Brainworks: Classified Digital First: where is the new money?

Brainworks:
Classified Digital First:
where is the new money?
Janet DeGeorge, President,
janetdegeorge@aol.com
janetdegeorge@classifiedexecutivetraining.com
www.ClassifiedExecutiveTraining.com
April, 2013
Note: There is no way to talk
about online classifieds without
mentioning our vendor partners
I am in no way affiliated with any online vendors
nor do I get anything for talking about them.
But I will mention those whom my clients
especially love…
AGENDA
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Where’s the online revenue today?
New revenue sources
Online/print packages for Auto and
Employment
How to train and motivate your staff
to sell online
Janet DeGeorge circa late 1980’s
official San Jose Mercury News Photo
I was fresh out of
college in the early
1990’s when we first
started talking about
classifieds on the
internet.
My first thought
was…
“I HOPE I AM
RETIRED BEFORE
THE INTERNET
STARTS…”
Back to 2013….
Now there is more digital and online products
than we ever thought possible
This is from Augusta Chronicles Media Kit found at
www.AugustaChronicle.com
FROM QR
CODES TO
Search
Engine
Marketing,
every
newspaper
seems to be
at a different
evolution
You say there is not
enough revenue in
online…
But you HAVE to sell more…so use the
right LURES to sell online to customers
in order to also sell more print…it is
just REVERSE SELLING
Truth is…
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Car dealers are being told by their corporate
headquarters
MORE ON LINE
Realtors are being told by NAR
MORE ON LINE
Even employers are being told
MORE ON LINE
Even if they don’t want to, they HAVE TO!
If you don’t offer all the bells and whistles, someone
else will.
The right online LURE could
get you so much more in
print, so start fishing…
TO catch more BIG FISH
Classified Revenue, use
different online methods!
Who makes the REAL
big bucks from online?
You hear of all the increases in online
revenue, but in reality the majority or
revenue is in the hands of just a few
online companies.
April 16, 2013 Headline
Are newspapers online products
growing at that rate?
From IAB 2012 Final Online Report
In realty, who is making
all the online revenue?
30 websites that make most of
the online revenues
It’s not until #30 that a
newspaper appears
And guess who that is…
The Top 50 companies make 89% of online
revenue leaving 11% for the rest of us
So you may not be
making that kid of online
money, but you should
still try for 15% growth
each year.
And that means REAL growth, not
just by switching revenue buckets
Follow the money…
Sell what advertisers are buying
and remember RESULTS IS
EVERYTHING
NAA.org Composite of
Newspaper revenue 2012
More info from the IAB
Internet Advertising Bureau
IAB Revenue Report 2012
And it’s not
growing…
Why is classified online
revenue going down?
Why else, free classified websites.
So we have to find other ways to
make online money with our
classified products!
Source: IAB
2012
Revenue
Report
So we are all on the same
page, lets quickly go over
some definitions…
All the products to make more
online money with Classifieds
If your Classified inside and
outside reps are not selling
banner ads, you are missing
out on a lot of easy new
revenue
Once trained, inside reps GET IT and very easily sell online
banners if the process is EASY and ACCURATE
OR REAL ESTATE RUN OF SITE BANNER, CLASSIFIED REPS CAN SELL THIS!
And no matter who your vendor is, they
can accommodate banner space
NEVER LEAVE BANNER
SPACE EMPTY
It is SO HARD to sell an empty
space!
You can sell almost any classified
advertiser an online sponsorship if
there is some sort of connection
Example, maybe you want to have GADZOO for your
PETS online, but don’t have the money to pay for it….GET
A SPONSOR
Your Top Vet or Vet Hospital would gladly sponsor GADZOO! Even
having the right GOOGLE ads on the side would bring in enough
money to pay for this site
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Email marketing and Classified should go
hand in hand.
You need EMAILS from every customer
broken into category.
You should email SPECIALS with links to
PLACE YOUR AD CLICK HERE
Sending out PDF flyers for your Specials.
Realtors should be getting DAILY DEALS
from YOU to place ads with discounts.
Don’t have an email blast
product or more so you
have to beg to use it?
Use the free MAILCHIMP.com
It’s easy, fun and fast to learn.
Just dig into it and start some direct mail
campaigns! They will even walk you right
through what a GOOD email campaign is all
about…
So whether it’s a take off on
Daily Deals or an Employment
Newsletter advertising your
new online features..
Email blasts are free, easy and
product revenues…
REALTORS!
PREMIERE HOMES TODAY ONLY!
Mobile & Classified are a perfect match up
Photo from www.maboom.com mobile platform
What other ways to make
some easy money from
your online classifieds?
REALLY learn how to use Google Ad
sense and watch the money roll
in…SEARCH is the #1 Revenue Source.
And for Classifieds?
There are free classified sites
pulling in $40,000 a month from
GOOGLE AD SENSE!
You have to be willing to
learn how it will work best
for Classifieds…
And here is a source for you…
This site gives an entire HOW TO step by step
to make more money with GOOGLE AD
SENSE…
JUST DO IT!
Employment Online
The Recruitment Agency’s website
tell it all…they know what is
attracting new customers….
OLD
FORMAT
Get on this, it is the best
LURES for customers
And they will pay top price for you
to do it for them so they don’t
have to.
You should already have
the basics…
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The Basics:
Top Jobs
Banner/Tower Ads on jobs page.
Logo Button links
What lures you need…
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Tweeting jobs
Facebook job page
Video Jobs (plenty of vendors available)
Mobile jobs
Linked in partnership
Indeed partnership
And all the vendor partnerships that make
sense for your customers
Indeed Partnership
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It’s free
It’s easy
And it will help bulk up your
employment listing to attract more job
seekers and more advertisers.
How can it work?
All you have to do is run their
Google type ads to be a free
partner
You can enhance your
listings anyway you
want, by city or by
category.
This
newspaper
has chosen to
list their sold
ads in GRAY
Screen and
run Indeed
ads after
theirs.
Las Vegas Review Journal uses
every resource to expand their
employment upsells to
employers
From Employment Manager Guru
Chelle Bize.
Celle Bize, Las Vegas
Employment Manager Guru
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“We use the following vendors but sell it all as
"ours" branded to the marketplace:
SEM-Reach Local
Retargeting-Reach Local
ROS-Switching to DFP
Mobile-APT or DFP
Behavioral Targeted ROS-Yahoo
Industry Specific Banners--Our site, lvrj.com
Audience Extension-PaperG
Line Ads+Networks are Adicio and
Cross-post.com , we sell both”.
Cross-post.com
automatically gets your job
posting on appropriate job
sites.
So if your current vendor does not
do this already, you can just look
at this product.
These are just a few…
Email newsletter blast
….
Hmmm…could you get a
SPONSOR for this as well, perhaps
a TEMP Agency?
I LOVE VIRTUAL
JOB FAIRS!
Look at demos from
www.AppVault.com
Brainerd Dispatch,
Brainerd, MN
Circ 17K
Blended on online
Virtual Job Fair
with a print
product just for
Veterans!
Auto Online
Some papers are just way
ahead…Morris Communications
and Engine 212
Case Study: Augusta
Chronicle who barely lost
a page of Auto Ads all
through the recession.
And they have over 13,800 car listings on
their website, more than Craigslist, more
than Auto Trader and more than Cars.com
in their market.
Brett Miller, Major Account Manager
Augusta Chronicle
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“What dealers want, everything! Can we give
it to them, in my world yes …
Everything will work as long as you build that
audience and give the reader what they
want… inventory.
If you can make it look like “this is the place
to be” then not only the audience will follow
but the advertising will as well.
I am a firm believer in order to get calls and
feet on a dealers lot, create the market.
You do that by making it cheap and easy and
get everyone to participate”…
The new Engine 212
How they put their AUTO
DEALERS where everyone online
is looking…
Watch this YOUTUBE.com video on this great product
Engine212
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNk
8iXv4rNc&feature=youtu.be
Get more info from
Brett.Miller@augustaChronicle.com
More about Engine 212 contact
Brett.Miller@augustachronicle.com
Ask about Engine 212
GETTING YOUR SALES
REPS TO START SELLING
AUTO ONLINE PRODUCTS
ADVICE FROM THE STREET…
Advice from the street: A
LONG TIME AUTO REP
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A top auto rep at the Arizona Republic has
this to say about and online when they first
started selling multiple online products…
“What we did at azcentral.com and Arizona
Republic is bundle it together, which is
typical these days.
If they wanted to buy print a la carte, it
would be a much higher print rate.
It was a win-win. They had presence in the
#1 newspaper and local news website.
She went on to say…
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“The reason we did this… was that even though
many of the dealers claimed the paper was
obsolete, they still were buying print over the
newspaper website.
This package helped educate and train them in a
different way of thinking of us as just a print
media co.
I think some of the older GMs fear the internet
while others had unrealistic expectations and hold
digital advertising to a higher standard because it
is somewhat track-able”.
Sales rep advice continued…
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“Another thing with the older GM’s is that they can
see their newspaper ad, but don't see their online
and think it hasn't ran.
I was able to overcome this by taking screenshots of
their ad and sending it to them.
I also would bring them reporting mid way during
their campaign and show them how many times their
ad was seen by our high quality audience.
We were trained to talk exposure rather then the
click-thru rate.
They had exposure in front of our educated, affluent
readers that can afford to buy their vehicles.
Advice continued…
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Eventually they did start to see the value in the
website and how it worked well with print.
For example, if they were having a big tent sale
and had the same creative in print and online, this
had a far greater impact and wide span reach.
Also, it is important that if a dealer is running
special pricing in their online display ad for $179
mo, the consumer should be able to click on the
ad and see the matching special of $179 mo on
the dealer website, as opposed to just landing in
the middle of their website.
Training
Without really understanding what they
are selling, even your best reps are
reluctant and not motivated to sell.
Training changes everything!
Chelle Bize from Las Vegas
Review Journal’s advice
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Training is KEY:
“Our digital division is constantly
training on the new products
Plus all of us selling digital are
required to pass all the certification
testing”
What tests are those?
LVRG Testing
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There are 8-10 tests on different
products.
You start with Digital 101
SEM (Search engine marketing)
Digital Couponing/Contests
Digital Display Ads, Mobile etc.
Many reps have to take the SEM test
several times before passing!
And when you can’t afford
on onsite trainer…
You have to use all the online
resources available…
OnlineMediaCampus.com
The have a “Certificate testing”
for online media.
Cost
ONLY
$79
Cost ONLY
$99
Upcoming Webinar for
Classifieds you should not
miss
ONLY $35
Local Media Association
also has many good
webinar trainings
(Formerly Suburban Newspaper
Association)
Free to members, only $39 non members.
If you’re not
reading their
reports, you
don’t know
what is
REALLY
going on in
the
CLASSIFIED
ONLINE
WORLD!
Your Ad Order Entry
Take an inventory snap shot of
your classified on line
marketplace. Here is how
Marketplace: How many online ads do you
have in any one day in these categories?
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Categories to measure
Auto
Employment
Real Estate
Rentals
Merchandise
Pets
Service Directory
Measure your competitors
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Your local Craigslist in all those
categories.
Hint: To find total number, use the
search word of your city.
What to measure
continued: Employment
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Measure Monster & Careerbuilder in a
25-30 mil radius last 7 days
Indeed & Simply Hired, 25 mile radius
last 7 days (use advanced search).
Any other local major employment
competitor.
What to measure Auto
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Craigslist Auto. You can search by city and
my make and also separate by owner from
broker and see just how many of your
brokers are using Craigslist
Auto Trader, 25 miles radius of your zip
code
Cars.com, 25 mile radius of your zip code.
What to measure: Real
Estate
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The MLS, you can use Realtor.com
Craigslist real estate for sale, you can see
by owner and by broker as well.
YouTube: type in your city and real estate
and see how many videos come up.
What to measure
RENTALS
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Craigslists
Apartments.com
Forrent.com
Any other print/online big in your area.
What to measure
Merchandise/Pets
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Craigslist: Hint, it is time consuming but
measure category by category under STUFF or
you won’t get the true number. It is scary
how much they have.
Your local shopper (American Classifieds,
Thirty Nickel, Pennysaver)
Ebayclassifieds.com
What to measure
SERVICE DIRECTORY
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Craigslist is enough to see what is out
there.
Why aren’t you getting
a bigger piece of the pie
Ad Order Entry: people will pay a
FAIR price for EASY online ad
order entry.
How many of you have placed
ads on your ad order entry?
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Some are great and easy.
Many are horrible, time consuming and
have confusing packages that turn off
consumers.
TEST: Place a fast ad on Craigslist and
then an ad on your site. Time them both.
Then decide, are you easier than
Craigslist?