Around the Web links about Advertising

Consumers like coupons, but they’re not clipping them like they used to. Instead, they are downloading them. A new report just issued says that digital couponing increased by 41 percent in 2010. Digital coupons outpaced the growth of newspaper coupons by 6 to 1. There are more than 49 million Americans who use digital coupons, and of those, almost one-third have not read or looked into the Sunday newspaper for coupons in the past six months.

When ad sales people call on clients, they now have to deal with a different type of client objection. No longer must they only be able to explain effectively how your newspaper is a good advertising buy – now they must also address the issue of the effectiveness of newspaper advertising in general. Your advertisers have been reading the stories about how newspapers are dying (and frequently reading those stories in newspapers). Here’s a good resource made available by the National Newspaper Association -- Newspaper: the multi-medium. This site is a collection of all kinds of information that will come in handy for your ad reps – including 10 reasons to advertise in a newspaper, 10 reasons to advertise during tough economic times, 10 reasons to advertise on a newspaper website, 10 reasons to advertise frequently … and lots more. Explore this site and you’ll find all kinds of information to adapt for your advertising reps’ pitch books.

The good news for newspaper advertising is that it just experienced its smallest drop in any one quarter since 2007. Spending for print ads was down 7.6 percent. It shows you how bad things have been overall that we consider that figure hopeful. But online spending was actually up by 13.9 percent. – giving us a total drop of 5.5 percent. Here’s the official glass-is-half-full interpretation from John F. Sturm, president and CEO of NAA: “The steady transformation of the newspaper industry is clearly evident in these latest revenue figures. Despite a highly competitive environment, online advertising growth rebounded back into double digits, while declines in traditional revenue categories continue to moderate as the general advertising recovery progresses. The fact that online now represents nearly 12 percent of overall newspaper advertising revenues bodes well for our medium’s future in an increasingly digital environment. Even as the economy is slow to rebound, there is heightened optimism within the industry - a confidence reflected in second quarter earnings reports from public newspaper companies. New business models are taking hold, with publishers continuing to invest in platforms that deepen audience engagement in print and online. In a world where trusted, high-quality content is in demand, newspaper companies are uniquely positioned to benefit from the advertising recovery.” Or, if you’re a half-empty type, try this observation, from Alan Mutter: “Following a historic pattern that shows newspapers take in roughly 47 percent of their ad revenue in the first half of the year, it is possible to project that full-year sales for the industry will drop some $2 billion this year to finish at approximately $26.5 billion. Assuming no major positive or negative changes in the economy between now and the end of the year, this will put newspaper ad sales back to the lowest level they have seen since 1985.”

Well, Chicken Little, the sky could indeed be falling. So reports Alan Mutter in his Reflections of a Newsosaur blog. Mutter is reporting NAA figures that actually passed along the “good news” that newspaper sales were off 23.7 percent in the final quarter of the year. That’s the good news? It is when you consider the fact that sales were off 28.3 percent in the first quarter, 29 percent in the second, and 29.9 percent in the third. So 23.7 percent is looking pretty good now, huh? Mutter says: “If the rate of decay continues to slow in 2010, the industry will shrink at a slower pace than it did last year. But it still will continue to shrink. And declining shrinkage should not be taken as a sign of health.”

Fitz & Jen point to a Borrell Associates report that indicates advertising revenue might finally be on the rise. The best part for community newspapers is that the report expects "much of the upcoming growth to come from community and suburban papers."

Jen from Editor & Publisher has a few suggestions from Ed Strapagiel of Kubas Consultants about how to improve ad sales. Among his suggestions: stop selling in lines and inches. You'll have to pay for the full report from Kubas, but the snippets shared by Jen are interesting in themselves.