automotive afternoon, ideas session and a presentation about motivating staff from Carol Richer Gammell and Janet DeGeorge when I have a chance to blog again!


8:45 a.m., Tuesday, September 9
Good morning from Portland, Oregon! It's about 8:45 here, and I'm listening to Tony Lee of Adicio discuss real estate best practices while updating all of you on what's going on - multitasking is the word of the day.

Yesterday after the session with the recruitment professionals, Shannon Kinney of aimgroup.com (formerly Classified Intelligence) discussed some digital means of promoting recruitment. She began by discussing a variety of new online competitors, including Whereismyboss.com, careersingear.com, LinkedIn Recruiter, SimplyHired and more. She spent some time walking attendees through the strengths of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for networking and recruitment potential and reminded attendees that the most important factor for recruiters is hires made followed by time to hire and retention rates in order to help prioritize initiatives.

She reviewed efforts being implemented by various newspapers, including job boards, branding videos, job videos, video résumés and more. In regards to job boards, she referred to Adicio, Shaker and RegionalHelpWanted.com as examples of regional opportunities to compete with national job boards while retaining a local flavor. She also mentioned partnering with companies like AfterCollege and CrossPost LLC to increase exposure for employment listings in targeted demographics. She expanded by talking about encouraging attendees to find ways to get listings to as many sites as possible in order to give employers the most exposure and generate quick results. She also emphasized the importance of outbound efforts to find employers that need to advertise and the importance of putting online before bundles, including offering it as a stand-alone product.

After Shannon concluded her presentation, a recruitment best practices session was held. Ideas ranged from a Diversity section from Pittsburgh and partnering with college newspapers in Tucson to efforts to reconnect with lapsed advertisers in Vancouver and newspaper-hosted social events for HR personnel in an area in which they have an opportunity to meet with newspaper staff, such as Editor, for breakfast and conversation.

When the sessions had concluded for the day, the attendees met to head to Lake Oswego. On the bus ride, I had a chance to talk with Leslie Nagy about MacDonald products, Maine, Montreal and other things that started with the letter "M." Once we arrived at the dock, we were handed brightly colored hats and boarded the Willamette Star with our WCAA Attendee Bingo cards. As people ran around trying to find attendees who had been skydiving, had hidden tattoos or admitted to enjoying nude sunbathing, a nearby fire provided an interesting side note as several people on the deck discussed the ways in which their news teams respond to similar events. Once WCAA Bingo was over, attendees socialized on the upper and lower decks, enjoyed a great dinner buffet and danced the night away with a live DJ (or at least some of us did). After the buses returned, attendees continued the conversation in the hotel cantina, learning more about each others' operations, difficulties and innovative solutions as well as about each other, making or resolidifying relationships with other professionals who understand the problems they face each day.

This morning started off eventfully for me, as I realized at about 7:15 that the alarm clock was not, in fact, going to go off at 6:15. After scrambling to get downstairs in time, I had the pleasure of listening to Tony Lee begin his presentation about real estate best practices, the theme of the morning, and am looking forward to the conclusion of his presentation after this break as well as the panel of real estate professionals and Shannon Kinney's presentation on real estate best practices. The topic of the afternoon will be automotive advertising. I will try to update this post again over lunch and once more this evening, so stay tuned!

Make A List, Check It Twice

Here are a few revenue-generating ideas for the following holidays and events on December 6, 7 & 8, 2008:

• Saint Nicholas Day (6)
• Miner's Day (6)
• Pearl Harbor Day (7)
• International Civil Aviation Day (7)
• Anniversary of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union (8)

On Saint Nicholas Day, consider using one of popular culture's most notable celebrities for a business building page. Santa Claus most certainly needs things to get his job done on Christmas Eve, so create a "naughty or nice" page full of ads to help readers find great ways to give gifts. Think outside the box for this one — target not just toy and gift shops, think spas, dance lessons, golf lessons, sporting goods, car washes and any other interesting gift ideas. Your readers will be checking it twice.

WCAA, Portland, Oregon, Sept 7-8

1:50 p.m. Monday, September 8
Tony Lee of Adicio discussed his view of the eight things newspapers should consider in order to maximize their recruitment revenue. The sixty-second version of the presentation is that newspapers should utilize the following on, with or through their Web sites: Top Jobs/Recently Posted, Top Jobs on partner sites, Browse Jobs (by categories), solid Media Pages, Reverse Publishing, Job Scraping, E-mail Marketing Initiatives and Virtual Job Fairs.

Lee followed his own presentation with a panel of recruitment executives from the Portland area (John Burton, Emerald Staffing; Maurine Cromwell, Lewis & Clark College; and Becky Sluck, Bernard Hodes), and they discussed six areas of recruitment, including tracking ROI, advertising where young job seekers live, utilizing new technologies, competing with and offering free ads, virtual job fairs and the role of print today. Interestingly, the topics were generated by the panel, and during the last topic, the representatives revealed that print was still a highly effective medium for them in the recruitment realms of hospitality, construction, transportation, healthcare and paraprofessional jobs. Some quotable quotes from other topics included:

“When we advertise strictly in print, it’s really hard to track. They may look at the ad if they read the paper, but typically they’re reading the paper online” – Burton on tracking ROI

“What’s key is an integrated approach to speak to each generational audience, and a single medium is not going to do that. It’s really challenging for clients to respond to those differences too.” - Sluck on advertising where young job seekers live

“I like text messaging. It’s amazing – they can text faster than they can talk. To walk away from text messaging is an absolute mistake. It’s already as popular as e-mail is to us, and e-mail may go the way of the fax machine.” – Burton on utilizing new technologies

"Free always has a place in a strategy - there's a reason why they're free and there are reasons to use them." - Sluck on free recruitment advertising


9:47 a.m. Monday, September 8 (updated 10:45 a.m. PST)
The sessions are off and rolling! The sessions were led off by a welcome from Deanna Whitmore, WCAA President, to the 58th Annual WCAA Conference. She warned all attendees that this evening's entertainment - a boat ride on the Williamette Star - is, in fact, a three hour tour. I'm not sure how many islands there are near Portland, but consider this fair warning.

Deanna was followed by Brad Harmon, Director of Sales & Marketing at The Oregonian here in Portland, who welcomed the attendees and vendors. He emphasized that "timing is everything" in an optimistic speech about the opportunities available to classified managers in today's market as he drew parallels to the sunny weather in Portland during the conference. He urged attendees to remember that "We are still strong and relevant to many audiences and on many platforms." He also noted that the world has shifted from a realm in which the big eats the small to a realm where the fast eats the slow.

Rebecca Bradner introduced three speakers to follow Brad, each of whom spoke on the changing industry and opportunities available therein. Those speakers included Patrick MacDonald of MacDonald, Mike Kment of Gannett and Mike Rutigliano from CanWest. Patrick talked about a term coined in England called "discomgooglation," which refers to anxiety suffered when disconnected from the Internet and how that affects how we view connecting buyers and sellers in today's market. "We need to move from selling products that we produce to selling audiences that we create," he said, citing a Hearst initiative that will be featured in an upcoming issue of Inside Automotive. "There's no industry better suited to delivering the full (media) spectrum to buyers and sellers," he concluded.

Kment spoke about the challenges of being at the head of classified advertising at a large newspaper chain, saying, "The fact that we are under such great pressure facing such great challenges is helpful ... it brings a willingness to change." He cited the example of how his hometown, when losing jobs with the industrialization of its agriculture business, harvested its bad windy weather by creating and monetizing windsurfing in Hood River, Ore. He also cited recent major industry events for each of the prime verticals. At Inman Real Estate Connect, he took away the points that with reduced housing prices for foreclosures and distressed housing markets, even agents selling the same volume of homes are receiving less money for commissions overall. He encouraged people to shift focus from brokers to agents and consider how to monetize the fact that the next few months to a year will be dominated by handling distressed properties. On the recruitment front, Kment recounted his experience at the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) where the RAA estimated that overall recruitment advertising was down 35% using figures from January to May, 2008, but showing strong gains in search advertising and microsite development (see the Las Vegas Review Journal for a solid example of the latter).

Kment observed that the automotive industry is possibly the most counterproductive, tying advertising budgets proportionally to unit sales. Thus, the fewer vehicles a dealer moves, the less money he or she has to promote more units. He emphasized thinking about used vehicles as it’s one of the most profitable areas of dealership sales in the current market. He also encouraged advertising managers to consider approaching independent dealers in new ways as well.

Rutigliano began by speaking about the difference between how the current economy in Canada is affecting their business as opposed to the United States market. He noted that the bottom fell out of the Vancouver advertising around June 2008, when the newspaper started falling below target and budget. “Time really isn’t on our side, but the sky isn’t falling,” he said. He pointed to 2007 as the tipping point for when newspapers no longer dominated the listings game and pointed out that newspapers can’t expect to continue to improve revenue with decreasing listings. Newspapers, however, have the advantage of “feet on the street” and “good relationships with advertisers in the local market.”

The five things he emphasized newspapers need were a critical mass of listings; a focus on local, integrated content; added value/exposure for advertisers; restructured business for new realities; and improved technology. With newspaper companies’ ability to advertise via multiple streams, they have an advantage over single stream competitors that only have one means by which to publicize a listing. He encouraged newspapers to think about social networking such as widgets, applications and partnerships; reverse publishing; and customer-centric sales models among other main points. He concluded by challenging attendees to consider critically “How do we make our products relevant?”

Tony Lee of Adicio is starting us back up and running with a Recruitment Best Practices session right now - more on WCAA at noon PST!


6:15 a.m. Monday, September 8
I'm sitting here at 6:15 a.m. realizing that being one of the few people at this conference from the Eastern time zone means I'm going to be having a lot of free time in the morning. Patrick, Trevor and I all arrived safely, albeit at various times and with various airline woes. Last night, Trevor and I got registered and scoped out a well-rounded group of vendor booths in the conference room prior to a poolside meet-and-greet cocktail reception. A number of familiar names now have faces to match them in my head, which is a great thing and unsurprising as this is my first WCAA. I'm looking forward to an eventful first day, which will be starting with breakfast in about an hour and followed by a review of the state of the industry by several speakers prior to launching into vertical-specific opportunities over the course of the next two days.

By the way, for those visiting Portland, I highly recommend Kells Irish Pub. The food was tasty and the traditional Irish session last night was of such quality you found yourself forgetting the music wasn't being piped in. It was quite a nice experience. Will try to match entry up with photos one of these updates if I get an opportunity!

Gearing up For Portland, Oregon

Our flights are locked in, our hotel rooms are booked, our registration has been sent in and we've gotten directions to a great Irish pub in Portland - we must be going to the 2008 Western Classified Advertising Association Conference!

After a break of several months, I'll be blogging from WCAA, the Ohio Newspaper Advertising Association 2008 Conference, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Classified Workshop and the NAA Recruitment Forum. If all works out according to plan, we may even have some international blogging from Montreal, Quebec, to cover the Northeast Classified Advertising Managers of America 2008 Annual Conference.

Keep an eye on this blog for regular updates throughout the conference, which begins Sunday evening. We'll be posting updates on what's happening in Portland and (if the technology allows) photos for those unable to join us.

Create Tabs for Local Events

Here are some holidays and events falling on December 4 & 5, 2008:

• Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day (4)
• National Dice Day (4)
• Bathtub Party Day (5)
• Ethnic Holiday Festival in Omaha, Neb. (5)
• International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (5)

If your paper does not already have one, consider creating a local business feature (daily, weekly, or monthly). Some of your best resources for ad revenues are local businesses, and there is great interest among your readers as to what is going on around town. On Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day, host a contest where all the local businesses that have purchased ads in your paper can enter in a drawing to win lunch for the entire team. 

The Ethnic Holiday Festival in Omaha, Neb., is a great idea. Local newspapers can play a big part in city-wide festivals such as this one. Whether it's a music festival, food festival, cultural fair or other local celebration, consider stepping up to create a tab to go along with your city's big events. Ads will bring in plenty of revenue from it, and providing a tab to go with a festival will brand your paper as an important factor in the community.

CareerBuilders Leans In Gannett's Favor

Gannett, which is currently in the process of cleaning house of about 1,000 positions nationwide, announced it had purchased one fourth of Tribune's stake in the company worth about 10% of the overall ownership. The purchase puts the new ownership level for Gannett at 50.8%, giving the chain controlling interest of one of the most powerful national recruitment Web sites available to newspapers.

Tribune maintains a 30.8% share, McClatchy keeps its 14.4% share and Microsoft holds steady at 4% ownership.

For more, see the original E&P report.

Special Kids Day

Here are a few revenue-generating ideas for these holidays on December 2 & 3, 2008:

• Special Education Day (2)
• International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (2)
• in England: Walter Plinge Day (2)
• Anniversary of the First Heart Transplant (3)
• Special Kids Day (3)
• International Day of Disabled Persons (3)

Dec. 2 is Special Education Day and Dec 3 is Special Kids Day. Why not create a page full of sponsors who support the Special People in your community. Have each advertiser sponsor a disabled child from a local school, featuring a picture and quick profile. The kids will love it and so will your advertisers.

Safe Toys and Gifts

The following ideas and observances are for the month of December, 2008:

• Choose a Summer Camp Month
• Colorectal Cancer Education and Awareness Month
• Cookie Cutter Week (1-7)
• National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
• National Tie Month
• National Write a Business Plan Month
• Safe Toys and Gifts Month

Consider doing business-building pages for Choose a Summer Camp Month, National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month and National Write a Business Plan Month. For a summer camp business-building page, let readers know that it's time to start shopping for a place for their children to learn and play this summer. Registration usually starts around December for most summer camps. Be sure to create ads that appeal to children as well as parents.

National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month can be commemorated by creating a page full of sponsors with a small feature including statistics about drunk driving. It's a great way for businesses to show their support to a worthy cause.

National Write a Business Plan Month brings to mind how important the local entrepreneurs in a community. Create a feature with ads from only locally owned and operated businesses.

With the biggest gift-giving holidays quickly approaching, many parents have concerns about safety of toys and gifts. For Safe Toys and Gifts Month, create a quick guide with tips about what to look for in safe toys and gifts. Visit this Purdue University Web site for some fast hints.