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By Ken Blum
Sing along, please:
There’s a time for joy
A time for tears
A time we’ll treasure through the years
We’ll remember always
Graduation Day
Okay, so no you’ll never be invited to join the Four Freshmen or the Beach Boys, but I hope you’re in the spirit for an annual graduation section; the one section nearly every community newspaper in the country publishes in late May or early June.
The key lyric for newspapers is to “remember” — if you put out a graduation section that’s memorable its shelf life will increase from a week to forever, which, by the way, is a good sales point to present to potential advertisers.
One way to do this is to shun the practice of running pages and pages of graduates’ pictures with idents in favor of individual blocks with the grad’s portrait and a mini-profile with highlights of his or her high school career and plans for the future.
Each graduate is sponsored by a local business.
A few tips for this strategy:
- You need lead time. Distribute forms for each graduate to fill out. Set a word limit — say, 50-60 words. Work with the school staff and ask them to make sure all the profiles are promptly returned. When you type the content, in some cases, you’ll find the handwriting is hard to read and you’ll need to track down the student for clarification. (And note: for ad sales, include a line on the form for the student’s and parents place of employment.)
- Each block is sponsored by a local business. Some business will sponsor several graduates. You may want to offer a special rate for sponsoring multiple students, let’s say $30 for one, $25 each for more than one.
- Businesses that employ the student(s) or his/her parents are almost certain sponsors. Use this link between the student and business/industry to sell blocks.
- It may be hard to find a sponsor for a few students. In this case, your newspaper or printing company can serve as their sponsor.
- Make sure to proofread and then proofread again to be sure the pics and mini-bios match. Again, this is a section that will be saved for decades, as would a mismatched photo and profile.
- Run the section as a tab and the pages in process color, if available. Also, consider printing on a higher quality paper, if available.
- Fill the section with other stories about the class: its triumphs, reprints of the valedictorian and salutatorian speeches (but not if the section appears before the graduation ceremony), lists of scholarship winners, etc.
- Print extra copies of the entire paper, including the section of course. Run a notice in the paper and on your website announcing their availability.
Readers helping readers
“Thank God we have libel insurance.”
From Mary Henkel Judson, co-publisher, Port Aransas (TX) South Jetty
Thank you for your advice to publishers to carry libel insurance. In the 1980s when our town was considered a “sleepy little fishing village,” we were sued for libel — on the day before the statute of limitations expired.
Thank God we had libel insurance! Even with the insurance it cost us $25,000 (in 1984 dollars) to defend ourselves and get a summary judgment. The person who filed the suit never did anything other than file the suit — and our attorney might have “over-defended” us. But without libel insurance we would have been in a world of hurt.
Not carrying libel insurance isn’t an option. I’d advise publishers not to find that out the hard way.
Thanks for your great columns.
More on shooting pictures of kids
From Jeff Lester, news editor, Coalfield Progress, Norton, VA
Regarding photos of kids: Both local school systems that we cover give parents an opt-out form for published photos at the start of the school year . . . and schools typically know when we’re coming for an assignment, so they can check for opt-outs in advance.
Generally, in non-school situations, if we shoot a photo of a child, a parent/guardian is already close by to give/withhold permission.
Thanks and a tip of the hat to Ms. Henkel Judson and Mr. Lester.
Call for reader input
We all know that newspaper real estate advertising took a jump off the cliff several years ago. The end of the housing boom, the recession, use of electronic media all played a roll in the decline.
I’ve worked with newspapers that had been running 12-14 or more solid pages of real estate ads pre-2008; now they’re down to one or two.
But I’ve noticed real estate ads are picking up again in newspapers. It’s doubtful they’ll ever get back to the boom days, but the housing market has improved and realtors seem to be waking up to the fact that their good ol’ newspaper is still the best way to help sell a home.
Are real estate ads increasing in your paper? What are you doing to bring them back?
One-sentence Q&A
Question: How is advertising revenue for a typical community newspaper split between run-of-paper ads and special sections/specialty publications.
Answer: 70% ROP; 30% special.
“I read about eight newspapers in a day. When I’m in a town with only one newspaper, I read it eight times.” — Will Rogers
Make sure readers know about your e-edition option
It’s safe to say the solid majority of community newspapers offer an e-edition of their newspaper. About half give it away for free with a print subscription. (Separately, it’s typically sold at the in-county subscription rate.)
It’s a good strategy and a wonderful amenity for print subscribers. The only problem is: so many papers don’t inform subscribers and potential subscribers about the bonus. It’s definitely a premium that will help sell a new subscriber, and retain an existing subscriber, but what good is it if they don’t know about it?
So, be sure the service is mentioned on all subscription notices, circulation promotion materials, house ads, and basic “how to subscribe” info that appears in the masthead. Make sure to ask for their email address.
Example: “Free for all subscribers, a $32 value: the e-edition of the Courier. Every week, before the Courier is off the press you will be emailed a link to our e-edition. You may read the Web version, or you can download the issue as a PDF. Just make sure to send us your email address so we can send a notice when the newest edition is available. (We do not sell or share email addresses.)
Help wanted
Are you a whiz kid when it comes to setting up and running Quickbooks for your newspaper’s accounts receivable, accounts payable and profit and loss statement? Are you capable of setting up a similar system from the ground up for a midsize weekly? If so, I may have a job for you. Just drop a note to blummer@aol.com
My advising service
Are you concerned about your newspaper’s financial performance? Is it time to step back and analyze where your newspaper is as a business, and where it’s headed? Here’s the best business decision you can make. I offer an advising service that covers all the bases. The process will pay for itself 10 times over (and probably much more) within a year. For details, just drop me an email to blummer@aol.com
More unique newspaper names
- The Hour — Norwalk, CT
- The Tiller — Arvin, CA
- The Twiner — Woodbine, IA
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