Comment
Rate
Prepare for the return of recruitment classified advertising
 |
| The media kit of the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin offers advertisers "a clear, concise package," according to Larry Maynard, chairman of NGM Partners, LLC. To stand out among the competition, the Post-Bulletin notes on the cover that it is "the largest employment source in the market." Image supplied |
By Adolfo Mendez | Editor
It’s only a matter of time before employers begin to feel confident enough about the economy to hire workers. When they look to advertise their job openings, will they turn to newspapers?
They will if newspapers are reaching out to them now, according to Larry Maynard, chairman of NGM Partners, LLC.
“If you wait until things get better, it will be too late,” Maynard said during an Inland Webinar. “There are ads to be sold today.”
Maynard said many newspapers operate under an outdated paradigm. “Passive newspapers are still waiting for ads to arrive,” he said. “I’ve worked with over 150 newspapers and only about 20 percent had an adequate amount of outbound sales efforts on the recruitment side,” he said. “If this were any other category, if calls to your accounts weren’t made for one week, how would you react?”
At the same time, the number of online competitors is growing. And some businesses rely on their own company Web site as the primary means to reach job applicants.
In the face of stiff competition, many newspapers’ sales staff need to be more aggressive in their effort to raise classified revenue in the recruitment category, Maynard said.
“A lot of times it’s just getting on [the advertisers’] radar screens,” he said. “Don’t assume that they know who you are, where you are or what your value is.”
A newspaper can position itself as a better buy than many well-known sites because many of the job listings on those sites aren’t local. A newspaper’s job listings “match local business with local candidates,” he said.
Sales staff can use this, and other information, to their advantage and “go in and make a great value statement” on behalf of their products.
“It’s just that we’re not really good at doing that,” he said. “We were not reinforcing our value. So in the absence of that, competitors created the perception of need that newspapers did not fill. By not aggressively marketing and selling, newspapers allowed that void to exist.”
And while it’s true that newspapers are no longer viewed as the only source to connect employers with candidates, it’s possible to overstate the influence of online recruitment, Maynard said.
“The perception is that everyone uses the Internet to search for jobs,” Maynard said. “The reality is, that’s not necessarily the case.”
Maynard cited a recent study showing that although 76 percent of people who plan to conduct a job search in 2009 have Internet access, only 54 percent of them said they planned to use the Internet to conduct their job search.
“That means 13 million active job seekers will not use the Internet,” he said. “That’s the message we need to be delivering.”
Communicating the newspaper’s value should be done regularly. “There’s a reason you tell your sales reps you have to call on recruitment clients every week—you don’t want a competitor to get a foot in the door,” he said.
If they already have, however, it’s not too late to take control of “the next chapter of this story,” Maynard said. “There’s no miracle cure. However, there are definite ways we can improve your financial performance in this category by applying some basic principals and processes you are already good at.”
Maynard outlined several specific steps newspapers can take that he said would result in increased sales, or lower declines, in the near future. “But more importantly, it will improve your position to succeed with potential advertisers and agencies when the economy improves,” he said.
For example, newspapers should make it easier to place an ad in the paper or online. “Create sales and marketing materials specific to the recruitment category,” he said.
“I did some work with a newspaper company a few weeks ago, and they asked me to look at their rate card. I had to go through a 12-page media kit to find the recruitment category,” Maynard said. “It was cumbersome for me, and I’ve been in business 35 years! If it was difficult for me to figure out, imagine if you’re dealing with a 25-year-old media buyer somewhere.”
A better approach is to create a one-page rate card that clearly presents and explains the rates and packages for all categories—print, online, video, etc. “They don’t need to be overwhelmed or impressed, they just want the information they need to make a buying decision, so let’s simplify it for them,” he said.
Maynard said a good example of a clear and simple media kit is that of the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin, a 42,000-daily-circulation newspaper. He said it “tells the recruitment story in a clear, concise package,” noting on the very first page of the kit that the Post-Bulletin is “the largest employment source in the market.”
The kit shows the average number of job listings, which lends credibility to the Post-Bulletin’s claim of being the largest employment source. It includes a map of the local market and easy-to-understand rates. “Again, when that person has to make a buying decision, they don’t want to spend 15 minutes sorting through a media kit trying to figure out what applies to them,” he said.
Contact: Larry Maynard, lmaynard@ngmpartners.com
They will if newspapers are reaching out to them now, according to Larry Maynard, chairman of NGM Partners, LLC.
“If you wait until things get better, it will be too late,” Maynard said during an Inland Webinar. “There are ads to be sold today.”
Maynard said many newspapers operate under an outdated paradigm. “Passive newspapers are still waiting for ads to arrive,” he said. “I’ve worked with over 150 newspapers and only about 20 percent had an adequate amount of outbound sales efforts on the recruitment side,” he said. “If this were any other category, if calls to your accounts weren’t made for one week, how would you react?”
At the same time, the number of online competitors is growing. And some businesses rely on their own company Web site as the primary means to reach job applicants.
In the face of stiff competition, many newspapers’ sales staff need to be more aggressive in their effort to raise classified revenue in the recruitment category, Maynard said.
“A lot of times it’s just getting on [the advertisers’] radar screens,” he said. “Don’t assume that they know who you are, where you are or what your value is.”
A newspaper can position itself as a better buy than many well-known sites because many of the job listings on those sites aren’t local. A newspaper’s job listings “match local business with local candidates,” he said.
Sales staff can use this, and other information, to their advantage and “go in and make a great value statement” on behalf of their products.
“It’s just that we’re not really good at doing that,” he said. “We were not reinforcing our value. So in the absence of that, competitors created the perception of need that newspapers did not fill. By not aggressively marketing and selling, newspapers allowed that void to exist.”
And while it’s true that newspapers are no longer viewed as the only source to connect employers with candidates, it’s possible to overstate the influence of online recruitment, Maynard said.
“The perception is that everyone uses the Internet to search for jobs,” Maynard said. “The reality is, that’s not necessarily the case.”
Maynard cited a recent study showing that although 76 percent of people who plan to conduct a job search in 2009 have Internet access, only 54 percent of them said they planned to use the Internet to conduct their job search.
“That means 13 million active job seekers will not use the Internet,” he said. “That’s the message we need to be delivering.”
Communicating the newspaper’s value should be done regularly. “There’s a reason you tell your sales reps you have to call on recruitment clients every week—you don’t want a competitor to get a foot in the door,” he said.
If they already have, however, it’s not too late to take control of “the next chapter of this story,” Maynard said. “There’s no miracle cure. However, there are definite ways we can improve your financial performance in this category by applying some basic principals and processes you are already good at.”
Maynard outlined several specific steps newspapers can take that he said would result in increased sales, or lower declines, in the near future. “But more importantly, it will improve your position to succeed with potential advertisers and agencies when the economy improves,” he said.
For example, newspapers should make it easier to place an ad in the paper or online. “Create sales and marketing materials specific to the recruitment category,” he said.
“I did some work with a newspaper company a few weeks ago, and they asked me to look at their rate card. I had to go through a 12-page media kit to find the recruitment category,” Maynard said. “It was cumbersome for me, and I’ve been in business 35 years! If it was difficult for me to figure out, imagine if you’re dealing with a 25-year-old media buyer somewhere.”
A better approach is to create a one-page rate card that clearly presents and explains the rates and packages for all categories—print, online, video, etc. “They don’t need to be overwhelmed or impressed, they just want the information they need to make a buying decision, so let’s simplify it for them,” he said.
Maynard said a good example of a clear and simple media kit is that of the Rochester (Minn.) Post-Bulletin, a 42,000-daily-circulation newspaper. He said it “tells the recruitment story in a clear, concise package,” noting on the very first page of the kit that the Post-Bulletin is “the largest employment source in the market.”
The kit shows the average number of job listings, which lends credibility to the Post-Bulletin’s claim of being the largest employment source. It includes a map of the local market and easy-to-understand rates. “Again, when that person has to make a buying decision, they don’t want to spend 15 minutes sorting through a media kit trying to figure out what applies to them,” he said.
Contact: Larry Maynard, lmaynard@ngmpartners.com
 |
||
| Effective time management is key to effective sales calls |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of inlandpress.org
