Regular readers know what a big fan of newspapers I am. I've reported on encouraging news like increased readership and ad revenues from papers' online product, and the recent arrangement to include certain free promotional copy distribution in papers' circulation.
But it was disheartening to learn how out of touch newspaper ad sales people seem to be, from reading the latest post in The Media Age. Gene DeWitt tells of his hands-on experience making ad buys from a client, comparing the buying experience for TV, magazines, radio, newspapers and out-of-home.
"Local television and radio, OOH and newspapers are a disaster in terms
of media agency profitability and operational efficiency," he says.
Let's face it; media departments and media agencies are in business to make a profit. There's a natural tendency to take the easier route to getting a job done, since spending less time means more profit.
I don't have the answer to this since I'm neither an ad buyer or or ad salesman. But it would seem to make sense that If newspapers can make the ad buying process easier and
less time-consuming, they might be able to pick up a larger slice of
the ad budget pie.
If publishers and perhaps the national newspaper association don't look more closely at their sales process, they're proving to be their own worst enemy as they struggle to stay in the game. That would truly be a shame.