I read in last week’s Washington Business Journal that the Washington Post Company’s fourth quarter profits more than quadrupled from the same quarter one year ago. However, most of the net profit came from divisions other than the newspaper, which like many print publications around the country is struggling with digital media competition. In fact The Washington Post’s print advertising revenue was down 23 percent in 2009.
Call me old fashioned, but while I am a huge consumer of digital media and a major proponent of social media, I’m also probably part of a dying breed of news junkies who still subscribe to two daily print newspapers (as well as four magazines). Up until about a year ago, it was three prints, but I finally had to cut the Wall Street Journal loose since I just didn’t have the bandwidth to read all three, and could access the WSJ online when needed.
While I enjoy reading the newspaper, I must admit, I don’t fully understand some of the pricing strategies that are used by a few large print publications. One would think that they would be discounting advertising rates to incentivize frequency buying. However, the rates seem to be much higher today than they were a few years ago when there was less competition. I can buy TV and radio combined for less than some newspapers charge. And let’s be honest, why does anyone still use line inches as an ad measurement formula? Seriously!
They also make it more difficult to place your ad where you want it. What ever happened to good old fashioned customer service?
For the past few years, we have been placing regular ads in the classified section of the Washington Post promoting Goodwill’s job training programs. Recently I tried to place an ad and was told that I could no longer place the ad in the job listings page. I had to place it in the "training programs" section. I told them that our research found that many of the applicants for our job training programs discovered us while looking for jobs in the Post jobs section, therefore it was important that our ad continue to be placed there (plus the job training section is difficult to find). People don’t go to the paper looking for job training. They go to the paper looking for a job. Through our ads, they then learn that free training programs are available to them through Goodwill and decide to apply.
While I wasn’t happy about moving our ad, I was willing to give it a try. After all, it seemed I had no choice. The result was a much smaller number of applicants for our programs. Given that the change in ad location is the only variable that could have led to such a drop in applications (especially in today’s tough job market), I see no reason to continue placing ads in the Washington Post. If they can’t give me the placement that is going to generate results, why make the financial investment? I simply don’t understand the strategy behind forcing customers to place ads in areas that won’t benefit them. How is that providing value to the customer and incentivizing them to return?
Hmmm….do you think that might be impacting their ad revenue?
I’m just saying…
Showing posts with label Washington DC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Washington DC. Show all posts
A Marketing Lesson Learned in High School
As the President of the Washington, DC chapter of the American Marketing Association, I recently had the privilege of speaking to a class of high school students about marketing. I won’t mention the high school, because some of you may have students there.
When I first arrived, I wanted to get a lay of the land. So I spoke to the teacher as I had several times before. She explained the students’ level of marketing knowledge in a bit more detail than she had in previous conversations, and outlined the course curriculum, so I was aware of what subjects may be a bit too advanced for them, and what might require just a little more explanation.
My plan was pretty simple. I wanted to give some information about my educational and professional background; explain the mission and goals of the AMA; discuss some recent marketing trends; and facilitate a dialogue about what they were learning in their marketing class, followed by a Q & A.
That was the plan…
What I quickly learned was that there was ONE question I should have asked before I ever agreed to the presentation: “How many of you are interested in pursuing marketing in college or as a profession?”
When I finally did ask that question at the start of my discussion, I was disappointed to see only a few hands go up out of a class of 30. I suddenly felt a surge of heat pulsate through my body as it became painfully clear that to most of the students in the room, this may very well be the ever-popular…”blow off class”! This was not a core class, it was an elective. Since few wanted to pursue marketing, they must have thought it would be easy. I should have known!
OK I thought…If they’re not interested, I’m going to win them over. I’ll engage them with some compelling information, humorous anecdotes and fascinating case studies. Wow! What a marketing geek I am!
My intro started out fine. But once I got into the discussion portion of the presentation, you would have thought that every student in that room believed they would spontaneously combust if they raised their hands. From there things just went downhill. The heads started to fall down on the desks, the cell phones came out, the yawns seemed to last for days, and the eyes began looking in every direction but mine (mostly inside their eyelids)! Now granted, it was 7:30 in the morning, which is pretty early for a group of adults, much less teenagers, so that may have played a role.
Regardless, I found myself starting to dig for additional subjects to touch on, going back to my days in the radio business hoping that discussions about music, DJs and concerts might pull them back from the point of no return. Unfortunately - I don’t think I the rope I threw was long enough. I had lost them.
It was a humbling feeling.
I have given successful presentations and interviews to professionals, graduate students, the media, and conferences of hundreds! But somehow, someway - I managed to lose a class of 30 teenagers. How could this happen?! Here I was, a seasoned marketer – yet I couldn’t adequately reach a group of “consumers” sitting right in front of me.
It certainly taught me something though. I’ll definitely know how to prepare for my next presentation to a group of high school students…if one is ever offered! I will engage them in a discussion about products that are important to them (which is at the core of my presentations on social media. Shame on me!). I made the mistake of believing that marketing was important to them, simply because they were in a marketing class. Why? Because I didn’t ask the right question until it was too late. I didn’t do my basic market research.
I guess it just goes to show you - know your audience, and don’t make assumptions. Chalk one up in the “lesson’s learned” column for me.
However, to the three students who seemed to find value and interest in my presentation…I humbly thank you.
When I first arrived, I wanted to get a lay of the land. So I spoke to the teacher as I had several times before. She explained the students’ level of marketing knowledge in a bit more detail than she had in previous conversations, and outlined the course curriculum, so I was aware of what subjects may be a bit too advanced for them, and what might require just a little more explanation.
My plan was pretty simple. I wanted to give some information about my educational and professional background; explain the mission and goals of the AMA; discuss some recent marketing trends; and facilitate a dialogue about what they were learning in their marketing class, followed by a Q & A.
That was the plan…
What I quickly learned was that there was ONE question I should have asked before I ever agreed to the presentation: “How many of you are interested in pursuing marketing in college or as a profession?”
When I finally did ask that question at the start of my discussion, I was disappointed to see only a few hands go up out of a class of 30. I suddenly felt a surge of heat pulsate through my body as it became painfully clear that to most of the students in the room, this may very well be the ever-popular…”blow off class”! This was not a core class, it was an elective. Since few wanted to pursue marketing, they must have thought it would be easy. I should have known!
OK I thought…If they’re not interested, I’m going to win them over. I’ll engage them with some compelling information, humorous anecdotes and fascinating case studies. Wow! What a marketing geek I am!
My intro started out fine. But once I got into the discussion portion of the presentation, you would have thought that every student in that room believed they would spontaneously combust if they raised their hands. From there things just went downhill. The heads started to fall down on the desks, the cell phones came out, the yawns seemed to last for days, and the eyes began looking in every direction but mine (mostly inside their eyelids)! Now granted, it was 7:30 in the morning, which is pretty early for a group of adults, much less teenagers, so that may have played a role.
Regardless, I found myself starting to dig for additional subjects to touch on, going back to my days in the radio business hoping that discussions about music, DJs and concerts might pull them back from the point of no return. Unfortunately - I don’t think I the rope I threw was long enough. I had lost them.
It was a humbling feeling.
I have given successful presentations and interviews to professionals, graduate students, the media, and conferences of hundreds! But somehow, someway - I managed to lose a class of 30 teenagers. How could this happen?! Here I was, a seasoned marketer – yet I couldn’t adequately reach a group of “consumers” sitting right in front of me.
It certainly taught me something though. I’ll definitely know how to prepare for my next presentation to a group of high school students…if one is ever offered! I will engage them in a discussion about products that are important to them (which is at the core of my presentations on social media. Shame on me!). I made the mistake of believing that marketing was important to them, simply because they were in a marketing class. Why? Because I didn’t ask the right question until it was too late. I didn’t do my basic market research.
I guess it just goes to show you - know your audience, and don’t make assumptions. Chalk one up in the “lesson’s learned” column for me.
However, to the three students who seemed to find value and interest in my presentation…I humbly thank you.
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