Guest Column:
Plan to Grow in 2025
By Kevin Slimp
Arkansas Press Association PUBLISHER
Vol.19 | No. 51 |Thursday, December 19, 2024 | Serving Press and State Since 1873
In ad sales since 1984, Wallace has weathered many changes
The changes in newspaper and media marketing over the past four decades in Northwest Arkansas clearly have been monumental, and Doug Wallace has been right at the forefront, and in the trenches, all along the way.
Asked what his current position is at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Wallace paused for a moment and said with a laugh, “let me check and see what my business card says.” As it turns out, he is a major accounts executive.
Years of calling on all types of businesses in his booming corner of the state clearly have not dampened Wallace’s resolve or his enthusiasm. Early in his career, “I realized that I love my job, my associates and newspapers in general,” Wallace said. “And I love helping those whose businesses I serve.”
Among his many duties, Wallace currently is responsible for sales to all the hospitals in Northwest Arkansas and works with all the advertising agencies connected to the newspaper. He still has numerous long-term accounts from his early days in the market, including Underwood Fine Jewelers and Southtown Sporting Goods. He particularly enjoys working with nursing homes and assisted living companies in the region and considers it something of a specialty in his sales repertoire. “A lot of it is new business and the companies are really wanting to get the word out,” he said. Wallace explained that many younger and middle-aged people are moving to Northwest Arkansas, and they are looking for living arrangements for their retired parents.
was at the newspaper for more than 50 years. “He was the best –period. Ask anyone who worked for him.”
Wallace, 77, was at the center of the famous changes and mergers in the Northwest Arkansas media scene that spanned some 25 years. “Every merger created a new environment in which to adapt quickly or die,” he said, noting that on more than one occasion staffs that had been involved in fierce competition ended up in the same building with instructions to congenially work together. “It was really uncomfortable at times,” he remembers. All those types of changes and challenges were somewhat insignificant, however, to one that came along in the first decade of the 21st Century – namely, the Internet. “There are no close seconds,” Wallace said. “As an old school ad salesman, it’s been a journey. As a legacy media, to survive we have no choice (but to adapt). In the last 20 years, we have lost 3,000 newspapers.”
Looking at that challenge, Wallace said, “failure to teach sales folks how to sell digital is a biggie, especially older ad reps. Not everyone could publish a newspaper (in earlier days), but it seems everyone now (ad agencies, radio/tv/ billboards, Cousin Eddie) say they are experts in digital — from websites to video streaming advertising. And, as it turns out, they are not.
After working about a decade in the retail sector following graduation from college, Wallace began with the Springdale News in 1984. “It was a very traditional small-town newspaper,” he said. He especially enjoyed working with editor Jim Morriss, who
“It has been a difficult transition. For one thing, you have to establish the fact that you know what you are talking about. And you must believe in what you are doing. You have to keep your sales staff educated in the changes because the competition is doing just that. The main thing is to make sure you help your customer get butts in the seats or keep feet coming through the door.”
Doug Wallace
Wallace
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Wallace said the degree to which digital has become so dominant can be seen by walking into a room full of students at the University of Arkansas. “I could walk in buck naked, and no one would notice me because they have their eyes glued to their phones,” he said. Wallace has, of course, experienced the marketing decline of newspapers during his long career, noting that at one time he could book $200,000 in automotive advertising orders in one afternoon. “It’s not the media it used to be. There was a time when you could put a wheelbarrow out in front of the newspaper office and people would come along and put money in it,” he said with a laugh.
Asked what it takes to be an effective newspaper salesperson, Wallace cited “empathy, competitiveness and learning when to talk and when to listen – on a 20% to 80% ratio.”
Another important piece of advice is never taking a “no” personally when making sales calls.
“Half of selling anything is the importance of knowing who you are selling to and what their needs are,” he added. “Working retail early in my career gave me a good feel for businesses. It doesn’t take me long after walking through the door to know what I am dealing with.
“It’s hard to hire good salespeople, and there aren’t many out there. And those that are may not be willing to enter the transfer portal.”
Wallace has been fortunate to work in an area of immense population and business growth during his career. He cites the influence and impact of three legendary businessmen as crucial
to that growth – Sam Walton, Don Tyson and J.B. Hunt. Another important factor, he believes, was the development of Beaver Lake, as it relates to providing an important water supply for both residential and industrial needs.
He also notes the development of the new Walmart Headquarters in Bentonville, a $2 billion project encompassing 350 acres that will relocate company employees from across the country.
He does worry some about the rapid degree of the regional growth, fearing “it is happening faster than they can make good decisions on infrastructure.”
Wallace grew up in Little Rock and graduated from Catholic High School for Boys in 1965. As a youth he was a newsboy for both the Arkansas Democrat and Arkansas Gazette newspapers. “I’d stand at the intersection of University (Hayes Street) and Asher and sell them,” he said.
He then went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing and psychology from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Upon graduation, he accepted a marketing position with Federated Department Stores in Dallas. He returned to his hometown as marketing director for 555, a company which sold appliances throughout Arkansas. Wallace eventually worked in marketing for several firms in Little Rock and the Fayetteville area before entering the newspaper industry in 1984.
Wallace and his wife, Susan, who also had a career in marketing and advertising, have three children and nine grandchildren in a blended family. He has a daughter who lives in San Diego, and she has a son in Orlando and a daughter in Little Rock.
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Wallace with grandson Kyle Stirewalt, on a trip to Cape Canaveral.
The Wallaces love to travel and often search for items for a flea market booth they maintain. They are dedicated Razorback fans and attend football, basketball and baseball games. One of their grandsons, Alex Johnson, is an offensive lineman (No. 62) on the Razorback football team.
Wallace also loves to trout fish during trips to the family cabin on the White River near Mountain View. At one point he was working to become a pilot but eventually gave it up because of the expense.
Wallace is proud to be associated with newspapers and is a firm believer in their importance to society and democracy.
He has strong words of praise for the editorial staff of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the newspaper’s leadership, guided by president Brent Powers. “He certainly has a challenging job,” Wallace said.
“I also feel lucky to have worked for (WEHCO Media chairman) Walter E. Hussman, Jr.,” he said. “He has been very good to me. The main thing is that he loves newspapers and does all he can to maintain a fantastic editorial staff.
“It is a great staff and people in Northwest Arkansas know that and respect them. They are important because they tell the truth. My reporters would die before they ever wrote a fictitious story.
“Newspapers are so important to our democracy and our way of life. Our society and culture have been told repeatedly about ‘fake news’ by some in important positions. Newspapers do and must continue to report the news based on truth, proven science and
not political agendas.
“Sadly, our citizens – way too many – can’t tell the difference between truth and nonsense. They only want to believe what suits their ego and to be right, even if they are not. Many just do not have the ability to understand.
“But newspapers must continue to report the truth and not waste time arguing with fools and fanatics who care not about the truth or reality – only their versions of the world.
“If it’s print, or digital, so be it – newspapers must move forward."
2025 Pulitzer Prize journalism competition open for entries
The 2025 Pulitzer Prize competition in Journalism, recognizing work published in the 2024 calendar year, has opened. Entries must be received by the Jan. 27, 2025, deadline at 10:59 p.m. Central time.
2025 Pulitzer Prize winners and nominated finalists in Journalism and the Books, Drama & Music categories will be announced on Monday, May 5, 2025, at 2 p.m. Central time.
Submission Guidelines, Requirements and FAQs may be found at www.pulitzer.org/page/2023journalism-submission-guidelines-requirementsand-faqs. Technical Requirements which delineate important updates to the competition are at www. pulitzer.org/page/technical-requirements-2022journalism-entries. A full list of all 15 Journalism categories is available at www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-categories.
RATE CARDS REQUESTED
As we prepare for 2025, APA needs your current rate cards and media kits. Please send rate cards, circulation info and demographics, if available, to rebecca@arkansaspress.org so that we can make sure we have the most up-to-date information on file.
Doug and Susan Wallace pose with Big Red at an Arkansas Razorbacks baseball game
ARKANSAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
THROWBACK THURSDAY
Throwback Thursday: Dean Walls with the White River Journal’s new Linotype machine
The White River Journal was established at Des Arc by Charles A. Walls in August 1907, and until the arrival of the new Linotype in 1954 had been typeset by hand. Dean Walls, who was married to Wall’s son, Charles J. Walls and who had worked for the newspaper since1945, oversaw the conversion from hand layout to Linotype while learning from a three-inch-thick owner’s manual how to perform both the regular and emergency maintenance the machine needed.
The arrival of the Linotype required the relocation of the newspaper’s equipment to a new office directly across the street from the Journal’s original location, to provide a concrete floor for the machine. Des Arc High School students standing next to Walls in the new office are (L to R) Sandra White, Lynwood King and Sylvia Gipson
Walls later spearheaded the White River Journal’s conversion to offset printing in 1972, then to computer pagination in 1998. She became publisher and editor of the newspaper in 1980 after her husband became too ill to continue in the role. The newspaper published weekly through its 110th anniversary in August 2017, then, due to Wall’s failing eyesight, moved to intermittent digital publication. Walls worked at the Journal until her death in August 2018 at age 97, having laid out a page of obituaries the day before the brief hospitalization which ended a 72+ year career. Her son, Charles R. Walls, maintains the newspaper’s Facebook page.
Press Women 2025 Professional Communications Contest opens
The Arkansas Press Women Professional Communications Contest is open for entries of work published, posted or broadcast in the 2024 calendar year.
APW contest categories reflect the responsibilities of professional communicators, including writing and editing for print, broadcast or the Web; photography; graphic design; advertising; and public relations. The professional contest also includes categories for work appearing in college media as well as a category for college media advisers. In addition, there are new opportunities to enter in several categories, including Books, Short Stories and Verse, Photography, Radio/Television and Collegiate/Education.
The contest is open to all, but entry fees are lower for APW members. Anyone may join; the club is not exclusive to women only. To join or renew your membership, visit https://arkansaspresswomen. org/about-apw/
Enter the APW Professional Communications Contest at https:// nfpwcontest.secure-platform.com/a/organizations/ar/home The early entry deadline is noon on Jan. 29, 2025. Entries will be accepted after that date and time, but will be subject to an additional fee.
Contest requirements are outlined at https://nfpwcontest.secureplatform.com/a/page/professional-communications-contest/ professional-category-requirements
Contact Arkansas professional contest directors Kristin Netterstrom Higgins at zesty_krstn@yahoo.com or Richard S. Plotkin at rsplotkin@conwaycorp.net if you have questions about the contest or need assistance.
Photo courtesy the White River Journal, reprinted with permission.
Guest Column: Plan to Grow in 2025
The new year is a perfect time to make plans to grow
By Kevin Slimp
I always receive a lot of “fan mail” when I write a “ten tips” or “five best” column. In this digital age, I suppose we’ve all become accustomed to quick bites of information. With that in mind – and in honor of the final days of 2024 and the early part of 2025 – I’ve composed a list of tips for my newspaper friends and readers. I’m calling it:
Kevin’s Tips to Grow Your Newspaper in 2025
Tip 1: Make your customers feel special. Whether it’s your paid subscribers or advertisers, find ways to make them feel special in the coming year. Send hand-written notes to say “thanks” for supporting your local business. Make your subscribers feel special by adding a note with each subscription reminder. Make it a group effort. At many newspapers, staff take turns writing “thank you” notes with each subscription reminder. Personally deliver simple gifts to advertisers this year. I remember how much I always loved it when a vendor would drop by my office with a box of cookies or another small gift. I teach classes in communications and customer service. I often remind students that gaining a new customer takes 20 times more effort than keeping an existing customer. Job #1 is keeping our current customers happy.
Tip 2: Replace outdated equipment. Before you start yelling, I ask you to remember that I don’t get hardware and software for free either. I purchased a new M4 Mac Mini in November, and I’ve not looked back. The speed at which I get my work done sometimes amazes me. I don’t have time to wait on slow equipment, and I don’t want to spend more on payroll so others can work on slow equipment. As the new year begins, look around your newsroom and make a list of outdated computers. Replace (or add to) your on-site backup drives each year. External drives tend to last two or three years. Page designers should not be working on five-yearold computers. The larger the monitor, the less time it takes to design a page. Time really is money.
Tip 3: If you haven’t already, create a master chart to track your sales calls. This tip is so important that I’m including it for a second straight year. Be sure to include columns for “in-person,” “phone,” “text,” and “email” calls. Look over your calls with your ad manager or publisher at the end of each week. A master chart is a straightforward method for increasing the number of calls, guaranteeing increased ad revenue. It is also an excellent
reminder to make more in-person calls rather than relying too much on email or other contact methods. My publisher friends tell me this step often makes a significant difference in sales.
Tip 4: Research and apply for grants. I spent an hour with a publisher who recently received a $100,000 grant this morning. Two newspapers I work with have received six-figure grants over the past few months. One publisher said they started applying for grants after hearing me speak about them at a newspaper association convention. Several other clients received grants in 2024 for $15-25k. Call the Small Business Bureau (in some states, grants come through the Economic and Community Development office) and ask about grants for small businesses. You can also find information about grants at grants.gov.
Tip 5: Redesign your newspaper. I can’t think of anything that will kick-start excitement about a community newspaper more than a total redesign. If you’ve redesigned your paper in the past five years, feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph. If, however, it’s been more than five years since you’ve redesigned your paper, you are losing an excellent opportunity to keep existing readers and win over new readers and advertisers. A common theme among papers I’ve redesigned (no, you don’t have to hire me to redesign your newspaper) is growth in readership, subscribers, and ad revenue afterward.
Tip 6: Hold a staff brainstorming session. Schedule a time in advance so everyone can begin formulating ideas. There’s no better time than the beginning of a new year to gather your staff and ask, “What can we do to be better?” Get everyone away from their desks and hold the meeting in a conference room, or leave the office and meet in a restaurant meeting space. Have a whiteboard and marker handy. I’ve been around for many of these sessions, and the results are often remarkable. Ideas flow. Plans are made. Improvements happen almost immediately.
Tip 7: Get a high school reporter. Find a high school student – or a group of high school students – to provide weekly stories for your paper. Hold these stories to the same guidelines as other stories in your newspaper. At focus groups, I often hear readers speak out about their desire to learn more about what’s happening at the local high school. Plus, you might just attract younger readers.
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I had planned to include ten tips for newspapers in 2025. However, I passed my 800-word limit around the end of the sixth tip, and I learned long ago that most readers will never make it past 800 words. Let me take a personal moment for those who made it to the end of this column. I have been swamped with work in 2024, and 2025 doesn’t appear less busy. There are a lot of newspapers making serious plans to grow their papers. I’m noticing younger publishers and staff. I’m seeing a return to local ownership.
Something good is happening in our industry, and I’m thankful to be a part of it.
Kevin Slimp is a popular consultant, advisor and trainer in the newspaper industry. From 1997-2018, Kevin directed The Newspaper Institute of The University of Tennessee. He currently serves as CEO of Market Square Publishing and Chief Guru at NewspaperAcademy.com. Email him at kevin@kevinslimp.com.
