By Autumn Shelton, West Virginia Press Association
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – According to advertising experts from the Dutch Miller Auto Group and West Virginia University (WVU), newspaper ad representatives should consider providing additional data and print/online package deals as well as a balance between online and print ads to increase sales.
During the annual West Virginia Press Association Convention held Aug. 9-10 in Charleston, Joey Gresham, director of marketing and advertising for the Dutch Miller Auto Group; Tony Dobies, senior director of marketing at WVU; and Rickie Huffman, director of undergraduate recruitment and parents marketing at WVU, provided their insights on how the state’s newspapers could better serve those who wish to advertise.
Gresham began the conversation by stating that around 2016, newspapers began to come to him discussing how “geofencing” and social media could be used to push more customers to his website.
“But, [I was] already doing those things,” Gresham said. “They are old to me, but at least it showed they were trying. But, they were trying the wrong way.”
Gresham explained that in years prior, quantity was a newspaper’s strength when it came to advertising.
“We’ve got 80,000 readers, and we’re gonna get you out there to every genre, every person that you want, and we got them right here. They are going to look at your ad and they are going to see a car, and we are going to bring it to you,” Gresham said of the former sales pitch. “You know, that worked. That was a great way to sit down and give a pitch to me – to get me to come to you.”
However, today, there is an even better way to get advertisers to sit down at the table, but it is underutilized by the newspaper industry, Gresham said. It’s all about providing data on the “quality of reader.”
“Think about the people who really read the paper,” Gresham said. “What if we ask your readers what would interest them in advertising?”
Gresham continued that if newspapers would bring that customer data to potential advertisers and say, ‘We’ve got this data for 16,000 of our viewers who want to see ads this way and, guess what, we’ve already designed it for you. Here you go. What do you think?’ that would capture attention.
“I think that with that data you’ve already got . . . it’s the people,” Gresham said. “Ask them what they like to see. I guarantee you, it’s not the same ol’ . . . picture on the back [of a newspaper] of a Nissan. It’s not that. We’re talking about highly intelligent people who love to read what you write.”
Gresham said that automotive dealers will return to print advertisements in newspapers, but “it’s going to take a lot of work on your side to explain to us that you’ve done your due diligence, to figure out what your reader wants to engage with for us to even want to put that ad there.”
He concluded that it’s all about entering a partnership with your advertiser by showing them that newspapers can put the right advertisement in front of the right buyers.
Next, Tony Dobies spoke about social media and creative marketing.
“For us, it’s all about value,” Dobies stated of WVU’s advertising dollars. “For me, it’s a decision on where we spend our money, and how can I prove to the people above me that the money is going to the right place.”
He said that the more information newspapers can provide on who is seeing an ad, where the ad is going, customer demographics and reader information, the better.
Social media brings a younger audience to the table, Dobies continued. “The more that you can connect traditional print with web and social opportunities the better chance that we are in 100 percent. I will say yes to something that’s a package deal . . . I see more value in that.”
Lastly, Rickie Huffman, discussed what works for every demographic when it comes to advertising.
“For example, a couple of years ago, especially in the wake of the pandemic, we were shifting a lot to email marketing,” Huffman said. “While that’s great, we were getting a lot of complaints that we weren’t sending enough print materials, that they wanted something tangible in their hands. They wanted a checklist, they wanted to know more about their student’s major, and even the students wanted to get something in the mail.”
“We really had to restrategize,” Huffman said. “At the end of the day, the stats that I’ve read is that websites are key. You have to have your website updated and your links fresh.”
Huffman added it’s important to view website metrics at the end of the day.
Also, Huffman said that parents love to take booklets – especially print material like the WVU Magazine – so they don’t have to go to multiple websites to learn what is happening.
“I definitely think there is a market there, it’s just a matter of figuring out the balance of it and figuring out how to keep track of it and your demographic as well,” Huffman noted.
With the younger demographic, who grew up with a cell phone in their hand, an advertiser has 29 seconds to capture their attention, Huffman said.
“If it’s not something that’s catching their eye, they’re not going to read it,” Huffman explained, adding that it’s also important to think about the number of ads that pop-up while one is on their phone.
“That deters people very quickly, and students, if they’re having to click out of a bunch of things to get to what they want to look at, they are not going to pay any attention to it. They are going to be over it.”
Huffman concluded that it’s important to assess your audience frequently.
“It’s always about assessing your audience, your area, and trying to keep things as new and as fresh as possible,” Huffman said, adding that surveys, with a prize at the end, is a great way to assess your demographic.
Getting out there with Facebook groups and going out into the public and asking questions like, ‘How did you like this? What did you think?,’ is imperative, she concluded.
