Newspaper article….

[Stephen M.]

Judging from the number of newspapers still sold, especially in rural America, I'd say that our young friend is still right on. I listen to radio news or watch tv news; I rarely use the internet for my news; and when I want to read about news, I read a newspaper. Phil would ask why? Because a 15 to 30 second sound bite just doesn't do it sometimes.

Phil, the kid is talking about a W-E-E-K-L-Y newspaper, and since I also advertise in a w-e-e-k-l-y, believe me when I say that it is widely read in this rural county with only 1 incorporated city, and 4 smaller towns. Weeklies are all about LOCAL ISSUES. His infomercial will be widely read. My small town paper is also published on the internet, and probably so is his.

[Phil Nilsson]

Newspapers (small town) if it works in your area great ... some areas work well some don't ... I figured fast trackers >>> two wage earning professional working couples ... the kind that own homes of $350,000 - $500,000 ... $$$plus ... don't have time to brush their teeth properly ... let alone sit down and horse around turning pages ... they get info on their radios while stuck in traffic jams on the way into the city ... to work in a high rise ... lots of them are booking over 60 hours worktime a week and have work of some sort on Saturdays as well ... no time ... that's why they hire you ... it's a question of how can they find you given their limited schedules? ... if it were me ... I look in the Yellow Pages (FIRST) ... in other words ... "I'll find you when I want you" ... as opposed to you finding me when you want me ... "don't call me ... I'll call you" ... ... I look you up in the YP and call you.

my original reaction to the question was ...

More and more ... less and less people are reading newspapers ... for news they go online or to TV.

And a lot of people only pick up a newspaper to get the coupons inside them ... the rest of the paper gets "trashed" ...

Should you advertise in newspapers? ... if it works for you of course.

[Stephen M.]

Yes, Phil, you are correct on the time factor for the working person. But for the retired who have time to read a local, weekly paper, there is significant usage.

My best advertising response comes from the local phone book (2 of them) and from running a display ad and several classified ads in the local weekly.
The weekly competes with a couple of daily papers. I and many others don't have time to read a daily paper and I would consider it mostly a waste of money to advertise in a daily, but with 1 exception. Alot of people still take time to read the Sunday issue.

It is rather surprising that people will call from an old issue that is perhaps 3 weeks old and ask if I still do xyz service. One of the local nurseries will see coupons from an issue that is 4-5 weeks old. Even if the coupon is "expired", they will honor the discount. That says that people are reading.

It is true that more newspapers are losing readership, which accounts for the price increases many do every so often. I still marvel that the price of some issues, like the Seattle Times is only $.75 per issue. Will newspapers become a dinosuar? Maybe; but there is still a market out there for that venue.

[ACutAbove 217]

phil....
how many eldery people of age of 65 and older do you know who gets on the computer on a regular basis? also how many eldery people do you know who even owns a PC?

My Dad is 82 years old. He has his own website geared specifically for retired people. It deals with demographics of thousands of communities people retire to. It also has links for shopping that older people may be interested in. As of todat he has had over 14400 hits on his web site.

By the way he designed the site by hand writing all of the site in HTML language. He didn't use web design software because he wanted to see "how it all works".

I guess "elderly people" do use computers.

[Stephen M.]

Statistically, WA is the most "wired" state in the union of which 84% of households own a computer and I assume hooked to the internet. Those were Micro Soft stats from 2 years ago.

Newspapers in WA are still selling very well; although the Seattle Times is losing $$ over its contractual togetherness with the Seattle Post Intelliencer. All forms are "tools" to get what one needs at any particular time. I personally do not subscribe to the belief that computers/internet will displace all other forms of information. For example, the belief 10 years ago was that malls wouldn't exist today because EVERYBODY would be making purchases via the internet. Many do and we see it by the rise of Amazon.com. Many don't and we saw alot of .com failures a few years ago.

The internet is just another tool. An association management consultant said it this way:
The telephone trees used to get information out to members [of an association]; then came fax and information went out via telephone and fax; then came e-mail and information goes out via telephone, fax and e-mail. Not everyone within that association will possess a fax or e-mail, so costs of getting info out just went up.

What is the best way to get yourself marketed? Only you can answer what works best for you.