Arkansas Publisher Weekly: October 21, 2021

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HSVV’s Allen featured in national publication Guest Column: Into the issues: Lead by example

By Al Cross

Arkansas Press Association

Publisher Weekly Vol. 16 | No.42 | Thursday, October 21, 2021 | Serving Press and State Since 1873

ArkLaMiss speaker to emphasize importance of branding Newspaper managers will be asked next month to concentrate a little less on other brands and pay more attention to their own.

Participants at the annual ArkLaMiss Audience Development and Marketing Conference should be read to consider how they can improve the overall image and branding of their newspapers, said Kelly Wirges, the keynote speaker for this year’s event.

A newspaper industry and sales training veteran, Wirges challenged attendees to be ready to think of ways they can manage to cultivate their newspapers’ brands and images as a way to drive readership, audience growth and better sales.

“The newspaper brand has changed in the consumer’s mind over the past few years, and it’s not enough to just be a local newspaper,” Wirges said in a telephone interview. “We have to live our brand, build our brand, get community buy-in for our brand and actively improve it.”

As the featured speaker at the ArkLaMiss Conference, Wirges will focus on brandbuilding and on ensuring that customers are always treated with five-star service.

The ArkLaMiss conference will be held online only again this year because of the continuing coronavirus pandemic. The one-day event is Friday, Nov. 12, and the cost is $25 per person for Arkansas Press Association members. To register, visit arklamissconference.wordpress.com

Kelly Wirges

Wirges describes a brand as “a combination of actions, ideas and innovation constantly applied to create a persona that differentiates your company from its competitors.”

Continued on Page 2

Registration now open for annual ArkLaMiss Conference The annual ArkLaMiss Audience Development and Marketing Conference will be held virtually on Friday, November 12, as the ongoing pandemic has precluded meeting in person. The conference is presented by Arkansas Press Association, Mississippi Press Association, Alabama Press Association and Tennessee Press Association.

The virtual format will allow people who might not otherwise be able to take time off travel to a traditional conference to

take part this year. Publishers, general managers, circulation and audience development professionals, or anyone who wants to expand their understanding of tools to help community newspapers and affiliated digital media reach greater heights in revenue and readership are all encouraged to attend.

Kelly Wirges of ProMax Training and Consulting is keynote presenter for this year’s conference and will offer training on brand-building and “5-Star Service”

strategies.

Other programming includes a panel discussion on maximizing audience, moderated by Ellen Kreth of the Madison County Record in Huntsville, and the everpopular “Hot Ideas” exchange moderated

by Dennis Dunn of the Anniston (Alabama) Star.

The cost is $25. To register, or for more information, visit ArkLaMissConference. wordpress.com

ArkLaMiss speaker to emphasize importance of branding

Continued from Page 1

That should sound familiar to newspaper managers and advertising representatives, who are consistently advising customers on how to improve their own brands.

However, when they are so busy crafting messages to support other businesses, sometimes they neglect their own.

“I work a lot on the ad side of the business, but at some of the smaller newspapers there are publishers and editors selling ads,” Wirges said. “We are wearing a lot of hats today and that becomes more difficult to make sure we’re connecting with the customers and doing everything it takes to build a relationship with a community.”

Wirges said she “grew up with newspapers” and earned a degree in advertising at the University of Nebraska. There, she sold ads for the Daily Nebraskan college newspaper. She then went on to work for four newspapers in five states, and was

training director for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi.

her approach to training in order to get more participation from attendees online.

In 1993, Wirges started her company, ProMax Training & Consulting, Inc., and one of her first clients was the Mississippi Press Association, a cosponsor of the ArkLaMiss conference.

Since launching ProMax, she has helped scores of media companies increase their revenue. Wirges has authored more than 50 training programs, has customized materials for hundreds of companies and has helped more than 200,000 ProMax alumni increase sales.

She’s been a frequent presenter at inperson media conferences, and has been a speaker at previous conferences hosted by APA.

“I use chat as much as I can, because I find people will respond to a question or a poll or input something in chat rather than speak to the entire group,” she said.

“I find that I ask a lot more questions, and ask them to think about it as I’m sharing information. I ask them to give themselves a scorecard as to how they can improve.

To keep (participants) engaged with questions and ideas helps the process.”

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, she’s been presenting her training sessions virtually. Wirges has adapted

Wirges’s presentation starts at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 12. The ArkLaMiss conference lineup also includes a panel discussion on increasing audiences for community newspapers and the popular Hot Ideas Exchange, where participants share their best revenue-generating and cost-saving tips.

Nat Lea elected president of America’s Newspapers Nat Lea, president and CEO of WEHCO Media in Little Rock, was elected president of America’s Newspapers on Tuesday, October 19. He succeeds Alan Fisco, president and chief financial officer of The Seattle Times Company, who becomes immediate past president.

Lea was the president of Arkansas Press Association in 2016, and served for nine years on the APA board of directors.

America’s Newspapers is an advocacy group incorporated in Washington, D.C. It describes itself as “an unapologetic and relentless champion for newspapers and a voice for the newspaper industry.”

Members elected officers for 2021-22 during the Senior Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs this week.

To learn more about America’s Newspapers, visit newspapers.org.

Support the future of Arkansas journalism by giving to the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation.

Ways to give: Estate planning, memorial and honor gifts and charitable donations. The Arkansas Newspaper Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.

For more information call APA at 501-374-1500 or email info@arkansaspress.org.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

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October 21, 2021

HSVV’s Allen featured in national publication The February sale of the Hot Springs Village Voice, previously a Gannett-owned newspaper, to former publisher Jennifer Allen was highlighted recently in Editor & Publisher magazine. Gannett, the national leader in newspaper ownership, has begun selling some of its smaller papers, such as the Voice. The Oct. 5 feature by E&P reporter Gretchen A. Peck explored the dynamics of returning those papers to local control.

Allen has worked in newspapers for 33 years, including the past 14 at the Voice.

When Gannett eliminated her publisher position in 2020, a Gannett executive suggested Allen buy the paper. Allen told E&P, “I said, ‘I didn’t even know that was an option.’ He told me it might be and said I should think about it and offered to connect me with the right people at Gannett.”

The following months Allen spent working with potential lenders and building her business plan, including putting in place systems and suppliers to boost workflow, circulation, advertising and production.

She says in the piece, “One thing I’m grateful for, about my time at Gannett, is that I learned how to manage,” she said.

“Being a general manager, a publisher or regional ad director? Those types of roles allow you to be privy to what goes on at the paper. You see the P&L statements at the end of the month, so you are well aware of how it’s doing and what it takes to run a newspaper.”

Allen officially took over the Voice Feb. 16.

Among Allen’s changes: building the staff back up to full strength and refocusing on local news. She rehired longtime Voice employees Lewis Delavan and Jeff Meek, whose positions had been eliminated by Gannett.

An Oct. 12 story by Meek about the E&P feature reported that Allen’s purchase and the changes she implemented has had an “immediate” impact, clear from the weeks-long flood of positive comments employees have received from local residents grateful to have a true community newspaper again.

APA Executive Director Ashley Wimberley hailed Allen’s purchase as a boon to Hot Springs Village and a hopeful trend. “State and national stories and wire copy have their place, but in a tight-knit community like Hot Springs Village and so many others in Arkansas, generalized content can never have the same effect as news that comes from within and is about that community,” said Wimberley.

“Local stories distinguish each newspaper from all others. And the communities lucky enough to have them reward that narrower focus with subscriptions and advertising investment; they know the paper will be read because it’s about the subscribers themselves.”

Allen had the closing quote in the E&P feature, a sentiment familiar to many in the industry. “This paper is my heart and soul,” she said.

Jennifer Allen

La Prensa Libre applies for APA membership La Prensa Libre, a Spanish-language free newspaper covering Washington and Benton Counties in northwest Arkansas, has applied for membership to the Arkansas Press Association. The APA Constitution and Bylaws require three notifications of the application to APA membership. This is the first of those

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

three notifications.

La Prensa Libre is owned by NWA Newspapers, LLC and WEHCO Media.

Brent Powers is the general manager of the publication and Breybinda Alvarez is the editor. It was first printed in November 2009 and publishes weekly on Wednesdays. The newspaper, having

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been published weekly for more than two years, is eligible for full APA membership.

Any APA member who objects to La Prensa Libre’s membership in APA may provide a written letter of objection to APA Executive Director Ashley Wimberley, 411 S. Victory St., Little Rock AR 72201 or email info@arkansaspress.org

October 21, 2021

Arkansas Press Association

CALL FOR JUDGES Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest

Editorial • Adver tising • Photography First 10 judges to complete the assignment will receive an Amazon gift card. :

Editorial categories include: • News and Feature Writing • Column Writing • Sports News and Photos • Headline Writing • Best Podcast Advertising categories include: • Restaurant, Auto and Home ads • Promo and House ads • Digital ads • Community Marketing ads • Layout and Design pages

SIGN UP:

www.arkansaspress.org/ event/JudgesSign-up

Writer’s dream come true as MDR reporter new hire

Free E&P Webinar coming up on Oct. 27 Editor & Publisher magazine will host a webinar with the topic of maximizing print and online subscription revenue by leveraging turnkey solutions on Wednesday, October 27, at 11 a.m.

Presented by Phil Schroder, Senior Director of Engagement & Loyalty at McClatchy and John Quaintance, VP Circulation of Six Rivers Media, participants will learn their “best strategies for laser targeting the right audience, at the right price, at the right time” and “gain actionable, take-to-market, proven solutions that can be implemented by any size media company to grow needed subscription revenue.”

The webinar is free. For more information or to register, visit https://www. editorandpublisher.com/stories/maximize-print-and-online-subscription-revenue-byleveraging-turnkey-solutions,205386?newsletter=205098

Spring River Chronicle now publishing one day later The Spring River Chronicle in Hardy announced Oct. 13 it would be changing its weekly publication date from Tuesday to Wednesday. The announcement explained the change was due to

Virginia Pitts has joined the staff of the Malvern Daily Record as a reporter. The job is Pitt’s first in journalism, though she told the MDR she had long wanted to pursue a career in writing.

THE ARKANSAS FREEDOM OF INFORMATION HANDBOOK The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides the public the right to request access to records from any state, county or municipal agency. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.

Pitts graduated from Bismark High School in 1992 and attended the University of Arkansas but left before completing her degree. In 2017, the now-mother of four decided to go back to school. Pitts graduated with honors in 2019 from National Park College in Hot Springs, then entered the Professional and Technical Writing program at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She graduated from UALR in May, earning her bachelor’s with a 4.0 GPA.

It’s YOUR RIGHT to know!

• Open and closed public meetings • How to file a FOIA request • Exemptions to the FOIA • FOIA FAQ

Pitts told the MDR in an Oct. 12 article about her hiring that despite her academic credentials, even entry-level jobs she’d pursued had required professional writing experience. She said she was in an “awful Catch-22 situation” until MDR Editor Pete Tubbs read her writing samples and offered her a job in the newsroom.

“I grew up reading this paper every day,” Pitts said. “In my wildest dreams I did imagine being a hotshot reporter. But I never really expected this to happen. It’s a dream come true.”

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

unavoidable logistics issues and shipping delays at a Columbia, Missouri print facility. Subscribers will now receive the paper on Wednesday mornings.

To request your FREE copy of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Handbook, email info@arkansaspress.org or call (501) 374-1500.

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October 21, 2021

WE'RE POWERING THE POWER OF THE PRESS. Many of our 17 Distribution Partners deliver power to the printing facilities that deliver news to communities just like yours around the state. And we’ll continue to be there where you need us, powering our future, together.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS Sandra Byrd, Vice President 501-570-2627 sbyrd@aecc.com Rob Roedel, Director 501-570-2296 rob.roedel@aeci.com DISTRIBUTION COOPERATIVES Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative .....................479-667-2176 Ashley-Chicot Cooperative ..................................... 870-853-5212 C&L Electric Cooperative .......................................870-628-4221 Carroll Electric Cooperative ................................... 870-423-2161 Clay County Electric Cooperative........................... 870-857-3521 Craighead Electric Cooperative ..............................870-932-8301 Farmers Electric Cooperative .................................870-523-3691 First Electric Cooperative .......................................800-489-7405 Mississippi County Electric Cooperative ...............870-763-4563 North Arkansas Electric Cooperative.....................870-895-3221 Ouachita Electric Cooperative ................................ 877-252-4538 Ozarks Electric Cooperative ................................... 800-521-6144 Petit Jean Electric Cooperative ...............................501-745-2493 Rich Mountain Electric Cooperative ...................... 479-394-4140 South Central Arkansas Electric Cooperative ....... 870-246-6701 Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative..............870-772-2743 Woodruff Electric Cooperative ...............................870-633-2262

1 Cooperative Way • Little Rock, AR 72209 • (501) 570-2200 • www.ecark.org

Guest Column: Into the Issues: Lead by example

By Al Cross Millions of Americans say they won’t get vaccinated to protect themselves, their families and their neighbors from the coronavirus, but polling and anecdotal evidence show that some will change their minds. Community newspapers have a role to play in that, especially in rural America, where vaccination rates are lower than the rest of the nation, sometimes dangerously lower.

Few vaccine-hesitant or -resistant people are likely to be persuaded by a news story or editorial urging vaccination, but it’s important to keep delivering facts about the vaccines, because social media are awash with misinformation about them.

But how do we reach the majority of people in our communities, those who don’t regularly read their local newspaper?

Close readers of this column may remember that last month, I wrote that Kentucky officials were considering our proposal, with the Kentucky Press Association, to subsidize sample copying of newspapers that contained information about the coronavirus. We had a tentative commitment, but higher-ups turned down the plan “for now.” I think our opportunity has passed, but it could still be viable in almost any other state, so here it is.

Please steal it.

The fundamental concept is to amplify the trust enjoyed by community newspapers and local health-care providers.

Our plan called for participating newspapers to produce four pages with pandemic information, hopefully with a local focus and quoting local providers, health officials and people who changed their minds about getting vaccinated.

Ideally, a story on the front page would explain to non-subscribers why and how they were getting the paper.

Arkansas Publisher Weekly

The state, presumably using federal pandemic relief funds, would buy four display ads for the section and help cover the extra cost of printing and mailing a sample-copy edition. We came up with a formula that’s too involved to explain here, but we can share it with you.

Newspapers would keep complete editorial control, but the state would pay for an independent consultant I recommended to help papers through the sample-copy process and come up with good story ideas, sources and approaches. To those who wondered about the link between editorial content and an advertiser, I said this concept was much like the common practice of an advertiser buying space if it were in a certain part of the paper.

One other point about those healthcare providers: They may need a little encouragement from you. A poll for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky in August found that only 20 percent of Kentucky adults said that a doctor or other health-care provider had contacted them about getting vaccinated against the coronavirus. It appears that vaccination is a lightning rod for health professionals, too.

There’s another way to vaccination: lead by example.

promote

That’s what Alan Gibson, editor and publisher of the Clinton County News in Albany, Ky., did in his Sept. 23 edition.

On the back page was a house ad telling readers that the paper’s entire staff of five was vaccinated and urging readers to do likewise.

Gibson told me he got the idea from the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s “Covid Stops Here” campaign, which provides signs that businesses can download and

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print to display their level of vaccination, and lets them post their logos to do likewise.

Gibson knew his staff was fully vaccinated.

“I thought, we should promote this,” he said. Why? “We’re one of the hardest-hit counties in the nation but we’re one of the slowest to get vaccinated.” And he thought it would be better to persuade by example than to lecture: “Do as I do, you know? I’m tired of arguing with people, because the arguments aren’t valid.” He said it’s worth the effort “if just one or two people look at it and say, ‘I need to go ahead and do this.’”

In addition to editing and publishing The Rural Blog, I do likewise with Kentucky Health News, which sends a weekly update to Kentucky editors. A few weeks ago, I told them, “There is no more immediately pressing public interest in this country than persuading people to get vaccinated, and local medical professionals and news media are more trusted than those at state and national levels. Please do your part.

It’s a slog, but if the heroes of public health can do it, so can we.”

What are you vaccination?

doing

to

promote

Al Cross edited and managed rural newspapers before covering politics for the Louisville Courier Journal and serving as president of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is extension professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky and director of its Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog at IRJCI. blogspot.com, Kentucky Health News at KyHealthNews.org and the Midway Messenger at MidwayMessenger.org.

October 21, 2021

ArkLaMiss Circulation & Marketing Conference

ArkLaMiss CIRCULATION & MARKETING CONFERENCE Circulation & Audience Growth

Friday, November 12 Virtual via ZOOM

Please visit this link to register: http://arklamissconference.com/ Registration is $25

Conference Agenda 10:00 AM 11:30 AM 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 2:15 PM

Build Your Brand, Build Your Business/Implementing a 5-Star Service Strategy Presenter: Kelly Wirges Break Panel Discussion: Maximizing your Audience Moderator: Ellen Kreth Break Hot Ideas Exchange Moderator: Dennis Dunn

Guest Speaker

Kelly Wirges, ProMax Training & Consulting About the Session: Your brand is a combination of actions, ideas and innovation consistently applied to create a persona that differentiates your company from competitors. Over time, your identity becomes associated with the level of quality, credibility and value you offer to your customers. Your brand helps distinguish you as a preferred advisor and news source in today’s crowded and complex marketplace. However, creating and developing your brand is more than simply providing exceptional customer service and quality news. To achieve a substantial competitive advantage, you need to have a 5-Star Strategy. How are you going to delight each customer? Stand out from the pack? What is going to make doing business with your company unique and different? Why would someone refer your company to their friends and family? Join this session to learn a step-by-step process to build your vision, plan and future success.