newsclips
APRIL 2012
2011 MOLSON COORS AWARD WINNER - HEIDI OSTNER, PRESIDENT OF AYR NEWS Congratulations to Heidi Ostner, President of Ayr News, for winning the 2011 Molson Coors Community Award in memory of Mary Knowles. Heidi not only shows great commitment to her family-owned newspaper business, but is dedicated to contributing to her community as well. Her long list of involvements include participating in the Ayr-Paris Band and founding the Ayr-Paris Junior Band. She sits on the Ayr Library Board and the North Dumfries Community Historical Committee. The Molson Coors Community Award in Memory of Mary Knowles is coordinated by the Ontario Community Newspapers Foundation and supported by Molson Coors Canada. Heidi received her award at the BNC Awards Gala on Friday April 27th at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Stay tuned for the next issue of NewsClips for more photos from the event or visit www.ocna.org.
AD*REACH MOVES TO ETEARS
BY ANNE LANNAN OCNA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Have you shared the news with your team that Ad*Reach will be switching to electronic tearsheets as of May? After a one month transitional period where newspapers will provide both the print and electronic tearsheet, this system will eliminate the need for hard copy tearsheets to be mailed to our Burlington office. So no more black fingers and postage costs. Ad*Reach has been operating its electronic tearsheeting program for the past year for our provincial and federal government accounts and we are very pleased with it. The system will now be implemented for all accounts with all member newspapers beginning in May. Please carefully read all your Ad*Reach insertion orders for instructions, especially during this transition. Once fully operational for all your Ad*Reach ads, this system will become second nature. We are now communicating with agencies to prepare them for the receipt of electronic tearsheets from Ontario’s community newspapers in the next few months.
Where do I go?
The link to connect to eTears is available to members on the AdLine, where you go to download your ads from Ad*Reach each week. Log-in to the OCNA website (www.ocna.org) as you normally would and you will notice the eTears link in the left-hand navigation bar. Continued on Page 3 >>>
WHAT’S INSIDE:
THE POWER OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK How and when to provide an employee with positive feedback.
See Page 12
LOCAL,LOCAL, LOCAL The importance and value of shopping locally.
See Page 11
WHY WE NEED TO ASK WHY Designers can learn a lot if they just ask why.
See Page 17
April 2012 MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE ONTARIO1COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS ASSOCIATION www.ocna.org
INDUSTRY NEWS
NEW LOOK FOR NETWORK CLASSIFIEDS BY ANNE LANNAN OCNA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
You will notice a new look to the Network Classified Advertising design next week as a sample of the new ads will be posted for your review, a week prior to launching. Aside from the new look in the initial few weeks, the difference in the process for members is the types of file we will post for you to download. With the new design, member newspapers will now only have the choice of PDFs to download. One of the reasons is that the ads are now being created using InDesign, instead of QuarkXPress. But, we will be adding small logos to the Network Classifieds for interested clients so need to preserve the integrity of the material, while ensuring the program is as user-friendly for our member newspapers. The addition of logos to the word ads is the next step in the evolution of the program which is the main revenue generating program for your association. As is the trend with paid classified ads in newspapers, the number of ads sent to you by OCNA each week has been declining slightly each year. Thus the space you have been dedicating to the program has also decreased, thus the amount of rebate sent to our participating papers has decreased proportionately. In 2011 the association distributed $251,000 to our members, compared to $287,000 the year prior. It is our goal to continue to increase that amount through initiative like the inclusion of logos. The association also wants to remind participating papers of the revenue stream this program brings to you and your team, as you earn a 35% finder’s fee for each ad your team upsells into the program. That’s a $166.25 take on an All Ontario 25 word ad. Events, real estate, business opportunities, online sales…
IN THIS ISSUE...
April 2012
05
...............................................................WORKING WITH CANADA POST
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.........................NEWSPAPERS CELEBRATING MORE THAN 50 YEARS
11
.............................................................................LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL
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....................................................THE POWER OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK
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.....................................................................................A GEM OF AN IDEA
15
................DO BUSINESSES KNOW WHAT THEIR CUSTOMERS WANT?
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.............SALES NEGOTIATIONS, PLUS TIME, EQUALS MORE MONEY!
17
........................................................................WHY WE NEED TO ASK WHY
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NEWSCLIPS VOLUME 01, ISSUE 10 3050 Harvester Rd. #103 Burlington, ON L7N 3J1 p.905.639.8720 f.905-639.6962 e. info@ocna.org w. www.ocna.org OCNA BOARD PRESIDENT
Mike Mount
FIRST VP
Maureen Keeler
SECOND VP
Gordon Cameron
SECRETARY/ TRESURER
Dave Harvey
PAST PRESIDENT
Don MacLeod
DIRECTORS
Dave Adsett Andrea DeMeer Abbas Homayed Rick Shaver Ray Stanton John Willems
OCNA STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Anne Lannan
CONTROLLER
Todd Frees
MEMBER SERVICES
Karen Shardlow Kelly Gorven
NETWORK CLASSIFIEDS
Carol Lebert Susana Czyrnek
ACCOUNTING
Lucia Shepherd
AD*REACH
Ted Brewer Doug Sexton Carolyn Press Erica Leyzac
www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
MEMBER NEWS
TORSTAR ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP CHANGE AT TORSTAR DIGITAL Torstar announced April 12 that Tomer Strolight is leaving Torstar Digital to pursue a unique leadership opportunity with a new venture. Chris Goodridge has been named Acting President of Torstar Digital. Chris joined Torstar in 2004 and has been involved with Torstar Digital since 2006 in a variety of business development roles and most recently as the division’s Vice President and CFO.
INDUSTRY MOURNS THE LOSS OF A LONG-TIME NEWSPAPERMAN On Friday, March 30, Bill Allen, the regional general manager of the Huntsville Forester, Bracebridge Examiner, Gravenhurst Banner, Parry Sound North Star, Almaguin News and North Bay Nipissing News, passed away at the age of 61. Parry Sound was not only where he was born and raised, but it became the hub of his media career. He began as manager of CFBQ radio and later moved to newspapers joining publisher Don Smith at the Georgian Bay Beacon in 1980. His long list of newspaper involvements include Muskoka Publications Group’s Muskoka Advance in Bracebridge, Muskoka Publications Group’s Huntsville Herald-News, Huntsville Herald and Highland Herald in Almaguin. As the newspaper industry evolved and Metroland Media Group Ltd. began purchasing newspapers, Bill took on the role of general manager for many newspapers throughout the Muskoka, Parry Sound, Almguin and North Bay area. In 2009, Bill was recognized with a prestigious Silver Quill Award for 25 years in the newspaper industry. He leaves behind family, friends and a long-lasting impact on area newspapers and the communities they served.
ANOTHER WIN FOR SCUGOG STANDARD The Scugog Standard recently won first prize from the Canadian Community Newspaper Association for its 2012 Great Ideas Award which honours innovative and creative methods of newspaper marketing and promotions. Chalk up another win for The Standard! The Standard received first prize in its circulation category for Best Promotional Campaign by a community newspaper for the annual Chrome by the Lake Classic Car Show and Shine. This annual event, which attracts hundreds of classic car owners with their vehicles to the shores of Lake Scugog each summer, is a fundraiser for the Scugog Shores Museum. The show and shine is organized, sponsored and advertised by The Standard and the event is manned entirely B by Y Standard • T H Estaff, • family L A Kand E friends.
B Y •
T H E •
L A K E
Bill Allen, his wife Gwen and their dog Lucky in Spring 2011. April 2012
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www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS >>> Continued from Front Page
INDUSTRY AD CAMPAIGN
What will I see?
The new eTears system has been designed for ease of use and includes brief explanatory notes. If you are required to upload a tearsheet, the Ad*Reach insertion order numbers for any outstanding tearsheets will be displayed. To upload material, simply browse your files to upload the PDF of the page required. If there are no current tearsheets outstanding, the screen will read No Tearsheets are required at this time. This system does not maintain any rate or financial information. Member newspapers can only view tearsheet requirements for their own titles.
Dear OCNA members: The Ontario Community Newspapers Association is pleased to provide its members with an industry advertising campaign – fully adaptable to include newspaper flags. The campaign includes a series of 7 ads and an editorial and has been designed to remind readers and advertisers that Community Newspapers are the original Local Social Network. With the tagline ‘Did you see in the paper…’, the series reflects that articles and ads get people connecting with one another and calls them to action, and this is what builds community.
What kind of files do I upload?
The system takes Single Page PDFs only, saved at a maximum of 300dpi. Do not send compressed files or low-resolution files you may have created for your web site. These files must be the same ones you send to your printer; no changes are permitted. The entire page with the associated ad must be uploaded to scale with page number and date clearly visible.
What to do: 1. Go to www.ocna.org and log into the Member’s site
(user: member, password: ocmb2010) Under the left hand navigation bar under ‘member’, go to the OCNA Programs & Services folder. Here you will find the folder ‘2011 Social Media Ads’ which contains a subfolder for each of the ads and contains the necessary fonts and graphics.
When should I upload files?
You can upload your files after you send them to your printer, but must be done within three days of publication otherwise for most accounts. Please note that Provincial and Federal Government ads require 24 hour Proof of Insertion, so must be uploaded within 24 hours of publication.
2. Download the files. Ads have been created in CS2 –
InDesign. If you do not have InDesign at your newspaper, please contact OCNA Member Services Coordinator Kelly Gorven at k.gorven@ocna.org and send her your newspaper flag. She can then send you PDFs of the ads customized for you.
What if I make a mistake?
3. The seven ads reflect – news, entertainment,
Once the Ad*Reach Media Coordinators receive your electronic tearsheets for review, they have the option to ‘reject’ a tearsheet – for example, if it’s the wrong date, wrong ad, etc. If rejected, the tearsheet request will reappear on your newspaper screen with the reason for rejection included in red.
advertising, sports, seniors, community events. Respecting copyright, trademarks, and libelous material, you may change the text and images to better reflect something in your own community, without having them look like an ad for a specific local advertiser or event.
If there is a problem with the ad in the printed edition (eg colour separation, text/artwork falls off, etc.) you must notify your AdReach Coordinator immediately and send hard copy tearsheets. Newspapers are required to make hard copy tearsheets available up to three months from publication should a matter arise that requires an advertiser to review a printed edition.
4. Translation –
member newspapers publishing in other languages may translate the ads.
5. The bubble ‘Did you see in the paper…’ can be used as an online icon on your web site if you would like to have it link directly to your ad material or editorial. A special note of appreciation to the Marketing Task Force for their input in this campaign. April 2012
Did you see in the paper...
about the new retirement community?
If I have questions…
The updated Ad*Reach policies/agreement document has been sent to each member. Should you have any immediate technical concerns or questions, please contact Kelly Gorven at k.gorven@ocna.org or 905-639-8720 ext 239. Any process requests can be made directly to your AdReach Coordinators Carolyn and Erica.
I’m calling today!
Community Newspapers Your Local Social Network
We are pleased to be able to offer this service for our member newspapers and look forward to hearing your feedback. Please share this information with your team. 4
www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
WORKING WITH CANADA POST
BY ANNE LANNAN OCNA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Canada Post is back in the news as Labour Minister Lisa Raitt appointed Guy Dufort to be the new arbitrator in the negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) for its Urban Units, effective March 19. The retired labour relations lawyer has to start the arbitration process from the beginning and will not be bound by any decisions made by the former arbitrator, the Honourable Justice Coulter Osborne, who was appointed last July. Under the terms of arbitration, Canada Post and CUPW will each present a final offer to Dufort that includes language with the terms and conditions of a proposed new collective agreement. Dufort will review and rule one of the offers in its entirety. His decision will be final. CUPW has stated that it is contesting the appointment based on the fact that they were unaware of Dufort’s involvement with the Federal Conservative Party; that he had been employed by Canada Post for several years; and was involved in the PSAC pay equity case.
MEMBER NEWS SEAWAY NEWS WELCOMES NEW EDITOR Todd Lihou recently joined the staff of Cornwall Seaway News as editor. Lihou will be responsible for all editorial operations of the newspaper, web site and oversee Cornwall Express, Seaway News Francophone newspaper. Lihou has been in the newspaper business for many years working at other weekly and daily newspapers.
JACK SIGVALDASON WINS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Newspapers Canada (CCNA) has continued to meet with Canada Post and has been successful in establishing a new policy with CPC to deal with member complaints. Newspapers should use the online tool for any complaints so the associations can track issues. It can be found under the Canada Post Help Centre section of the Newspapers Canada website. Previously, members did not have access to one number or location to deal with issues. The association has also been working with the post office to ensure that information to our membership is communicated quickly and clearly.
Jack Sigvaldason, will be awarded with the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 15th Annual Awards Gala on June 7th in Toronto. Jack has worked in the North as a reporter, editor and publisher for more than 40 years.
We are pleased to have had Josée Bergeron of Canada Post to address our members during the Independent Publishers session at the convention on Friday, April 27 at 9am. She touched on such things as:
FORT FRANCES TIMES EDITOR’S BOWLING TEAM CAPTURES BRONZE MEDAL
1. Progress report on Postal Transformation initiative, and its effect on service and delivery.
Fort Frances Times editor Mike Behan was a member of the Sunset Country mixed team that captured the bronze medal at the 2012 Northern Ontario 5-pin Bowling Championships held April 4-7 in Thunder Bay.
2. Late or non-delivery of mail, and how to report and resolve these issues, i.e., Commercial Service Network toll-free number 3. Transition to hard-sided containers 4. Improving communications between head office and postmasters,
and between postmasters and publishers – in particular, with regard to consistent application of regulations.
5. Possibility of Publications Mail for controlled (free)-distribution newspapers. 6. Status of union negotiations 7. New and upcoming customer
website development.
service improvements including
8. Pricing changes and other upcoming changes to Publications Mail and Unaddressed Admail. 9. We hope you will come out for this opportunity. April 2012
5
The squad finished fourth out of the six zones following the 15-game roundrobin, then beat third-place Cambrian North (Sudbury) in their first ‘stepladder’ match before losing to the eventual silvermedalists from Gold Belt (Timmins). Mike averaged 213 for the tournament, with his high game being a 310. Mike thanks the Times for helping sponsor his trip to the provincials. www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
ONTARIO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS CELEBRATING MORE THAN 50 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THEIR COMMUNITIES Newspaper
April 2012
Inception
Age in 2012
Brockville Recorder and Times Picton Gazette Prescott Journal Northumberland Today.com Goderich Signal-Star Fergus-Elora News Express Paris Star St. Marys Journal Argus Newmarket Era/Aurora Banner Clarington This Week Ayr News
1821 1831 1831 1834 1848 1852 1852 1853 1853 1854 1854
191 181 181 178 164 160 160 159 159 158 158
Pembroke Daily Observer Caledonia, The Sachem Kemptville EMC Waterloo Chronicle Markham Economist & Sun
1855 1856 1856 1856 1856
157 156 156 156 156
Collingwood Enterprise-Bulletin
1857
155
Kincardine News
1857
155
Milton Canadian Champion
1860
152
Seaforth Huron Expositor Mitchell Advocate
1860 1860
152 152
Gananoque Reporter
1860
152
Walkerton Herald Times Lindsay Post
1861 1861
151 151
Strathroy Age Dispatch Arthur Enterprise News Morrisburg Leader Barrie Examiner Port Perry Star
1862 1863 1864 1864 1866
150 149 148 148 146
Petrolia Topic
1866
146
Carleton Place/Almonte EMC Listowel Banner Mount Forest Confederate Uxbridge Times-Journal Parkhill Gazette
1866 1866 1867 1869 1870
146 146 145 143 142
Alliston Herald Napanee Beaver
1870 1870
142 142
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www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS Newspaper Glencoe Transcript & Free Press Wingham Advance Times Blue Mountains Courier-Herald Port Dover Maple Leaf Exeter Times-Advocate Lucknow Sentinel Leamington Post Parry Sound North Star Amherstburg Echo Watford Guide-Advocate Markdale Standard Stayner Sun Norwich Gazette New Hamburg Independent Kingsville Reporter Richmond Hill/Thornhill Liberal Huntsville Forester Georgetown/Acton Independent & Free Press Erin Advocate Wiarton Echo Arnprior Chronicle-Guide EMC Midland Free Press Manitoulin Expositor Hanover, The Post Aylmer Express Gravenhurst Banner Blenheim News-Tribune Clinton News Record Flesherton Advance Tilbury Times Dundas Star News Dundalk Herald Haliburton County Echo Burks Falls Almaguin News Thamesville Herald Tweed News Caledon Enterprise Winchester Press Stouffville Sun-Tribune Alexandria Glengarry News Forest Standard Orangeville Banner Cobden Sun Westport Review-Mirror Vankleek Hill Review Chesterville Record April 2012
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Inception 1871 1871 1871 1873 1873 1873 1874 1874 1874 1875 1875 1877 1877 1877 1877 1878 1878 1878 1879 1879 1879 1879 1879 1880 1880 1881 1881 1881 1882 1883 1883 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1887 1888 1888 1891 1893 1893 1893 1893 1893 1894
Age in 2012 141 141 141 139 139 139 138 138 138 137 137 135 135 135 135 134 134 134 133 133 133 133 133 132 132 131 131 131 130 129 129 129 128 127 126 125 125 124 124 121 119 119 119 119 119 118 www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
Chesterville Record Bancroft Times Fort Erie Times Lanark Era Tavistock Gazette Fort Frances Times Wheatley Journal Essex Free Press Dunnville Chronicle Dryden Observer Eganville Leader New Liskeard Temiskaming Speaker Meaford Express Manitoulin West Recorder Etobicoke Guardian Waterdown Flamborough Review Tillsonburg News Niagara Advance Rainy River Record Shelburne Free Press/Economist Harrow News Toronto Zwiazkowiec Delhi News Record Orono Weekly Times Geraldton-Longlac Times Star NWT News/North Nunavut News/North Terrace Bay/Schreiber News Hawkesbury Le Carillon Parry Sound Beacon Star Stoney Creek News Marathon Mercury Belle River Lakeshore News Atikokan Progress Toronto Kanadai-Amerikai Magyarsag Deep River North Renfrew Times Stittsville News EMC North York Mirror Elliot Lake Standard Dorchester Signpost Kapuskasing Northern Times Georgina Advocate Oakville Beaver Scarborough Mirror April 2012
1894 1894 1895 1895 1895 1895 1895 1896 1896 1898 1902 1906 1906 1913 1916 1918 1919 1919 1919 1927 1930 1933 1935 1937 1945 1945 1945 1946 1947 1948 1948 1948 1948 1950 1950 1954 1957 1957 1957 1959 1961 1962 1962 1962 8
118 118 117 117 117 117 117 116 116 114 110 106 106 99 96 94 93 93 93 85 82 79 77 75 67 67 67 66 65 64 64 64 64 62 62 58 55 55 55 53 51 50 50 50 www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
TRAINING OCNA’S UPCOMING WEBINAR SCHEDULE June 8th - Newspapers: A Recipe for Success Suzanne Raitt, VP of Marketing & Innovation from Newspapers Canada, will share an inspiring presentation created to highlight the power and effectiveness of newspapers as well as their sites, mobile and tablet offerings. This year’s presentation demonstrates ‘what’s cooking’ in our medium for 2012. Research and examples from Canada and around the world have been sourced to provide a delicious sampling. Topics include: ▄▄
Set table: Newspaper readership strong and growing
▄▄
Staple: Print newspapers
▄▄
Finger food: Mobile (a good pairing)
▄▄
Eye candy: Tablet (quick facts to chew on)
▄▄
Have your cake and eat it too: Newspaper sites
▄▄
Pie in the sky: What the future holds
Cost: $50 + HST Space is limited. Reserve your seat today! https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/597834969
NEWSPAPERS CANADA WEBINAR SCHEDULE
This year’s training series includes presentations tailored to a variety of departments including editorial, sales, design and circulation. ▄▄
April 24 - Editorial: Better Beat Reporting
▄▄
June 26 - Sales: Newspapers: Newspaper Innovation (FREE)
A full list is available on the Newspapers Canada website: www.newspaperscanada.ca
INTRODUCING PHOTOS UNLIMITED450,000 STOCK PHOTOS YOU'LL LOVE! Unlimited downloads. Unlimited users. For OCNA members only: In celebration of the recent INK+Beyond conference, MultiAd is offering a FREE month of Ad-Builder on CreativeOutlet.com with every one year Photos Unlimited signed by May 31, 2012. To see samples, get pricing and get connected with a sales rep, go to www.get450.com.
April 2012
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www.ocna.org
ASSOCIATION NEWS
2011 BNC AWARDS
OPG CONGRATULATES THE 2011 WINNERS OF THE OCNA BETTER NEWSPAPER AWARDS.
Congratulations to all of the winners of the Better Newspaper Awards. We are proud to recognize the outstanding quality of work produced each week by our member newspaper and showcase it to readers and advertisers. On Friday April 27th, community newspaper professionals from across Ontario gathered at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto for the BNC Awards Gala. A big thank you to all our reception sponsor, OLG, our event sponsor, OPG and all of our category sponsors. To view the list of winners, please visit www.ocna.org/2011bncwinners. Here you will also find the link to our BNC Results Book, complete with photos and judges’ comments. Feel free to copy and paste this link to send to any interested parties. To access winner photos from the evening, you must be an OCNA member and login using your username and password. The photos can be found under Member - Better Newspaper Awards - 2011 BNCs - 2011 BNC Winner Photos.
WE’RE PROUD TO POWER ONTARIO.
opg.com
Want to contribute to NewsClips? If you have news you would like to share about your paper - it could be a new project, recognition from the community, awards you’ve won or an upcoming anniversary please send them to newsclips@ocna.org.
Stay tuned for the next issue of NewsClips to see more photos.
Affordable media insurance for Canadian Community Newspapers Service includes: •Libel • Invasion of Privacy • Plagiarism • Piracy • Infringement of Copyright • Pre-Publication Hotline
Photos are also welcome!
Contact us for a quote: Todd Frees, General Manager 905-639-8720 ext. 234 t.frees@ocna.org April 2012
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HUMAN RESOURCES
LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL
It’s All About Your Local Community
BY CHUCK NAU MURRAY & NAU, INC. As the economy continues to struggle and as regional retail chains continue to expand and move into or near many smaller nonmetro markets, our local retailers and service providers now find themselves in a battle to keep their customers, both old and new, at home, in town rather than going down the road or down the interstate!
Business growth and new business start ups increase variety offering a broad assortment of goods and services ... All COMPETITIVELY PRICED.
It’s Giveback!
When you shop and buy locally you’re helping local business men and women support a wide range of needed community services and charitable projects ... senior centres, local food banks, day care facilities ... with time, talent and money.
Just as we know that LOCAL news and advertising will continue to grow and enrich our newspaper franchise, both in print and online, our local retailer knows and understands that a LOCAL awareness to ‘who she is’ and ‘what she does’ will likewise grow and enrich her retail franchise. That local awareness, the information and guidance about her business and about herself, happens through local advertising in her LOCAL newspaper, your newspaper and LOCAL web site, your newspaper web site.
It’s FUN, Saves Time and Energy, and It’s Personal!
Errands to run ... things to pick up are FUN, easy and convenient to do in as much as local merchants and service providers KNOW your community, KNOW you and are AVAILABLE to meet your day to day needs helping to solve life’s little problems.
We know the importance of LOCAL news and advertising. Many, if not all, of our community’s retailers and service providers know the importance of providing LOCAL information about ‘who they are’ and ‘what they do or sell’ through LOCAL advertising.
The best advice and the best value...always come from someone you KNOW!
What about our readers? What about our community’s retailers, service providers’ small businesses, shoppers, buyers and customers?
What Goes Around...Comes Around!
Investing in local businesses with your shopping dollars fosters growth in your community ... adding additional employment opportunities for your family, friends, neighbours and maybe even YOU! Shopping dollars invested locally stay in your community, funding essential services.
Why should we, our friends, our neighbours, and our fellow employees shop locally? Good question!
Helping the retailers in your community create a public awareness of ‘who they are’ and ‘what they do or sell’ helps your community, your retailer, your newspaper and you GROW. Newspapers, your newspaper, both in print and online, best represent your community. Through a Local Environment of news and advertising, your newspaper creates the marketplace for your community.
Here are five responses and five community benefits to share with your friends, neighbours, fellow employees and your local retailers and advertisers about the importance and value of shopping at home ... shopping in your local community ... shopping with your local retailers and service providers.
It’s an Investment in Your Community!
Shopping and buying in your community is an investment. Your dollars spent locally for goods and services STAY IN YOUR COMMUNITY, helping to build schools, hospitals and fund essential services like police, fire, parks and recreation.
© Murray & Nau, Inc. CHUCK NAU OF MURRAY & NAU, INC. is a Seattle area based publishing consultant and sales and management trainer. He has been a speaker for and conducted advertising, marketing, management and sales training workshops with newspapers, niche publishers, publishing groups and press associations, throughout North America.
It Fosters Economic Growth Today and Tomorrow!
Shopping dollars spent locally help small businesses, owned and operated by your neighbours and friends, GROW. New businesses, both retail and service providers, start up when encouraged by the local economic and vitality. April 2012
Comments and questions are welcome and may be directed to Chuck via email: murnau@nwlink.com. or at (425) 603 - 0984. 11
www.ocna.org
HUMAN RESOURCES
THE POWER OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK A TWOGREYSUITS ARTICLE
it publicly. Do what’s right for the person.
These articles are part of the TwoGreySuits Employee Performance Management Series and is offered by our partner, the TwoGreySuits HR Power Centre as a free service to our members.
3. Practice Makes Perfect
It’s easy to overlook good work or extra effort, so make it a habit to praise regularly.
Ron Guest, Management/HR Consultant
4. Does the Reward Fit?
Keep the balloons and streamers for special occasions. Going over the top with rewards can be miss-interpreted as ‘buying’ favours. Judge the amount of effort and reward appropriately.
One of the most powerful management tools we have at our disposal is the ability to know when and how to provide positive feedback to employees. We often focus too much on the corrective or constructive feedback piece and ignore the very powerful aspect of providing positive feedback. Why is it so powerful?
5. No Favourites!
Avoid creating ‘favourites’ by doing quick mental tallies of whom you’ve praised recently.
There are a host of reasons; however, one that stands out in our minds is that positive feedback reinforces the likelihood that certain desired behaviours will be repeated. It is also validation to someone that they are appreciated and that they belong. Providing positive feedback relates to two of Maslow’s five hierarchy of needs, Esteem and Self-Actualization.
6. Be Clear and Mean It
The best positive feedback is sincere and specific. Tell the person exactly why you are praising them; ‘Susan, that extra analysis was really appreciated by the project team and allowed them to make a decision immediately’. Susan now knows exactly what to do next time to get praise.
One of the main reasons we provide positive feedback is to increase the likelihood of that same behaviour to be repeated. As a very simple example, if an employee is always on time and a bit early for their workday, a simple ‘I appreciate you always being on time and here a few minutes early’ goes a very long way in solidifying repeated behaviour. As human beings we are consciously and subconsciously always looking to be validated or accepted. To illustrate the power of positive feedback, a simple 10 second statement to an employee can often last for an entire lifetime.
7. Catch People Doing Things Right
The more you catch people doing things right, the more right things they will do! Encourage positive actions by letting people know when they do things well. Start today, and in only two-three weeks time, giving positive feedback will be a life-long habit.
How to’s of Providing Positive Feedback The HR Power Centre and HR Hot Line is a one-of-a-kind product specifically designed to get you the answers you need fast, in hundreds of different HR situations.
Positive feedback should follow immediately after the behaviour being reinforced is observed. The longer the feedback from the time of the event the less powerful it becomes. If not immediate, the thinking with employees is that if it was that great, why has my manager waited so long to tell me. Below is a brief checklist of the how to’s of providing positive feedback.
Signing up is simple and free for OCNA members. Just visit https://www.twogreysuits.com/sign_up/regform/index. html?r=OCNA complete the signup page and you’ll have immediate access. Why wait? Don’t let important people management issues go unresolved when you can deal with them today.
1. Do it Immediately
Feedback goes stale when left unsaid too long, so give positive feedback as close to the event as possible.
2. In Public and In Private
Praise in public, criticize in private, that’s the general rule. But before you go praising in a public place think about what they would prefer. Some people get so emotional or embarrassed by public praise that it defeats your good intentions of doing April 2012
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April 2012
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ADVERTISING
A GEM OF AN IDEA
BY JOHN FOUST RALEIGH, NC “I believe it’s important to talk in terms of a prospect’s interests,” Tim told me. “So I’m always looking for ways to translate the principles of advertising into examples that my advertisers can easily understand. Sometimes it’s a matter of using something from an advertiser’s business or hobby. Just look at it from their perspective.
to column inches. In our paper, there are a lot of combinations for a 24-inch ad – for example, 2 by 12, 3 by 8, or 4 by 6.”
Color: “This is one of most misunderstood concepts in
advertising,” Tim said. “In most cases, less is more. In a black and white environment, it doesn’t take much color to make an ad jump off the page. But a lot of advertisers remind me of that old Lay’s Potato Chips commercial – ‘Betcha can’t eat just one.’ Once they decide to run color, they go overboard.”
“One time, I was working with a jewelry store owner who was waffling on what to do with his advertising IF he decided to run in my paper. During one of our meetings, I mentioned that I had done some research on the ‘Four-C’ diamond grading system – and asked him if he would like to see how that related to newspaper advertising. He readily agreed, because after all, that concept was directly related to his business. Then I talked about each one of the four – Carat, Clarity, Cut and Color – in terms of advertising.”
A little color is better than a lot. There’s no need for a purple headline, a yellow background, green body copy, a blue logo, and a red border. Tim said this sales approach worked like a charm with the jewelry store owner. In fact, you could say it was a gem of an idea.
Here’s how Tim translated diamonds to ads:
Carat: Tim started by saying it was his understanding
that the value of a diamond starts with size. The bigger the stone, the greater the value. He told me that, yes, carat is a key consideration. That opened the door for me to talk about the ‘size’ of an ad campaign – number of ad insertions, number of column inches, etc. Without the correct campaign size, ads will lose value and get lost in the crowd.
Clarity: Tim used this concept to discuss the importance
of clear communication. “Without clarity,” he said, “there is no message.” If readers don’t get a clearly defined idea of what an advertiser is trying to say, they will do what merchants dread the most – nothing. They will ignore the message. Ask consumers about the new widget that advertiser sells, and they’ll say, “Never heard of it.” Tim used this second ‘C’ to talk about techniques of making clearly-defined offers, using clear language and writing clear headlines.
(c) Copyright 2011 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
Cut: This represented ad design. “I showed him plenty of
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: jfoust@mindspring.com
examples,” he said. “We talked about ways to arrange the four basic elements of a print ad – headline, illustration, body copy and logo. And we looked at different approaches
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BUSINESS
DO BUSINESSES KNOW WHAT THEIR CUSTOMERS WANT? Research Shows 90% Do Not
and prospective customers differ in what they most value. When that happens, your message to customers should be different than your message to prospects. Very few companies make this distinction in sales and marketing messaging. Existing customers may have come to depend on your top-notch help desk. It’s what they’ve grown to value most about your company. Prospective customers haven’t yet used your help desk so they don’t know how essential this benefit is yet.
What customers value most changes constantly, and the pace of change has increased exponentially with the economic recession, says marketing/management expert and best-selling author Jaynie L. Smith. “The businesses who become relevant by addressing what customers really value at any given time will be the first ones out of the recession,” says Smith, whose newest book, Relevant Selling (www.smartadvantage.com), is now available.
▄▄
Use what you learn. If you find customers most value speedy responses when they have a problem, and your customer service department is slow, then fix customer service. Make sure to tell the customer service employees that customers have rated fast response time as their top priority. When you’ve got stats you can brag about – brag away: ‘98 percent of customer calls are returned within 30 minutes; 2 percent within 1 hour.’ Now you’ve used that information in two valuable ways: to make your company more relevant to customers, and to let customers know you’ve got what they want.
“One year ago, people were looking for financial stability in companies they were purchasing from because of all of the business closings,” she says, citing surveys conducted by her company, Smart Advantage, Inc. “Now, on-time delivery outranks that because so many businesses cut back their inventory during the worst of the recession. With demand increasing, customers have more difficulty getting what they want on time.” Smith’s company analyzed more than 150 customer surveys to learn why customers buy particular products or services from particular companies. It’s an essential practice for any business owner during any economic cycle, Smith says, but most don’t do it. Her analysis of 10 years of double-blind customer market research for more than 100 businesses revealed that, 90 percent of the time, most businesses do not know their customers’ top values. They are often shocked to learn what is at the top of the customers’ value list.
▄▄
Invest in disciplined customer research. Research data collection costs have gone down 30 to 35 percent in the past few years and can now be affordable to smaller companies. Double-blind customer market research is the gold standard and well worth the expense, but it’s not feasible for all companies. However, even a small investment in research can reap huge returns. Some less expensive and free alternatives to find out what your customers want include sharing the expense with an industry association; partnering with an organization that needs the same information or a peer that doesn’t compete with you; hiring a college intern; or creating an online survey using a free basic service, such as Survey Monkey.
Smith offers these tips for getting to know your customers – and potential customers – so you can deliver what they want and adjust your sales and marketing message to become more relevant. ▄▄
Customers are usually looking for ‘how’ things are sold, not ‘what.’ For most products, there are any number of suppliers. If someone wants to buy a camera, a doorknob, a car, they can drive to the nearest store or order from the first company that pops up on Google. But they don’t. Why? Because there’s something else they value more than the product itself. It may be product durability, the company’s reputation for customer service, or safety features. ‘If you don’t value what you bring to the customer, they won’t value it either’ is Smith’s mantra. Very few companies know how to effectively articulate what differentiates them, so price often becomes the tiebreaker.
JAYNIE L. SMITH is CEO of Smart Advantage, Inc., a marketing/ management consultancy whose clients range from mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies. She consults nationally and internationally with CEOs and executives to help them define their companies’ competitive advantages. Her first book, ‘Creating Competitive Advantage’(Doubleday Currency; 2006), is in its 11th printing and is consistently ranked in the top 1-2 percent on Amazon.com for marketing and management books. She holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from the New York Institute of Technology.
▄▄
Understand that existing customers and prospects usually have different values. Smith’s company research analysis shows that 70 percent of the time, customers
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BUSINESS
SALES NEGOTIATIONS, PLUS TIME, EQUALS MORE MONEY! BY PATRICK TINNEY MANAGING PARTNER CENTROID TRAINING & MARKETING William Shakespeare summed it up best when he wrote…
“
Make use of time, let not advantage slip.
In the auction automobile example, we visit three car dealerships knowing exactly what car, model and features we want. We tell the salesperson we engage that we are going to buy a car in 24 hours. We also tell them that we are going to visit two other car dealerships and that no ‘offer’ details between the other car dealers will be shared.
”
We request their best price now but we request that they remain profitable in formulating their deal. Once the three dealership offers are submitted to us, the losing bids will be called and told they did not succeed. That’s all! The winning dealership gets the congratulatory call and we sign the deal.
In sales negotiation, time is the wild card. It doesn’t favour buyers or sellers, yet it has the potential to favour either. In the sales world, we refer to the shortening of time as ‘Time Compression.’ It stands to reason then that the lengthening of time is ‘Time Decompression.’
Time decompression is more subtle and has a much wider range for application and affect for both the buyer and seller.
‘Time Compression’, as a tactic, is more challenging to the party that is on the receiving end of it. It means the party you are engaging is forcing you in some way to show your negotiation hand and in some cases make a decision.
In my view, there was no one better at using the subtle nuances of time decompression than Steve Cosic, former Director of Media Procurement for The Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada. Cosic had a number of great proposals presented to him weekly by media suppliers. Each proposal presented would get his deep scrutiny. However, more often than not he would pause after what could be seen as a buying signal from him to many of us.
For sellers, the shortening of time can be used to separate buyers from tire kickers. A seller could state:
He wouldn’t fill the silence until the seller would say something such as “Steve, you seem hesitant. What would it take to close this deal?” To which he would reply, “What do you have in mind?”
1. “First come first served…” 2. “For a limited time only…” 3. “We need your decision now…”
The seller would reveal one more sweetener to the tabled proposal and Steve would often sign the deal.
The buyer can similarly use time compression to their advantage stating:
Many years later after leaving his role, Cosic would reveal that beautifully placed time delays of silence (time decompression) yielded tons more extra value for his employer and that he lovingly called that last delay to purchase ‘The Bonus Round!’
1. “We’ll make our decision shortly…” 2. “We’re going to make this purchase within 24 hours…” 3. “We’re going to chat among ourselves and make a
PATRICK TINNEY is the founder of Centroid Training and Marketing, a consulting firm helping organizations make and save money through consultative selling, sales prospecting and business negotiation training.
decision now…”
You could use the following time compression exercise and example for almost any large ticket purchase where there are several sales outlets or sale channels for an identical product. For this example we are using an automobile purchase.
Prior to Centroid, Patrick held various corporate sales and management positions at The Southam Newspaper Group, CanWest Media and more. Over his 30 year career Patrick has concluded multi-million dollar media sales and negotiation solutions. For more on Patrick visit centroidmarketing.com
We use time compression to our advantage in a strategy we call ‘The Auction.’ April 2012
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DESIGN
WHY WE NEED TO ASK WHY BY ED HENNINGER HENNINGER CONSULTING When we were kids, many of us drove our parents to distraction with ‘why’ questions. The classic, of course, is ‘why is the sky blue?’ You can be sure there were others: ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄
Why is it dark at night? Why is the water wet? Why is up?
We were full of ‘the whys’ back then. As designers, we can take a good lesson from that. We can remember to ask ‘why.’ As in: ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄
Why am I putting this in a box? Why am I jumping this story? Why am I using this colour?
Sound design demands that every element on the page needs a reason to be there. If its existence cannot be explained, then it’s extraneous—and therefore bad design. There are basics to good design, such as contrast, unity, focus and the like. Every element on the page needs to contribute to sound design approach. You see, design isn’t ‘playing with the page.’ It isn’t ‘Let’s see how this looks.’ It isn’t ‘Throw a tint behind that story and see if it works.’ Good design is a discipline. It’s a cabinet maker using his measuring tools, remembering to ‘measure twice…cut once.’ It’s that same cabinet maker using his plane to smooth the surface of a dresser. And it’s that same cabinet maker running his fingers along the grain of the wood, using his years of experience to feel for those places that are still a bit rough, still a bit unfinished. Why run a headline on a curve? In this package, it helps add interest and it works naturally with the illustration. The lower curved headline echoes the design at the top.
When he finds those spots, he’ll work to remove them. Because they don’t belong. One of our tasks as designers is to use our experience to find those elements that don’t belong—and remove them. We do that every time we ask ourselves ‘why.’ April 2012
ED HENNINGER is an independent newspaper consultant and the Directorof Henninger Consulting, offering comprehensive newspaper design services and design evaluations at www.henningerconsulting.com. 17
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TECHNOLOGY
BIGGER = BETTER?
Consolidation & Decentralization Get Mixed Results BY KEVIN SLIMP INSTITUTE OF NEWSPAPER TECHNOLOGY It’s been an interesting few weeks. In five out of six cities, chairs had to be added to the rooms to accommodate attendees.
told me she was part of the inner circle that originally made the decision to send their production and customer service to other countries.
In New York, I received spontaneous applause when I told the audience to quit running their newspapers as if all their business is coming from mobile when most of their profits are coming from print.
When I asked how that went, she was very blunt, 'It was a disaster.' Apparently it didn’t take long to move everything back. I’ve heard the same story from publishers with other groups that had similar experiences.
In Texas, I was introduced as 'probably the most important voice in the newspaper industry today'. Geesh. The things people say.
My two lunch friends told me their company had come 'perilously close' to moving production overseas. “Thank goodness we didn’t,” said one of them.
In Pennsylvania, the woman who introduced me instructed the audience to stand so I could tell everyone I had another 'standing room only' group in Harrisburg.
He went on to add that he felt it was a mistake to assume that consolidation increases profits.
Here’s what I’m noticing. People are having fun again in our business. For a few years, conventions were overshadowed with a feeling of gloom and doom. It seems to me that 2012 may be the year that the vale of gloom is lifted and we start enjoying our work again as an industry.
Speaking of their efforts to consolidate properties, using central locations for producing multiple newspapers, he said he would bet that it ended up costing more money in the long run than keeping everything in separate locations.
Convention registrations have been up. Audiences have been larger. More people have been out on the dance floor. These are all good signs.
I certainly don’t know everything, but I will share a little of what I’ve noticed in my travels of late. It seems papers I’ve visited that are produced locally, rather than at centralized facilities, seem to be having fewer problems with ad sales, reduced circulation and other problems that have made so much news over the past three years.
In South Carolina last week, an editor told me his paper had sent more than 20 attendees to their annual state convention. “It’s the first time we’ve done that in recent history,” he said.
I could venture my own guess as to why that seems to be the case, but I’m sure there are locally owned and produced papers that are having plenty of struggles of their own. They just don’t happen to be locations I’ve visited.
Obviously it’s not fun for everyone. I had an enlightening lunch with two executives with a chain of metro papers a few days ago. I told them about the larger crowds this year and profits that seem to be on the way up, instead of down.
Having said that, I’ve probably visited more newspapers that are being produced in centralized locations over the past year than the other way around. And most of them seem to be doing well.
“I hear the community papers are doing well,” one of them said. “They really know how to meet the needs of their readers and it’s paying off.” We discussed the 'mistaken idea' - their words, not mine that consolidation leads to profits.
If I were drawing a chart of the entire newspaper industry, I’d probably divide the page into two halves. One half would be 'profitable newspapers.' On the other, would be 'struggling newspapers.'
I mentioned that I had recently worked for a client who used to be a big dog with one of the major newspaper groups. She April 2012
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TECHNOLOGY
It probably wouldn’t surprise too many people in the business to know that community papers seem to be doing better than larger papers. It also wouldn’t surprise most industry professionals to hear that locally owned papers seem to be faring better than newspapers owned by large groups.
community. And if all the other papers closed down, I’d start one and make a fortune.
If I might paraphrase my lunch mate, I believe this has a lot to do with understanding your community. Reporters, editors, publishers, ad staffs and others at our papers understand their communities better than someone looking in from the outside. And it seems to me that this results in stronger sales and increased circulation.
I’m glad 2012 seems to be a better year for our industry. Even some of my metro clients are telling me things are looking up.
It looks like I won’t have to do that. It’s been four years and none of the papers in my area have closed.
I hope the journalism dean and I cross paths in 2018. I’d love to compare notes.
Time will tell, I suppose. The dean of a major school of journalism told me four years ago that he believed there wouldn’t be a single printed newspaper left in the United States by the year 2018. I told him I believed that might be the dumbest idea I’d ever heard.
KEVIN SLIMP serves as the director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology. He is a faculty member of the University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information and makes his home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Kevin’s insight on technology is highly sought after at various industry events across North America. www.kevinslimp.com
When he asked why I felt that way, I told him that I knew my
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Contact OCNA Network Classified Coordinator Susana Czyrnek for full details at s.czyrnek@ocna.org or 1-800-387-7982 ext 230. April 2012
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