2007 March

See you at Winter Convention

By Michael Fox, UPA Executive Director

In just a few weeks we will be seeing old friends and acquaintances in the glorious warmth of St. George sunshine. Our newest tradition is the Meet & Greet Social on the evening of Thursday, March 29th at 7 PM. We hope the weather is warm and we will meet poolside at the new Hilton Garden Inn, our new convention location. At 7:30 PM for those with children, we will begin another fast and furious game of competition Bingo.

We have a prestigious group of speakers and trainers planned for convention this year. You will never be sorry that you spent time listening to this group of talented and informed specialists.

There will be a photo exhibit in the hallways of the 9/11 attack that you should not miss. The presentation of the Master Editor and Publisher Award, the Jim Cornwell Distinguished Service Award and the prestigious Hall of Fame awards will follow throughout convention. It is always a surprise to see who is selected to receive the Honorary Publisher award.

Friday evening there will be an “Ugliest Hawaiian Shirt Contest” and a sock hop to Jimmy Buffet and Beach Boys recordings.

Don't forget to collect items from your area Chamber of Commerce and local restaurants, travel destinations and local manufacturers for the annual Baskets for Scholarships silent auction. This effort is to keep the student scholarship program healthy and strong.

Saturday, we have our Past Presidents breakfast and the Newspaper Hall of Fame presentation. Afterwards, we have an important training class on Newspaper Design as well as entertainment for the children and the golf tournament for the died-in- the- wool duffers. Saturday evening brings the much anticipated Better Newspaper Contest Awards. This tops of our annual convention with awards from across the state to recognize writing talent, design and drive.

Winter convention 2007 will be an event to remember.

Fate Loves The Fearless

By Eloise Owens (A Featured Speaker At Winter Convention)

The Allure of Plan B

I have discovered that what stands between me and my best is…fear. It takes many shapes and forms. It can be very persuasive and tempt me with even the best of intentions to settle for less than what I really want. I call it the allure of Plan B.

Let me share an excerpt from the pages of my new book, “Get Off The Beach!: What Legendary Surfers Know That Salespeople Need to Know Now!”

The allure of Plan B is so powerful, isn’t it? It’s not exactly what we set out to do, but it’s close. It becomes our safety net when the reality of Plan A, what I really want, starts to sink in and get tough. Here’s the real problem: Plan B is never as great. Plan B is never everything we desire, and the rewards are never quite as high. By knowing in the back of our mind that if things don’t work out we can always fall back on Plan B, it can so easily become our own “mental prenuptial agreement.” At least we get to walk away with something, right? Here’s a thought: What if Plan B then becomes a bit of a struggle—hey, we can always go to Plan C. How about Plan D? The problem comes when we let our emotions overwhelm us and steal our commitment to Plan A.

Fear is emotional. It works on our emotions to settle for less and justify smaller results. Does this sound familiar? On Monday you’re ready to go – on fire. On Wednesday, well…not so much. By Friday, Plan C is starting to look pretty good and you go home for the weekend feeling like you’ve done great things for the week. Hey! Whatever happened to Plan A? What you really wanted to happen? (excerpt end)

Fear is alive and well in all of our sales heads. So let’s figure out where fear is tempting us and fight for Plan A. Do whatever it takes to achieve the results you want this year. Here are some questions to keep you focused:

1.What is your Plan A for 2007? Be specific.
2.What resources do I need to accomplish this goal?
3.What do I need to re-think and do differently to achieve Plan A?
4.Am I organized to achieve Plan A?
5.Am I energized to achieve Plan A?

Funny thing, professional big wave surfers don’t really have a Plan B. They must be prepared to execute at the highest levels or it can cost them dearly. Are they really that much different from us sales folk?
Prepare for Plan A and fight for it with everything you’ve got! Here’s to higher waves of ssales success for all of us.
Aloha!
Eloise

Note: You may obtain a copy of Eloise’s new book, Get Off the Beach on her website www.momentumcompany.com

Henninger on Design available as e-book

Design Consultant Ed Henninger, whose column appears here regularly, has just released his e-book: Henninger on Design. The book, subtitled “52 weeks of design thinking to help you excel,” focuses on design principles, approaches and techniques critical to designing for your readers.

Ed calls Henninger on Design a “brainbook” because he encourages his readers to think about how they design. On page after page, Henninger on Design helps make you a thinking designer by helping you to redesign your thinking.

>From early reviews:

“The book is Ed at his finest—nicely crafted and easy to use. I particularly like the fact that it remains content-focused. So many design gurus get caught up in visual nuance and underemphasize content. Ed’s never done that and it comes across nicely in Henninger on Design. The design is sensational—exactly what you’d expect in a how-to guide on newspaper design.” — Larry Holeva, Managing Editor, The Citizens Voice

“Imagine committing to design a book on design. You’d hope to deliver what Ed has, a spirited reminder of the lessons he’s been learning and teaching for years. Part of the genius of Henninger on Design is its simplicity and directness.” — Ken Dowdell, Publisher, Kenosha News

“More than design. More than packaging—what we’re talking about is redesigning the way we think. Henninger on Design is an excellent resource, adding a sense of order to what we do.” — Rick Bean, Publisher, The High Point Enterprise

Jerry Bellune, newspaper management expert, says: “Ed has distilled into Henninger on Design the lessons he has learned in more than a quarter-century as a designer. This is a book that will inspire you and make you think. There’s no other newspaper design book that approaches the subject like Henninger on Design.

“And the writing? Well, Ed’s writing is clear, concise and thought-provoking. It is to the point—and sometimes pointed. It reflects Ed's approach of not being just another a designer who consults—but a consultant who designs. And the brevity of Henninger on Design is one of its more important qualities. There is nothing overwritten in all of its pages,” Bellune said.

Henninger on Design is available in either downloadable format or on CD and can be ordered directly from Ed's web site at: http://www.henningerconsulting.com/henninger_on_design.html Quantity discounts are available.

Spend just a few minutes with Henninger on Design and you’ll find yourself leaning across your desk, telling your colleagues: “Y’know, this book really makes you think!”

That’s because…it’s a brainbook.

Thou Shalt Nots Will Help Customers

by Randy Hines

We’re always trying to think of new ways to get our Utah customers to become readers rather than scanners of our news product. One tool that’s been around for centuries is often overlooked—the simple cutline.

People are drawn to photographs. Research repeatedly has shown how powerful they are in advertisements. One study by Cahners, for example, found that 98 percent of top-ranked ads used a picture or an illustration. It makes sense, then, for the news-editorial team to take advantage of the news photos that run alongside their stories.

When eyes gravitate to the photo, they almost always move to the caption to get a better understanding of what they just viewed. A well-written cutline, therefore, is a perfect way to get the readers so interested in the accompanying article that they can’t wait to read it. We already know from other studies that more than twice as many people read the caption than will read the copy around it. So improve your cutlines to entice more readers to continue their reading about that topic over in the lead paragraph.

Alas, too often the cutline is one of the last details the copy desk is worried about. Most wire photos will come with already-written captions. The latest Associated Press Stylebook, in fact, has a whole section near the back that deals with photo cutlines.

Nearly all AP captions follow a simple formula:
* The first sentence of the caption describes what the photo shows, in the present tense, and states where and when the photo was made. It must ALWAYS include the day and date the photo was made.
* The second sentence of the caption gives background on the news event or describes why the photo is significant.
* Whenever possible, try to keep captions to no more than two concise sentences, while including relevant information a newspaper editor or reader will need.

Because of that formula, your copy desk needs to alter cutlines if you’re using two or more photographs to illustrate the same story. Otherwise, that second sentence will read exactly the same under both pictures. It makes readers wonder why you don’t read (and edit) your captions so you don’t waste space with such needless repetition.

Local cutlines can bring on a whole set of other problems. Getting names spelled correctly and listed in the correct order is probably one of the major objectives for anyone dealing with photographers, especially those not working for your paper.

Some Utah newspapers probably have their own set of guidelines for writing effective captions that help readers understand the photo with it.

At the top of every list should be the commandment: Thou shalt not write a cutline without seeing the actual cropped photograph that will run in the newspaper.

Too often readers are provided a caption with three names as recipients of an award, only to see two faces in the photo above it. What happened? Who didn’t show up for the photo op? Or who was too far off to the side when the picture was taken that we didn’t want to waste a column to squeeze that individual in with the other two? Totally ridiculous cutlines have run that were probably written correctly when the journalist looked at the original photo that was supposed to run. Later on, after updates on wire stories or the addition of a big local story to the page, that photo gets cropped and people disappear from view. Those same individuals, unfortunately, are identified in the caption that’s printed.

Thou shalt not editorialize could be another rule to heed. Identifying someone as brilliant for creating a great Super Bowl commercial for GoDaddy.com might find considerable disagreement among those who watched the event Feb. 4.

Thou shalt not repeat the obvious is a third maxim for caption writers. Your readers can see that a woman is behind the wheel of a vehicle. You might instead tell why, where and when (prepares to leave a flooded Fort Duchesne neighborhood Friday).

Thou shalt not use clichés is a final guideline. We sometimes have people off to the side “watching” the main action. If that’s all they’re doing, crop them out of the photo.

Those with older AP books may have its list of “Ten Tests of a Good Caption”:
1.Is it complete?
2.Does it identify full and clearly?
3.Does it tell when?
4.Does it tell where?
5.Does it tell what’s in the picture?
6.Does it have the names spelled correctly, with the proper name on the right person?
7.Is it specific?
8.Is it easy to read?
9.Have as many adjectives as possible been removed?
10.Does it suggest another picture?

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Dr. Randy Hines teaches in the Department of Communications at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, PA 17870. He can be reached at (570) 372-4079 or randyhinesapr@yahoo.com.

A GPS system for sales people

By John Foust
Raleigh, NC

Wouldn't it be great to know when a prospect is ready to buy that advertising campaign you've been talking about?

Recently, I played golf on a course which had Global Positioning Satellite screens in their golf carts. The system reminded me of those "you are here" diagrams in large shopping malls. As the cart moved, the GPS display changed to specify the distance from that point to the green. For good golfers (like T.H., who was driving the cart that day), GPS is a huge help in club selection. For bad golfers (like yours truly) it marks the slow countdown of yardage, as the cart makes a zigzag path from shot to shot.

T.H. oversees several large car dealerships. I pointed to the GPS screen and asked how he advises his sales people to learn where they are in the sales process. How do they know when customers are close to yes-decisions?

"The key," he said, "is to ask low-pressure questions and establish a dialog. If I were on a test drive with a customer, I might start with 'How do you like the car so far?' Along the way, there will be opportunities to point out certain features. If I ask, 'What do you like best about your old car?' the customer might say, 'It has a lot of storage space.' Then – as long as I know my product has more space – I can ask, 'How does the storage space in this car compare to what you've had?' When I get a positive response, I can make a benefit statement which is related to something they've mentioned as a special interest. For example, 'Your old car could carry only three sets of golf clubs. This one can carry four, with room to spare.'"

By the time the test drive is over, a person using T.H.'s strategy will probably have a good idea of whether the prospect would like to own the car. The next step is a trial close: "If you were to make a decision today, would you like blue or silver?" (Note that a trial close asks for an opinion, not an irreversible, yes-or-no answer.)

T.H.'s strategy works in advertising sales, too. When you focus attention on benefits and ask for feedback, you can get a GPS-like picture of where you are in the sales process. Here are a few questions to add to your sales toolbox:

- (During a new business presentation) "How do you like what you're seeing so far?"

- "How does this (specific feature) compare to what you've used in the past?"

- "How do you think your business could take advantage of a feature like this?"

- "This ad idea makes you wonder why somebody didn't think of it before, doesn't it?"

- "Here's a list of businesses that have signed up for this special promotion. How many names do you recognize?"

"Selling is a lot like golf," T.H. said. "When you know where you are, you'll know what to do next."

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(c) Copyright 2007 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust conducts on-site and video training for newspaper advertising departments. His three new video programs are designed to help ad managers conduct in-house training for their sales teams. For information, contact: John Foust, PO Box 97606, Raleigh, NC 27624 USA, E-mail: jfoust@mindspring.com, Phone 919-848-2401.

Will the daily newspaper become a break-even proposition?

By Peter M. Zollman

Here’s a fascinating economic possibility, first run by me by a long-time newspaper executive and interactive-media pioneer:
In a few years, the daily newspaper will be a break-even proposition.
Local media companies may be as profitable as ever, but they’ll make their money on all the ancillary products – the Web site(s), the podcasts, the direct-mail magazines, the hyperlocal print and online editions … the list is endless.

Does this theory make sense?

Right now, metro daily newspapers in the U.S. typically generate profits in the mid-single digits as a percentage of revenue – although the number varies radically depending on a wide range of factors. (Internationally, margins are typically much lower due to larger news holes, higher reporting costs and substantial competition.)
At smaller papers in the U.S., operating profits are usually much higher – ranging from 20 percent to 40 percent and more. (At a newspaper group meeting I attended a few years back, all of the publishers heartily congratulated one of their colleagues for achieving a 71.4 percent margin one month. They were thrilled; I was appalled.)

My friend’s theory is that the fixed costs of publishing the daily paper will remain, well, fixed – running the presses, buying newsprint and ink, operating delivery trucks and paying carriers, employing photographers and reporters and editors, and so forth. Over time, he believes, those costs will essentially match the revenue of the daily print edition – so it will neither make nor lose much money. The publisher will remain profitable by generating healthy margins on all of related products it offers.

The first and most obvious profit center will be the papers’ Web site or sites.

Already, says Dean Singleton, vice chairman of MediaNews Group, online revenue contributes about 6 percent of the company’s revenue, but 15 percent of its profits. Think of what that means Web margins are in relation to its “traditional media” – daily newspapers, a TV station and some radio stations. Simply put, the interactive-media margins are much, much higher.

Niche products like automotive tabloids, real estate books, “Web-to-print” entertainment weeklies – all, too, can contribute substantially. Especially since most (at least, some) of the core infrastructure – phone room costs, ad sales expenses, office space, the press – is charged to the daily. While the cost of printing the auto tab is charged against financials, many of the other costs are absorbed by the parent organization. (All of this depends, of course, on how persnickety the accountants are.) And some, or most, of the content is generated by users and / or advertisers. That’s not entirely free, but cheap.

Then there are podcasts and mobile feeds – news, information, restaurant listings, text ads and the like. Right now these are experimental, especially when it comes to the economics. But no one offers such services because they’re expected to lose money forever, right? At some point, there will either be a viable business model or they’ll fade away. Miva, the U.K. ad agency, is selling out all of its inventory of targeted text ads to mobile uses – admittedly, very limited inventory – at up to £1.50 (about $3 U.S.) per ad. That’s not a “CPM – cost per thousand.” That’s per ad. Sounds like it might be viable already.

Free papers? Metro International publishes in more than 100 major cities. Dozens of other companies – Belo Corp., the Washington Post Co., The Bonnier Group, Daily Mail and General Trust, Clarity Media, among others – also publish free dailies. Some are profitable now; others still print red ink. But each of those publishers believes the free paper, with a business structure substantially different from a traditional daily (especially in the U.S.), will be significantly profitable within a few years of launch.

Many newspapers now offer direct mail. Profitable? You bet. Online radio and streaming video? Probably not profitable, at least not yet. Cable-TV news operations? Some profitable, some still experimental.
The list goes on. The days are gone when a local media company could publish just “the newspaper” – if that company has any hope for the future.

The newspaper executive who posited this theory is no slouch when it comes to understanding newspaper economics. He began his print career while he was in high school; has both editorial and sales experience, and moved into what we now refer to as “interactive media” running one of the first newspaper bulletin-board services before most people had heard of the Internet. Why doesn’t he want to be named? Simple. His interactive-media department, at a major U.S. newspaper, has higher margins than print, and his newspaper economics theory isn’t necessarily popular or widely accepted among his print brethren.
So is he right? I’m betting more with him than against him, that’s for sure.

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Peter M. Zollman is founding principal of the AIM Group and Classified Intelligence, consulting groups that work with media companies to help develop profitable interactive media services. He can be reached at pzollman@classifiedintelligence.com, (407) 788-2780.

A week of Thanksgiving is coming up.

By Jerry Tidwell
President of the National Newspaper Association
And Publisher of the Hood County (TX) News

No, it's not November. It's March 11-17. That is when we give thanks that we live in a society where the people are presumed to be wise enough to govern themselves. It's when we celebrate Sunshine Week, a time to remember that the government is us--and we have not only the right but the obligation to know what we are doing.

As president of an organization of thriving community newspapers, I have the opportunity to speak with journalists and their readers from Boston to Arizona and from states as red as my home state of Texas and as blue as New Jersey, where my friends, the Parker family, are deeply committed to covering local government.

It is rewarding to know that my newspaper friends AND their readers deeply believe in open government. Sunshine on government is the Vitamin D for democracy. It makes us whole and healthy. When we know what is going on, we are better able to make wise judgments on those few things that need to be confidential for a time in order let our public servants function.

Tom Brokaw, NBC News anchor, said this about Sunshine Week:

“If we present ourselves to the world as patrons of democracy, then we must be vigilant stewards at home of the oxygen that it requires – access to what our government is doing and the right to speak freely about it. The Greatest Generation fought valiantly to preserve and protect those freedoms. It is up to us to ensure during Sunshine Week and all year that their sacrifices were not for naught.”

I am proud that community newspapers provide their share of oxygen. Our immediate past president, Jerry Reppert, publisher of the Gazette-Democrat in Anna, Illinois, for example, sued for copies of employment contracts for top officials of a state university, reasoning that citizens supporting higher education had a right to know how their money was spent.

The County Courier in Enosburg, VT, in an editorial in advance of Sunshine Week, made the point both visually and with words by blacking out portions of the text. "There's always room for more sunshine in our lives. When it comes to government, we just have to be willing to stand up in the darkness and demand it," the editor wrote.

The Anderson County Review in Kansas helped to test local governments' responses to requests for public records, and found a reasonably good response except in sheriffs' departments. Two years later, it tried again and found remarkable progress: only four of 33 offices failed to comply with the law.

The Altoona Mirror in Pennsylvania asked for information at 40 agencies. A reporter was surprised by confrontations and threats for trying to examine the public's business. Newspapers there have now banded together in "Brighter Pennsylvania," a program designed to help officials better understand the law.

And just recently our friends at a small daily paper in Missouri, pursuing information at a local city hall, reported that the mayor said, "The way you come to City Hall will determine whether you are worked with or not."

Somehow, I have the feeling that isn't what our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) had in mind. I imagine some of our Founding Mothers might have washed the mayor's mouth out with soap.

That reminds me that community groups like the League of Women Voters participated in Sunshine Week last year, as well as groups as diverse as university journalists, local attorneys and even a fire department in Los Angeles.

I have two messages for newspapers and their readers.

One is: remind public servants that we trust them the most when we know the most about what they are doing.

The other is: read the newspaper. It's the best way to enjoy the sunshine.

Postal Regulatory Commission Slices Proposed Increase for Within-county Mail and Denies Tub Surcharge

Contact: Tonda Rush
Public Policy Director
National Newspaper Association
Washington Office
PO Box 5737, Arlington, VA 22205
703-812-8989
Fax: 703-812-4555
Web Site: www.nna.org

The Postal Regulatory Commission today gave newspaper mailers some good news and some warnings of trouble ahead in recommending new postal rates to the US Postal Service governors.

The PRC refused to recommend a 24.4 percent increase for Within-County Mail, and instead cut the percentage increase to 18.3 percent. It also denied the USPS request to charge mailers 85 cents for mail bundles entered at a local post office without a container, and denied that charge for tubs of periodicals mail.

The Commission noted NNA’s complaints about service quality, commending the testimony of Gary Sosniecki, publisher of the Vandalia (MO) Leader, on the extraordinary work required of publishers to obtain acceptable local service.

“The Commission acknowledges efforts that Within-county publishers undertake prior to presenting their mailings to the Postal Service,” the PRC said. “The Commission urges the Postal Service to encourage its managers in the field to find ways to prevent service delays and inconsistencies and to effectively assist publishers who bring persistent service problems to their attention.”

On the negative side, the Commission accepted a proposal by Time-Warner, Inc. to create a far more complex process for calculating rates—imposing charges upon periodicals according to the bundle and the sack, with variations depending upon the mail entry point and upon the density of the bundle and sack. The new recommendation introduces hundreds of new possible rate calculations that will be sure to bedevil software designers.

It also recommended a lower increase than proposed for Standard Enhanced Carrier Route mail—the subclass most used by newspapers for shoppers and Total Market Coverage publications. USPS had requested an 8.9 percent increase; PRC was willing to recommend only a 6.9 percent increase.

The new rates are expected to go into effect in early May. However, the USPS governors have the next action on accepting or rejecting the recommendation. They also set the timing of the new rates.

NNA President Jerry Tidwell, publisher of the Hood County (TX) News said the Commission seemed to have trimmed the proposed rates for Within-county mail more than for any other significant mail class by chopping about 25% off the proposal.


He also said the decision recognized the work of NNA and the Postal Service to move newspaper mail out of sacks and into more efficient preparations. But he said the PRC’s decision also signals a troubled future for many newspapers in the mail.

“Newspapers could have faced a much worse spring with the new rates than we now expect,” Tidwell said. “It appears that by cutting the USPS proposal for within-county, the rates will be more than a penny per piece cheaper for our members than the Postal Service wanted.

“And our Sack the Sacks campaign turned out to be a winner. These new rates will push all of us to work with postal officials on a tubs strategy. Sacks are now an avoidable cost in many cases.

But this decision also contains storm warnings for newspapers. The system is becoming much, much tougher to use because of the Time Warner proposal. We now have charges on bundles and sacks that we have never had before. I fear our postal forms are going to be heavier than our newspapers pretty soon.”

NNA Postal Committee Chairman Max Heath, vice president of Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc. urged newspapers to explore alternatives to sacks, including the use of flats tubs where possible.

He said, “I am personally delighted that the PRC saw fit to encourage our Sack the Sacks initiative. By holding off the USPS desire to charge us 85 cents for tubs, as well as an absurd 85 cent “container” charge for bundles that aren’t even in a container, the PRC has shown a light on a path we can pursue.

“However, I cannot agree that the best future for the Postal Service is to accept Time Warner’s invitation to make the rates so complicated that it takes a graduate degree in postal affairs to mail a newspaper or a magazine. The publishing industry is facing serious competition from the Internet. Rate systems like this can make the Internet look pretty attractive.”

NNA Director of Public Policy Tonda F. Rush said the PRC’s decision was contained in a 700+ page bound volume.

“Because of the complexity of the new rates, it may take us several days to determine how individual mailers are affected by this decision,” she said. “The decision also contains some critical signposts for NNA in dealing with the rates of the future. Overall, the Commission seems sensitive to our challenges, and it is attempting to give us some rate relief as we cope with the Postal Service’s rising costs. Our one major concern remains unresolved: the Postal Service’s data about our mail are unreliable, and the Commission has not given USPS the incentive to improve its measurements. ”

The PRC’s decision followed a 10 month long litigation that involved NNA and nearly 60 other parties. The Commission held 34 days of hearings.

A critical force driving higher postal rates is the Postal Service’s inability to control the costs of handling flat mail. Its proposed answer is to further automate mail processing, so that large flat sorting machines to be deployed in 100 cities in 2008-2010 will replace the sorting cases that carriers now use. A question affecting newspapers is whether the machines will drive rates even higher, and make service slower.

Winter Conventions brings new sponsors

We all know how important the sponsors are when planning an event or in our case a new scholarship program. This year we have a grand set of sponsors for our Better Newspaper Contest award winners:

We also have sponsors who make the Winter Convention possible by lending their name to events like our Meet & Greet opening social, each of the meals during convention and Awards banquet. This year, these fine people have helped in each of the events:

Media One of Utah (NAC)

The Salt Lake Tribune

Weber State University

Bowater Inc.

Rocky Mountain Power

We would ask that you thank these sponsors with your support when needing a product or service. Take time to thank them when they are introduced at convention or present an award. Without them the quality of the convention wouldn't be the same.