Arkansas Publisher Weekly: February 24, 2022

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E&P: JCPA, copyright reform need your support Guest Column:

One way to make presentations more memorable

By John Foust

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol.17 | No. 8 | Thursday, February 24, 2022 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

Ostendorf returns to APA Ad Conference to inform, inspire Bill Ostendorf doesn’t mince words.

“Some newspapers print and publish ads all day long, all year long, that are garbage,” he says. “They don’t sell. They don’t have good headlines. They don’t have good visuals.”

Ostendorf, who is president and founder of Creative Circle Media and is the featured workshop presenter at Arkansas Press Association’s Advertising Conference March 11, says one of the top challenges newspapers face is focusing on selling newspaper ads to advertisers rather than on running compelling ads that actually sell advertisers’ products and give them undeniable results. There’s a huge difference there.

Ostendorf had decades of newsroom experience, including 13 years as managing editor of the Providence Journal in Rhode Island, before becoming a full-time consultant and presenter 22 years ago. He has two journalism degrees from Northwestern University, and has become an expert at turning newspapers around through visually reimagining the newspaper and strategically, dramatically Continued on Page 2

Bill Ostendorf of Creative Circle Media Solutions presents at the News Industry Mega-Conference in 2018.

CherryRoad Media acquires five additional Arkansas newspapers CherryRoad Media, a New Jersey-based media group, announced on Wednesday the acquisition of five Arkansas newspapers from Cape Girardeau-based Rust Communications: the Carroll County News in Berryville, The Lovely County Citizen in Eureka Springs, the Salem News, The Villager Journal in Cherokee Village and the Clay County Times-

Democrat, which covers Piggott and Rector.

The purchase brings CherryRoad’s Arkansas newspaper properties to nine.

In June 2021, the company purchased the Mountaineer Echo in Flippin, the Marshall Mountain Wave, the Pocahontas Star Herald and the Clay County Courier in Corning.

CherryRoad Media CEO Jeremy Gulban said in response to the announcement, “We are very excited to be taking ownership of these high quality publications. We think there is a lot of potential for collaboration with our existing publications in Arkansas, and we are looking forward to getting to know the staff in each location and learning more about each of these communities.”

Continued on Page 4

Ostendorf returns to APA Ad Conference to inform, inspire Continued from Page 1

rethinking how ads are designed and sold. He’s redesigned more than 700 print publications, and he created newspaper software used by about 300 clients across the U.S., including about 15 in Arkansas.

And despite so many newspapers shuttering in the past 20 years, he says most of his clients are still in business.

advertiser, and often that’s not what they want,” Ostendorf says. “They say, ‘I want this.’ You have to say, ’No, that’s just dumb.

And here’s why.’ You have to be an expert and be consultive about it. So many ad reps go in and they’re not experts. So they let the advertiser drive the ad, and that’s usually a bad idea.”

But too often newspapers are hesitant to change the way they’ve always done things even to save themselves, a deep frustration to him as a newspaper lover.

In the workshop, Ostendorf will teach participants how to have these sometimes difficult conversations with advertisers and the basics of how to visually design an effective ad, including what not to do (this includes best practices like not putting the logo at the top of the ad and not creating tiny ads online where there’s literally limitless space and when size is the No. 1 driver of what ads get seen).

“It’s like trying to talk a dinosaur out of a tar pit, and the dinosaur says, ‘No, this feels so good.’ And I say, ‘But you’re sinking!’

And it says, ‘No, I’m not sinking, I’m fine.’

And I say, ‘No, I’m watching you sink.’

They just don’t get it.”

The workshop he’s giving at the conference will help newspaper publishers and advertising departments “get it.”

“Most of the people who produce advertising, in both sales and in production, really don’t know much about what makes an effective ad, so that’s the focus of my workshop. I think a lot of ad people take the job because they’re good at selling something, but being good at selling something doesn’t mean you can design an ad,” he explains.

“I’ll show about a hundred before and after ad designs, and I’ll talk about why they’re better and how we got to that. I’ll talk about the principles behind what makes a good ad. If you talk to any ad agency that’s any good, they’ll tell you that they spend 90% of their time when they’re thinking about an ad on the headline. And most newspapers spend about 8 seconds on the headline. But the headline and the visual are everything.”

He says the key trick is making the whole ad about the reader, not the advertiser.

Yet, the vast majority of ads are about the advertiser, who the ad sales rep is trying to please.

“We don’t have to do what the advertiser wants. We want to do what works for the

He gives an example of an ad he redesigned for a Florida house painter after just a few minutes of phone conversation.

The existing ad, which hadn’t been altered in five years, was a business card-sized ad with a drawing of a house and a list of about 40 services the house painter could provide. Following a conversation in which he asked the painter questions about his business, Ostendorf established that the painter really only wanted to do residential painting, could subcontract other services, had a waiting list for his services and rave reviews from 20 years of customers. The advertiser told him something Ostendorf says he hears a lot, “Wow, no one has ever talked to me about my ad like that, asked me these questions.”

“We did a series of three ads for him,” Ostendorf says, explaining that he could rotate them out or customize the schedule of which ad ran when. “One of them was a couple of testimonials from his Facebook feed. And one was something like, ‘Hire somebody who loves painting your house.’

And then something else about how he’s got 20 years of experience and how clean and what a perfectionist he is. So, the ads now tell readers he’s a perfectionist with 20 years of experience, he’d love to do your house, and here’s what all these people say about how great he is.”

LET US KNOW

Needless to say, the new ads made a clear difference for the advertiser, a result Ostendorf has come to expect. He says he often gets fan mail from advertisers, even years later, because his training of newspaper staff helped their small business survive.

Ostendorf insists that newspapers can be a great solution for advertisers in a community, and that it’s an important function. “We could help make a small business survive or thrive with our ads, if we [as an industry] knew what the hell we were doing. But we don’t. And that’s sad,” he says. “If newspapers run lousy, boring, static ads that don’t talk to the reader, aren’t interesting, don’t engage me, don’t have a call to action, that’s not going to work for the reader or the advertiser.”

He says the two core competencies of newspapers that should never be compromised are telling the truth and producing ads that sell. Ostendorf says he has learned that how information is presented is just as important to communication as the information itself.

“Design matters. You can’t be bad at design or content,” he says. “You just can’t. Because those two things drive everything else.”

Ostendorf says the last workshop he gave in person, and also the last time he was on a plane, was the APA Advertising Conference in March 2020, which was abruptly canceled after the first day when the governor declared a ban on large gatherings. He’s looking forward to sharing insights and helping Arkansas newspaper ad departments become experts at what ads will best serve their advertisers and thus create dependable advertising revenue. Although this year the conference is virtual, he says it will be far from a dry experience.

“I guarantee it will be entertaining, and that people will get things from this workshop that they can apply tomorrow to their work.”

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Send your staffing changes to info@arkansaspress.org to be updated online and included in the Arkansas Publisher Weekly.

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February 24, 2022

Arkansas Press Association Virtual Advertising Conference March 11, 2022 Registration cost is $25 | arkansaspress.org/event/2022AdConference

BILL OSTENDORF President and Founder Creative Circle Media Solutions

Schedule 9:30 A.M.

“Creating Ads that Create Revenue” Presented by: Bill Ostendorf

Bill Ostendorf is president and founder of Creative Circle Media Solutions, a network of talent he has been building for more than 30 years. He founded Creative Circle, a consulting firm, in 1984 at the tender age of 28.

Over the course of his newspaper career Bill worked as a reporter, photographer, news editor, features editor, copy desk chief and graphics director at a number of newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Paddock Publications in suburban Chicago, The Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho, The Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah, and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. He taught copy editing at Utah State University and has guest lectured at dozens of other universities.

Bill holds a BSJ in magazine writing and an MSJ in newspaper reporting and management from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. After 16 years of balancing part-time consulting and fulltime newsroom work, Bill left The Providence Journal to manage Creative Circle full time in June 2000. Since then, he has worked with more than 300 media companies on three continents as a trainer or management consultant, and has led redesigns of more than 700 print publications and more than 300 web sites.

Welcome & Introductions Ashley Kemp Wimberley, APA Executive Director

1:00 P.M.

2022 APA Better Newspaper Advertising Contest awards presentation Emcee: Roby Brock

Hogg named managing editor at Advance-Monticellonian Ashley Hogg has been promoted to managing editor of the Advance-Monticellonian.

Her previous role at the newspaper was bookkeeper, and she has held positions as a reporter and in advertising sales as well.

In her new role as managing editor, Hogg will continue to handle some of the bookkeeping duties as well as managing the news content of the newspaper.

“Ashley has done a fantastic job here and has proven her ability and willingness to adapt to any role at the newspaper that has been presented,’’ said Publisher Tom White in announcing the promotion. “Anyone who has worked at a community newspaper will tell you that to be successful, you have to be willing to handle multiple job descriptions.

Ashley has proven she can do that very well. When she learns how to run the press, she will know more about this newspaper than me.”

“I am grateful for this opportunity to help serve the people in my hometown,” Hogg stated. “I look forward to being involved in the community I love and bringing breaking news to our citizens on many platforms.”

Hogg, a native of Drew County, is a graduate of Drew Central and the University of Arkansas at Monticello. She and husband Brandon Hogg have one daughter.

CherryRoad Media APW scholarship open for applications The application period is now open for the Arkansas Press Women Scholarship, a acquires five $1,000 award presented each spring to an undergraduate student – male or female – is planning a career in mass communications or journalism at an Arkansas college additional Arkansas who or university. newspapers Funding for this scholarship comes from APW’s Maudine Sanders Education Fund.

Continued from Page 1

CherryRoad Media now publishes 63 newspapers in 10 states. In a series of 2021 transactions, it acquired more than three dozen newspapers in Arkansas, Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska, and earlier this year it expanded its footprint into Texas and Oklahoma. The company acquired its first newspaper, the Cook County News Herald in Grand Marais, Minnesota in November 2020.

Maudine Sanders, who died in 2011, was a previous owner of the Springdale Morning News and a long-time member of Arkansas Press Women.

Eligible applicants will be attending a college or university within the state of Arkansas and entering their undergraduate junior or senior year in the 2022-2023 academic year and be a journalism, mass communication or related major, have at least a 3.25 GPA and have published writing and/or broadcast samples.

The application deadline is April 11. Apply online at arkansaspresswomen.org/apwscholarship/. For more information, email arkpresswomen@yahoo.com

CherryRoad Media is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CherryRoad Technologies of Parsippany, New Jersey, which has been in business since 1983.

INDUSTRY QUOTE “I believe in the power of journalism. To make informed decisions, you have to have an understanding of the dynamics of a situation. And journalism does bridge gaps and creates dialogue.”

-Brad Pitt

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February 24, 2022

Veteran journalist to speak at May workshop APA members are invited to attend the GetSmART! Learning Series: On Race, Diversity and Inclusivity, hosted by the Arkansas Arts Council on Tuesday, May 10, 2022.

Keith Woods, chief diversity officer at National Public Radio, will lead the workshop on the power voice can have in changing, challenging and uplifting communities.

A former dean of faculty of The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. who taught seminars on race relations, diversity, ethics, reporting and personal essay writing, Woods is co-author of “The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity.” He also chaired two Pulitzer Prize juries during his tenure at Poynter.

Woods is a native of New Orleans and a graduate of Dillard University and the Tulane University School of Social Work.

Prior to joining the faculty at The Poynter Institute he spent 16 years as a sports writer, news reporter, city editor, editorial writer and columnist at the Times-Picayune in New Orleans.

He has worked to help professionals, faculty and students better understand and handle matters of diversity through workshops at dozens of journalism schools, radio stations, newspapers and television stations across the country.

The workshop is free and will be presented via Zoom. Click here to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/257377301437

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E&P: JCPA, copyright reform need your support A number of initiatives currently being considered in Washington, D.C. directly pertain to the journalism industry’s future, and need journalists’ and news’ outlets attention and efforts to rally support, an editorial appearing in Tuesday’s Editor & Publisher argues. The editorial is by Danielle Coffey, executive vice president and general counsel for the News Media Alliance.

Several legislative initiatives now before Congress address newspaper publishers’ concerns, including antitrust issues related to Facebook and Google profiting off news outlets’ original content without compensation for its use. Another important policy under review at the federal Copyright Office would strengthen publishers’ protections online.

The Internet is worldwide, so across the planet governments are acting to address the same issues U.S. news publishers face. Most famously, in 2019, the European Union (EU) adopted the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. This EU policy created an ancillary copyright for news publishers to receive payment from the Big Tech platforms for the use of their content. France became the first EU member state to transpose this right into national law. Google already has been forced to negotiate with news publishers. In fact, the French national

competition authority recently fined Google $593 million for failing to do so in good faith.

Australian publishers of all sizes have reached deals with the online platforms after the country introduced similar legislation last year. Likewise, Canada has pledged to pass similar legislation this year.

These developments in other parts of the world offer valuable blueprints for the U.S. Last year Congress asked the U.S. Copyright Office to study the feasibility of creating an ancillary copyright for news publishers in the United States. The News Media Alliance submitted public comments highlighting the need for swift action to better protect news publishers.

Coffey writes, “We believe targeted findings by the Copyright Office regarding the ‘fair use’ defense to payment and the existence of market imbalances, as well as changes to registration procedures and documents, would place American publishers on more equal footing. The Copyright Office could also study or offer input on other issues that would require changes in legislation, including clarifying the law around substantial takings, studying the need for sui generis protection, as well as guidance or action on the use of news content for artificial intelligence

applications. While not required to resolve the fundamental marketplace imbalance issues addressed by the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (see below), these recommendations would help clarify U.S. publishers’ copyright protections going forward.”

Another bipartisan bill, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA), would allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with the online platforms for fair compensation. Coffey explains, “While not about copyright (it would not alter the fundamental balance of copyright or competition law), this bill would help address the most pressing threats to high-quality journalism while minimizing government intervention.”

Originally written with large news publishers in mind, the bill is being expanded to include a collective negotiating framework so small and local publishers are equitably compensated as well.

She ends the editorial with a rallying cry for support for these initiatives from the industry. “With many efforts underway,” Coffey writes, “now is the time to act to ensure that Congress does not lose momentum when we are so close to seeing real and meaningful changes that would help sustain high-quality journalism.”

Study: Paid Gen Z subscribers within reach with targeted creativity

The conventional wisdom that young people aren’t interested in paying for news may be wrong, according to a study by News Media Alliance, whose results were announced last week.

Members of Generation Z, the generation that grew up as digital natives using the internet and smartphones all their lives, answered questions in the study about what would convince them to pay for news. The results indicate that there are opportunities for news outlets–especially local news outlets–to position their products with Gen Z consumers to attract them as readers and potential subscribers.

But the news must be presented in the less-conventional ways that appeal to them.

About half of Gen Z consumers (51%) report reading news daily. The majority (60%) say they would be likely to use

Continued on Page 7

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February 24, 2022

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Study: Paid Gen Z subscribers within reach with targeted creativity Continued from Page 6

local news products and 33% say they would be likely to pay for local news. The twenty-somethings say they prefer to get news online via social media apps and web searches rather than in print, which is no surprise. Also, they want to “snack” on news that has been customized to their preferences throughout the day. Free trial subscriptions and special content targeted to their interests received the highest marks as incentives to subscribe.

To reach this tech-savvy generation, meeting them where they are – online – is key. The study determined the best times of day to present news content for Gen Z users on different platforms. For example, 42% of them are more likely to be active on Facebook in the mornings. Later in the day, their attention shifts to other social media platforms.

“The findings from the study are exciting in terms of the opportunities they present for news outlets. Gen Z places an emphasis on credible, accurate and fact-checked news, which is exactly what our members provide,” said Rebecca Frank, News Media Alliance vice president, research and insights. “News outlets that apply the insights in this report will have a distinct advantage over other content providers

because the quality of their content already meets Gen Z’s expectations. By providing the content these readers care about – when, where and how they want it – they will be best equipped to meet Gen Z’s needs.”

coming news subscribers, and news outlets must be prepared to up their game to attract and keep them as loyal readers.

It’s not just about the news; it has to be the whole package.”

The study determined that Gen Z wants to see themselves reflected in their news, and they want to feel acknowledged.

Authenticity, family and voting were most important to them, followed by causes they value such as social justice, civil rights and racial discrimination (54%); environmental/climate change (50%) and women’s rights (50%), among others.

They also expressed interest in career topics, financial advice and health and wellness. Locally, they want to be kept current on weather, events and arts and entertainment and about other local news and developments.

The full report, exclusively for News Media Alliance members, contains additional data points, visuals, verbatims, examples, and actionable tips, ideas and insights at: newsmediaalliance.org/genzreport (member login required)

A key difference in this demographic and some previous ones is that they insist news be presented in engaging ways; boring-looking news is a turn-off. Striking visuals, video and an easy-to-navigate app and website will be more likely to draw these readers in.

Frank continued, “Gen Z are up-and-

Support the future of Arkansas journalism through the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation.

Survey Methodology: The News Media Alliance commissioned Springboard Market Research to conduct quantitative and qualitative research with U.S. adults ages 18-29 to gain insight into the news consumption and habits of twentysomethings. For the qualitative study, 20 hour-long telephone interviews were conducted with participants living in 20 key media markets. The participants represented a mix of gender and race/ ethnicity.

The quantitative market survey was conducted among 424 Gen Z consumers ages 21-29, evenly split between 21-24 and 25-29, and approximately census-representative ethnicity for this age cohort.

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Bipartisan act seeks to reduce harm spread, amplified by social platforms A bipartisan bill introduced earlier in February attempts to curb social media platforms’ algorithms that spread harmful content. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (RWY) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) authored the Social Media NUDGE Act, which would direct the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to study “content-neutral” ways to slow the online sharing of misinformation and harmful content.

Similarly to the way Twitter now prompts users to read an article before retweeting it, the researchers would be instructed to find ways to add friction to the contentsharing processes. Once those measures have been identified and recommended by the scientists, the Federal Trade Commission would then codify them. The FTC would mandate that social platforms adopt the measures.

“For too long, tech companies have said ‘Trust us, we’ve got this,’” Klobuchar said in a statement on Thursday. “But we know that social media platforms have repeatedly put profits over people, with algorithms pushing dangerous content that hooks users and spreads misinformation.”

Historically, the friction on this political issue has been that Democrats have

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pursued ways to address misinformation online, while Republicans have said such measures endanger free speech.

Testimony from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in 2020, prompted rare bipartisan cooperation to find ways to regulate algorithms that address both children’s issues and misinformation.

Lummis’ support of the bill signals significant progress towards bipartisanship on this issue.

“The NUDGE Act is a good step toward fully addressing Big Tech overreach,” Lummis said in a statement on Thursday.

“By empowering the [NSF] and [NASEM] to study the addictiveness of social media platforms, we’ll begin to fully understand the impact the designs of these platforms and their algorithms have on our society.

From there, we can build guardrails to protect children in Wyoming from the negative effects of social media.”

The proposed bill differs from a similar algorithm-suppressing proposal, the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act, submitted to the House last March by Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) in several ways. Most significantly, the Klobuchar/ Loomis bill does not touch platforms’ legal immunity, as codified in Section 230 of the

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Communications Decency Act. The earlier bill seeks to amend Section 230 to include provisions for social media companies that have been found to amplify content that violates civil rights.

Removing Section 230 liability protection has been the largest hurdle facing lawmakers seeking to address harmful algorithmic amplification. Tech and public interest groups have already come out in support of the Klobuchar/Loomis measure, noting that its absence of 230 changes makes it one of the industry’s preferred models for algorithm regulation.

“Public Knowledge supports this legislation because it encourages informed decisionmaking to address a known problem: the promotion of misinformation,” Greg Guice, director of government affairs at Public Knowledge, said in a statement on Thursday. “Most importantly, the bill does all of this without tying compliance to Section 230 immunity.”

Speaking on the Social Media NUDGE Act, Klobuchar said, “This bill will help address these practices, including by implementing changes that increase transparency and improve user experience.” She continued, “It’s past time to pass meaningful reforms that address social media’s harms to our communities head-on.”

February 24, 2022

Guest Column: One way to make presentations more memorable

By John Foust Samuel, the ad manager at a community paper, told me about a simple technique his sales team uses at the end of meetings with prospects and clients.

“I once read that people remember only about 25 percent of what they hear,” he said. “That’s a harsh reality, because we focus our client conversations on things we think are memorable. It’s painful to walk away from a meeting knowing that the person on the other side of the desk might forget three quarters of the discussion. Of course, we use ad examples, charts and coverage maps to add visual elements to presentations, but they still forget a large percentage of what we talk about.

“We’ve earned that one way to deal with this problem is to summarize at the end of a meeting,” he said. “It’s an easy way to repeat the important points in a conversation. And a lot of times, we find out the other person has completely missed a key fact. A summary helps us clarify things and make presentations a little easier to remember.”

Samuel’s process has three steps: 1. Restate briefly.

For example, a member of Samuel’s team might say,

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“Thank you for meeting with me today. To make sure we’re on the same page, let me recap what we’ve talked about. First, we looked at the target audience for your new Widget product, then you gave me a list of the most important features and benefits, then we talked about some special offers that could appeal to your customers.”

Notice how this brief statement hits the highlights in a logical sequence. There’s no need to go into great depth about everything which was discussed.

2. Confirm the information and ask for input. After the summary, it helps to nail it down by asking, “Does this cover everything?”

Even though it’s short, this is a crucial question. It is designed to give the other person permission to say they missed something which was covered – or even to say they would like to know something else. If something has been misunderstood, it’s better to find out now.

3. Include an action item. For instance, “My next step is to start on that market report you want and get it to you by Monday. Will that work?”

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This is the time to get some kind of agreement and advance the sale. If the other person is not yet ready to finalize things and sign on the dotted line, this keeps the dialogue going in a helpful, lowkey way.

“An action step can make a conversation stick in the mind,” Samuel explained. “It gives the salesperson a specific reason to get back in touch. It lets the other person know to expect a call by a certain day.

When someone is waiting for information, an action step reduces the chances that an email or a voice mail message will be ignored.”

It’s all about creating memorable presentations. When advertisers and prospects remember the key points, they are more likely to buy. (c) Copyright 2022 by John Foust. All rights reserved.

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for information: john@johnfoust.com

February 24, 2022