April 29th, 2009 
joel The idea of an ombudsman or reader advocate never really suited the suits at the Erie Times-News. It seemed that the editors didn’t want to waste any ink on admitting that they sometimes get something wrong, or just might be unfair from time to time.
Sometime when Jeff Pinski had the job, they switched the title to Public Editor, and it became the role to explain controversial decisions at the paper and to field the angry calls. Over the years all of the reader advocacy has been rung out of the role, and now the current Public Editor, Liz Allen, basically is the newspaper’s PR flak and spinmeister.
The plates were spinning a couple Sundays ago when Ms. Allen attempted to justify a 50% increase in the price of the newspaper at retail stores and newsstands, bringing the cost for that daily paper from 50 to 75 cents. She compared the price of a paper to her favorite candy (Chuckles), to Buck Night popcorn, and olive oil.
I agree that the Times News as the only comprehensive source of news for this area is easily worth 75 cents. I have a much harder time paying $4.99 for baked ground up oats with a little honey in my cereal bowl. Besides, the cost of my delivered paper and the Sunday Times News won’t increase.
However my marketing sense tells me that this is a really bad time to be placing barriers between readers and an advertising product during this deep recession and advertising depression. Even with only single-digit circulation loss this decade, readership is a fragile thing, especially for younger generations who will have to sustain the paper’s existence in the future.
I’m sure that some very deliberate thinking went into this decision, and I’m guessing that the red numbers on the spreadsheet provided by the accountants overrode the painful moans of the circulation manager and marketers about to see their numbers drop.
The groans got louder yesterday as the ETN announced 4.5% paycuts for all salaried employees for the next five months. Management will also ask the union workers to give up five unpaid furlough days. This comes after the 9% staff shrinkage at the end of 2008 that saw the exit of some long time stalwarts of the broadsheet.
Publisher Rosanne Cheeseman is attacking all sectors of the profit and loss statement to make up for the scary downturn in inches sold. GoErie.com quotes her as saying she’s “confident that we can weather this economic downturn and that we’re making smart changes that will ensure that we emerge from this recession as a strong company.”
Ms. Cheeseman, there’s no other option.
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“Ms. Cheeseman, there’s no other option.”
~~~ The Press and Tower
As much as I like Liz Allen and Joel Natalie, BOTH are a wee condescending in their conclusions of ETN future viability.
Joel, you could save 25% of column space by dropping the “The” out of “The Press and Tower” and go with “Press and Tower”. Some of your suggestions above have the same credibilty as doing that here.
While Allen wrote a witty piece on the 75 cents you will pluck down for ETN printed, there was also no gambit to encourage long term prepaid subscriptions now.
That cash inflow could have helped, but I suspect, people know that in the long term, our orange ETN boxes at home will be as empty as the boxes in Denver, Seattle, and numerous communities that said “Goodbye Newspaper”. Allen missed a great chance to get subscriptions and renewals, before the increase.
The bulk mail sent out by Sassafras Street thinkers is appalling. I let it accumulate all week in the mail box (to my mailman’s consternation) and on garbage day, move it from the mailbox, to the garbage can, in total, and unread.
Waste of money there ETN. Why are you not targeting to see who wants this junk?
Stamps are going up in price too. I wish they would charge full price for junk mail, like the ETN inserts in my mailbox. The volume would drop, mail delivery could layoff their bloat, prices would hold steady longer, and both outfits could survive better by not sending out, and delivering bulk baloney.
Note: while newspapers will continue to fold up en masse, the Postal System will always be maintained.
Best example now is swine flu. In the event it takes off, or from bio-terrorism, antidotes need speedy delivery.
The fastest way to reach all households in the land with such medicines is the Postal System. They are already the key component for such delivery now. The postman goes to every house every day. Dropping of some meds is our safety net. However, they are faltering in THEIR mission, by delivering ETN crap at low rates.
Current subscription to the USA Today is still 50 cents a day (12 weeks for $30). But the other day, I picked up a copy of USA Today at the store and the clerk gave me no quarter back from a buck. I asked what’s the deal. He said the paper is now a buck. I put it back on the shelf.
I suspect ETN will find the same result.
I suspect they have factored that in somewhere in their metrics.
Btw, I stopped reading USA Today online, for their comment section on every story makes Topix look timid.
Too much Hollywood crapola too.
As the older generation dies off, the kiddos will NOT be buying a newspaper from ETN.
Clear Channel radio outfit announced their second major whack on employees just days ago, but added a novel twist.
“So long company contribution to 401k”, they said.
(So long to about 600 more employees too, in this round 2 of cuts).
BUT, if they reach 90% of company goals this year, the 401K contribution will be paid………. RETROACTIVE.
Story here:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Clear-Channel-cutting-590-apf-15062591.html?.v=4
Someone is finally thinking.
The company and employees share in the bad times.
The company is now saying, employees will share in the good times.
When it comes to ETN sharing with employees in good times, the employees will shout “I Can’t HEAR You”.
Advertising is supposed to create or influence behavior. That is why SuperBowl ads go for big bucks. So too with political ads by candidates.
Name any ad from the ETN folks that rings a bell or makes you think, or plain old doesn’t irritate?
(Note: JR ad on GoErie with that goofy girl nodding her smirk up and down has come up in some inappropriately related stories. It is a terrible ad to begin with, but generally shows up with the worst possible story next to that irritating babe). Fire the maker of that ad. A Mr. Potato Head would probably outdo Ms. Smirk-face.
“Brush-a Brush-a Brush-a
With the new Ipana
Brush-a Brush-a Brush-a
Ipana for your tee-eeeth!”
I do not think they make Ipana toothpaste anymore than they make Burma Shave shaving cream.
So how come the ad for BOTH outlasts the products?
ETN advertisers are letting ETN down, with seriously defective ads. The ads are not worth the price, change little behavior, and the ETN ends up with lost revenue due to crummy product (all ads).
I credit the new GoErie girl for allowing navigation from Obits to anywhere finally. My back arrow button is finally resting as I can go to the top of the page and navgate anywhere, from the dead.
But an opportunity was lost with Obits when it went with Legacy.com .
People now pay ETN for Rememberance on Birthday or Deathday of lost loved ones and the like.
Why aren’t these online?
It is an ad!
It is local news/people oriented information.
People already PAY to put it in the paper, but it has NEVER been offered online.
You just scooted to Legacy. A blunder.
Legacy covers the world of the dead. Erie wants to know about our own.
Vital Statistics is money lost.
How many new parents would put a pic in the news (paper or online) for a reasonable fee?
Where are the irritating attorney ads on Vital Statistic pages from Bankruptcy and Divorce?
Marketing is nonexistant at ETN.
If I send an email to anyone on anything at Gmail, in seconds, ads on every item I mentioned in the email are all over my screen. Um, this is not coincidence.
GoErie is a travesty at doing ther same.
When the tree girding funeral fellow acted up, ads should have popped in from landscapers, tree cutters, wood product folks, tourism for scenery, and more.
GoErie got zilch. They get that on every story too.
Lost revenue Roseanne.
Tip to same new GoErie-navigate-gal: when I read Opinion and say, Letters, I have to backarrow anew. Put ALL the letters on one format and let me blink in and out of any letter I want, without the navigation hassle. Thanks.
How come there is niche marketing like Her Times, but not HIS Times, or TEEN Times, or Youth Times?
ETN could survive by providing hard hitting local news, and people oriented stories on folks in the community who are regular folks doing wonderful things in their lives. Um, I think that is how Liz Allen got her start.
And, for the Saturday before Mother’s Day this year, would you mind running Larie Pinta’s “Always Look back” tribute to his mother? It is a historical masterpiece.
Idiots ended it, not realizing that new moms are made and gone every day of the year. That article put it in perspective for all.
Reprint it this year and see what I mean.
“My Inspiration”, free thoughtful stories, of real life by local people was gutted for all Christmas and all Easter.
Horrible move.
Ostensibly, that feature was “worn”.
(I never bought into that)
But it was replaced with zilch and BOTH seasons passed with no local input of inspiration substitute. We could use some inspiration around here.
Newspapers are like oil. We all know that in the short run, both products are here and used. We also know that in the long run, both products go to the dustbin of history. The question here is “Will GoErie Go, or Stay?”
I have to disagree with the comment about the advertisers letting down the ETN. ETN has an art department that marks up most of the ads printed and the ETN can certainly reject any unsuitable copy. when most businesses need more revenue they…wait for it…. HAVE A SALE! raising prices in the face of declining revenue will certainly lead to … less revenue. Kinda like how the government raises taxes and revenue falls.
I am a subscriber and advertiser ( tho sometimes it kills me) The political slant is a big part of the decline. But since liberals know best I am sure they’ll do fine….once they get a tax payer funded bailout!
PS getting rid of comments at goerie.com was a bad move too.
“on the 75 cents you will pluck down” Danny…
Not sure how you “Pluck Down”…when plucking indicates picking something up…or lifting something…perhaps you meant plunk…always amazed that you have a skillset that allows you to ramble endlessly about nothing…perhaps you could economize with your words….helps to focus the reader on your point….without dozing.
Former Radio Guy,
The important thing for YOU to remember, is that the topic need not be discussed at all when you comment. Comments from former radio guys should always look at any typo’s, redefining words, and commenting on number of words, versus content and subject.
If you are afraid the Internet will run out of space, talk to Bill Gates, not me. He needs a laugh.
I take it you ran Topix for ETN after your radio stint.
I expect this typo nonsense from Joe LaRocca or Erie BlogWatch, Personal attack is always their forte.
Since you do not want to discuss the post, I will add that SOMEONE at the ETN must read what I write, for I have seen several changes after suggesting them in this forum at Press and Tower.
If you know how to click a link, item 6 is just for you FRG.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pluck
Now, back to your nap Former Radio Guy.
You can do it!
Punxatawney Phil gave his permission for you to sleep.
Me too. Dream that you are an Editor. Sweet dreams.
Danny…brevity is an artform while verbosity is a plague.
use to…..
look at the length of the actual post. Joel’s Post!
Then, take your brevity, and actually comment on the post, and add value to the discussion.
Dannny-
6. Slang. to rob, plunder, or fleece …not sure how you rob, plunder or fleece down? or up for that matter…not sure what your point is…but then I guess I’m not alone.
“personal attack”?? please…if you think my encouragement to focus rather than ramble is a personal attack…then you need to fix your skirt…your slip is showing.
For a guy hell bent on typo’s, consider learning how to type my name, Former Radio Guy.
I note you have now made two comments.
Nothing on the topic. Can’t read a link.
As Joe Pesci said during trial in “My Cousin Vinnie”,
“I’m through with this guy”.
From my perspective the Times is no different than most media today, in that they believe in everything they print, and also believe themselves to be right about everything they print from an editorial position. No different than Howie Kurtz’s Sunday morning program which makes excuses for whatever the latest media concern might be.
Trying to ignore that, is like trying to ignore a tooth ache. Tough to accomplish. That said, any business model that includes the constant offending of half of your target market is open to being questioned. The problem as I see it, is media today is more interested in themselves than their customers. As long as that remains the same, the results will remain the same.
I refuse to accept that the economy is to blame. I’d point to the Wall Street Journal versus the New York Times and Fox News Network versus MSNBC, as illustrating the differences in approach. Needless to say, there is a reason for the WSJ to be growing, while NYT continues to lose readers and advertisers. It would seem to me, one who doesn’t work in the media industry, that with the WSJ and FNN being in the same family of companies, their approach to satisfying their customers is better than the others.
Perhaps there is a lesson for the Times, as well as other Erie media in that. Perhaps not. Erieites don’t seem to be very demanding. Look at what they elect.
Civility, gentlemen, Civility!
When I see Danny’s replies, I must continue scrolling.
This is EXACTLY why goerie.com had to drop comments! LOL
CRANK’S metric of evaluation of media is on target.
I used to subscibe to the Wall Street Journal, but the online edition is far superior. It is easy to navigate, loaded with timely information, and respectful of commentary, as business folks are used to that.
My favorite section is the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
It is topical and fresh in ideas every day, and has a sidebar of breaking news.
Once you peruse the Law Blog, scoot to the header and go into any topic imaginable, with ease.
GoErie would be wise to imitate this format.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/
The WSJ is clearly meeting the needs of their audience, and you can rely on the information. Credibility has become a real anchor on the neck at NY Times, for several years, even before the fake articles made up in the mind of Jayson Blair as real news.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair
ETN debates comic section, but simply go online to any of your favorite comics and voila! You can read several days in a row and not even wait for the next in a series to see what happens.
Here is today’s Dilbert, in color always, and if you hit the left arrow by the date, yesterday, and all days before come up easily. No waiting.
Other comics, say LuAnn, can be put on one page and have 10 or 20 days of the series on ONE page.
I have comics bookmarked and read one full series a day, taking in 2 weeks worth at once. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks worth of another comic. In 14 days, I read all of them I care to, and start the cycle anew.
Say, where are the comics on GoErie anyway?
As Gilda Radner would say: “Nevermind!”.
And Crank, I have itemized a number of items I miss in the ETN that have been let go over time. Someone at ETN will read the first comment I made on that (like Larie Pintea’s Mother’s Day prelude on the Saturday paper prior).
Put it in on Mother’s Day, like “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” appears all over the world each Christmas. These are timely classics.
With staff cuts, reader’s entering articles on “My Reflections” each day would be enormously helpful to the audience and the paper.
Meeting customer’s needs is as simple as asking them what they want.
I read a while back from one reader wanting a daily Sudoku, to go alongside the Crossword.
Don’t hold your breath to see it at ETN or GoErie, although nearly every paper carries it.
Online is even better. The puzzle is in multiple languages, and several levels of play (easy. hard, evil, etc). You can contact the Public Editor at the ETN or go here now:
http://www.websudoku.com/
As Kevin Cuneo would never say:
“I think CRANK got it exactly right!”
Not particularly true, Heavy D.
Topix was around long before ETN picked it up.
And, it is still online now, including an Erie Forum.
I suspect a lack of moderation, international trolls invading local issues like Teri Rhodes and Judge Joyce cases, and the sheer hate, was driving local folks away.
But a real biggie in my mind was the ability to also take on Pat Howard in seconds, or Ed Mead, Kevin Cuneo, or anyone else.
Bryan Oberle took a huge and lasting hit when he expalined “The Catholic Church Just Doesn’t Get It”. Poison oozed for weeks.
Like it or not, Erie is a big Catholic Diocese, and they take offense at continued hits on them. They roared at Oberle.
The main players at ETN were called on the carpet immediately in GoErie comments (Topix) and there was no way to filter, edit beyond recognition, or pitch ideas that were contrary to the publisher and/or underlings.
A moderated comment service SHOULD be offered.
Some of the best writing I read at ETN is the youth on Friday’s. I have often wanted to congratulate the thought process expressed by some of those kids, but it can not be done under current formatting in GoErie.
(In Topix, it would devolve into a “citi” production, or a Bush/Obama rant, though neither the article or praise involved either.
Of course, I could write a Letter-To-The-Editor, wait for 4 weeks for Kevin to pick it up, have him edit it beyond recognition to say what HE wants to say, and then wait for a phone call to verify that I am me…….
ALL before it can be untimely published. The youth would be graduated, grown, married, had kids, divorced, and remarried, and Kevin would then call for verification of the comment.
Since I can not hear, a phone verification wouldn’t cut it anyway. And there is no alternate mechanism at ETN for verification to the best of my knowledge.
Too many people have told me of rejected letters from them, and others have said, they did not recognize their own after it came to print (pending editing for thought within).
Anyone can comment at Press and Tower immediately, anytime. But there is also moderation. I have a comment in moderation now, not because of the thoughts expressed, but adding links throws internet filters into a Tom Ridge-like, Orange Alert level.
I think Roseanne Cheeseman and Rick Sayers have BOTh been good for the community and are busting their butts to keep the ETN/GoErie in progress.
There is a terror in that workplace, as there is everywhere, with heads rolling and cutbacks.
Management would be wise to approach everyone and try to take back even more, to assure survival, but add a silver lining to SHARE even more, when profits get spiffy anew. I do not think they have the credibility to take that approach, for lower management would only see GIVE now, and never GET later, in their minds.
Joel’s opening two paragraphs tell the whole story on why such team effort to survive will not work. No trust. No credibility.
Portland Oregonian has bloggers contributing to the paper from nearly every zip code the paper reaches.
That brings a local flavor to every community out there.
I read THEM, before I read the news sections in that paper.
Give it a shot here.
Maybe use the Friday youth. They write well.
Danny,
I didn’t know topix had nothing to do with goerie.com. I did have it explained ( by a goerie.com exec) that it was the unregulated comments that forced the comment out and that they are working on their own system. The value of goerie.com to advertisers is that people come back and stay on a page. This is now gone and I’d be interested to see what their numbers are in 3 months since the comment section was hugely popular.
I didn’t know that that erie forum still existed just without being linked to goerie? The goerie.com exec made no mention of going to topix and picking up my comments right where I left off. Thanks for the heads up.
A quick observation on Danny’s post (#1 in this thread). He writes:
“I credit the new GoErie girl for allowing navigation from Obits to anywhere finally. My back arrow button is finally resting as I can go to the top of the page and navigate anywhere, from the dead.”
As a Firefox user, I did not realize that this had been accomplished. The navigation, as Danny describes it, only works in Internet Explorer. I hope that they work this issue out for the FF browser.
By the way, I enjoy Danny’s posts…long as they are. Many thoughtful observations that make sense…and freely offer some good ideas to the Times for increased user friendliness and revenue generation.
Heavy D,
Topix was in existence and is designed to be a forum for instant commentary. It must be moderated at all times, due to anons, hatred, politics (especially last year), narcissism of certain characters, and deplorable side of humans around the globe.
A dozen characters controlled the place daily.
I always deemed it a Public Service by GoErie since we closed down Warren State Mental and these folks needed an outlet. But every article, upon commentary was polluted with true filth. The pain of not having Topix was outweighed by the pain of keeping it.
Each locale is to moderate their place. Locally, we had Kristin Lynch, Doug Boldt, and Dennis Weed (formerly of Erie Blogs) moderating. Anything you read at Topix could be flagged as offensive. These people set the moderation levels and you can see the ultimate results.
I do not know if some or all of the moderators were volunteers, but Lynch did have much to do with CyberInk and the founding of GoErie, especially in the early days of crash and burn, and lose all comments in blogs.
So much spam and porno came each day that the system crashed ad mauseum. I recall gabbing with Peter Panepento when he was still there and working on Inside Erie, his baby that he nursed, and Pat Howard harumphs around the globe as a Goerie feature now.
Panepento and I gabbed often in those years about the need to eliminate spam. Tough row to hoe.
I got phished this week for my Visa card and it looked very, very real. The bad guys are ruining the discourse on the net.
Topix is independant of GoErie and was used nationally by most papers. That was good locally but drew in Ida Tarbell impersonators and lakerman gods of their own types. In reality, it needed CyberInk to step up and monitor the rules posted at every comment entry;
Be Nice, blah blah blah.
GoErie saved itself by adopting what the world had. You are right that withdrawal will show decline in page views, and stats, but that means little to me.
And, any promise from GoErie or CyberInk to deliver their own system is never going to occur. You do not throw out what you have, until you can replace it with something better. GoErie is local and does not possess the needed talent to do macro programming. It is an inhouse Mead money maker from what I see, er, maybe a money loser, I do not have privy to the Income Statements or Reports.
Though Topix stands alone, the insideous lack of true monitoring can be blamed on 12th and sass. They goofed. Perhaps the coliseum like bludgeoning daily boosted their numbers so it looked good on paper, but I long ago made it a practice to see who died in Obits, check Opinions, and leave before I caught a disease.
Heavy D, did you really expect GoErie to level with you? That is what blogging is all about. What one person does not know, someone on the planet does and it is openly shared. The truth is a composite of views, with each person determining who to believe.
When you go to this link I give and see the torture chambers anew, remember the executive person who told you what you stated here.
In court, we are sworn to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. If you were going to tell the truth, why bother with the other two?
Your information from GoErie shows the need for whole truth and nothing but the truth added. They tell you ONLY what they want you to hear.
At this point, ETN could be saved and prosper.
They do not know how.
And they are too proud to ask anyone.
So the jury is out on Erie, PA having them as a long term viable media source.
But I have little doubt someone will come in after they louse up and make a grand buck here.
Good, talented marketing, with some new blood will make the new folks prosper down the road.
But let’s give Cheeseman a chance first.
I respect her and Rick Sayers in the day to day battle to stay alive. It is the long term holdovers that hold success back for now. It is a family operation and if you are family, you are in. if not, so long.
Sharing the wealth woul;d allow lean times to be absorbed by all, and propsperity to be shared by all for keeping a heartbeat from flatlining. I would love to be in charge for 90 days. My first stop would be the door of CyberInk.
Most online papers are not a regurgitation of the printed daily. They are proactive sources of their own, incorp[orate Twitter widely, run feature series NOT in the paper, etc.
GoErie is still headlining Steris moving to Mexico years ago. No one reads that crap.
Dig Erie was a disaster.
Type Bryan Oberle into their search engine. He sits down the hallway and the search engine can not locate him anywhere. Maybe he is in the men’s room. I dunno.
No one uses anything but Google for a search engine anyway, so why try as a bumpkin? Dig Erie has problems galore.
We are witnessing a gamble in our community.
Pride and possible failure versus openness and truth and possible success. Place your bets.
We in Erie win either way. ETN will go in time, but online something will always be here. I am not sure folks are gonna give GoErie their 47th chance to get it right finally.
Here is your forum:
http://www.topix.net/city/erie-pa
and here drect:
http://www.topix.net/city/erie-pa/2009/04/erie-man-killed-after-asking-motorist-to-slow-down
Last, allow me to share my all time favorite Topix post anywhere. If you read the first 10 comments, and don’t pee your pants, read the next 2,114 comments and you will. This one is a classic of its own:
http://www.topix.com/forum/topstories/TROQHSRCOU7PPKA6G
anonomuss started the first post.
Watch what happens after.
Commentor number 9, Straight Up, is a joy to read.
I forgot to add the Dilbert comics link in comment 13.
Use the left arrow by the date at the top to see color Dilbert each day, and backwards in time via archives.
http://www.dilbert.com/
Comics online can not be touched by the paper.
Bookmark them for two weeks and read the series at once. Two weeks later , repeat.
In each of the remaining 13 days, do the same with another comic.
Danny,
Thank you so much for the analysis. I really appreciate the thoughtful reply. Your thought that goerie.com won’t/can’t make a local comment section makes perfect sense but I hadn’t thought of it! Thanks for the links too. This is commenting at it’s best!
Heavy D,
In Comment 2, you noted you are an ETN subscriber and advertiser. You added that the internal Art Department at ETN marks up the price as well.
Then you talked about ads and “having a sale”—not a direct quote.
That is what advertising amounts to anymore.
“WE are having a SALE!”
The public is immune to this type of advertising anymore. It worked well in the 1950′s and 1960′s.
People are too savvy for that anymore.
Witness Christmas shoppers waiting longer and longer to buy, until the “real” sale price shows up.
Wegman’s has begun a change in their advertising.
They take a list of basic food supplies and mark the price as profitable, consistent over time, not a sale price, but an “always” price. People thought this was baloney at first.
But when you walk down the aisle, week after week, and that peanut butter is the same price, as is tuna, all the time…..and a great price too…….you begin to believe their ads that say we are sticking with the same price and not luring you with weekly sales of selected stuff.
YOU need a whole new approach in advertising your product, than what ETN offers.
We have all seen a picture of a scene or portrait, that upon closer inspection is a composite of thousands of pictures. They are combined to form the whole.
Recently, a new tool has been developed for online (I have the link saved, but no time to post that yet). This tool takes the approach of making a picture out of a zillion other pictures, varying colors and shadings to create say, a shot of Obama.
Here is where the tool comes in.
It takes EACH of those thousands of pictures that make the WHOLE, and comprises the tiny picture…….out of zillions of other photos!
Get this! Those new tiny, tiny photos are comprised of another series of tiny photos. It was endless.
Set all that aside for a second and switch gears with me.
All of us are getting darn tired of the crap we buy. Nothing is made well anymore. The bean counters chip away at every item manufactured to cut cost, and thereby, quality. I looked at a high priced dining table chair recently at a local furniture outfit and turned it over to see “Made in Malaysia”. Those crazy Chinese want more than 50 cents an hour and lose out jobs now.
Chairs of yesterday used to be glued well, and the corners had an insert of metal, pounded in to secure the leg forever. (Look at the top of a hammer and see the bevel pounded in to the split, to secure the head to the handle; same thing on a chair years ago.
The Malaysia chair, at BIG bucks, had a bevel insert too.
It was not metal and driven in securely.
It was wood. And not oak or something of quality, it was balsa slammed in and snapped off at varying breaks. It was deplorable quality for a very high price.
Now let us combine these two thoughts in our local economy and ETN.
Imagine a “Heavy D” company wants to place an ad.
You say, “offer a sale price”. That is so yesterday.
How about a picture of Mona Lisa comprised of all those zillion pictures, and each of those pictures comprised of endless new zillions within, over and over.
The ad shows Mona Lisa in full portrait, then slowly pans in on her eyeball, to reveal pictures make up her eye. Pan in some more and the pictures that make her eyeball are also NEW pictures (perhaps our town, or a route to your location in pictures panned) making a smaller photo part. One more time we pan in.
This time, a tiny, tiny photo is embedded there.
The ad captures that photo and enlarges it right out of Mona Lisa’s eye until you can read the entire photo as an AD!
And the AD says:
“Heavy D”….. Sometimes, You have To Look Deep For Quality,……and Sometimes, Quality Is Before Your Very Eyes! Come To Heavy D For Quality”
I suspect your sales would grow!
This is the future and it is happening now with that tool available to organize endless photos.
There is no “on sale” price for quality, and quality NEVER goes out of style. We are tired of being a Wal*Mart nation, and quality will come back.
You will never see such an ad at Goerie , um I just made it up.
Ads for ETN are always some crap “on sale”.
People no longer buy it…….the ad OR the crap.
This is why I believe advertisers need to seek new places and niches to advertise their needs. I don’t know what you advertise for sale, but rethink where you advertise and how you do it.
Marketing is changing from elaborate bluff and claims, to a tendency toward telling folks the truth.
Toyota quietly did that all along.
Danny,
i think you misunderstood what I meant. I meant lower your prices in response to the market. I don’t buy any online news because I can get it free. raising the price will only push away customers faster.
Ultimately everything is price driven. That is why Wal-mart is so successful. They are cheaper and everyone knows it.
I have a minor in economics and am a firm believer in the free market. Demand has fallen for their product so they must reduce their price to keep their numbers the same. Since they apparently make more money on advertising based on the number of readers i would think this would be an easy decision to make.
But as an aside “sales ” do work. Reduction of prices will get you increased business, but you are right that if people are only buying your product based on price you have a big problem.
Our company’s numbers are at record levels and i couldn’t be happier with how things are going but I can also assure you that our ads in the ETN will never contain the word “Sale”.
We do a very modest amount of advertising with ETN and part of it was to gain visibility with with an older more traditional segment. I don’t expect the results to be measured in traditional ways, but for my company it was a buy that made other people ( that I need to keep happy) happy. As long as they still are getting readers they have value but this latest move will decrease circulation which will really affect national ad buys that are strictly based on the numbers.
Non-traditional advertising is great. I’d like to see this in Erie:
http://www.freshcreation.com/entry/escalator_advertising/
I can only hope that there won’t be any more government interference in the market!
More ways to get your news without a newspaper:
(yes, it involves the web)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/technology/start-ups/13hyperlocal.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Heavy D,
The written word is easy to misunderstand what is being coimmunicated.
For instance, in your second paragraph just above here, you wrote “Demand has fallen for their product so they must reduce their price to keep their numbers the same.”
Since you were discussing WalMart, the statement drew a query in my mind. I suspect you changed gears there and were referring to declining demand of ETN, and raising prices now is the worst of all possible moves in that circumstance. I agree the increase is a bad move for ETN. Time will tell.
You could have been referring to WalMart still. I dunno.
But online “newspapers” are in massive demand. ETN supposedly is in this market with an outfit named GoErie. So if demand is up for online ETN, advertising dollars would be well advised to shift to that marketing forum, instead of newsprint.
Your case as sited is unique; your needs are met for reaching a target audience and the ETN is shooing potential viewers of your ad away. Lamentable.
Economics and Business were my own majors so I understand where you are coming from on free market, pricing mechanism, etc.
In globalization, other countries are not playing by those rules and manipulate currencies to their advantage. If we do the same, foul and protectionism are screamed aloud.
When it comes to low price, I often directed potential customers to my competitors. I dealt in the highest quality to provide less downtime, and no need to staff a person to inventory/purchase what I supplied. The added value was worth it to many a customer (paperwork savings alone made it an easy decision.
One bill a month, regardless of multiple purchases in any month.)
Additionally, by keeping my competitors busy chasing pennies, there was a whole world of quality seekers open to me.
ETN was open to a larger audience via Topix.
The numbers and stats are misleading for you and your employer however. I would be surprised to see if Topix folks was your intended audience, but I leave the possibility open.
The Financial Times is to the world, what the Wall Street Journal is to the USA. Click FT online, and the top dog provides a nice hello to you.
“Feel free to read any articles you want. However, after reading three articles, you must register.
After (so many more), you must subscribe to read. However, by then we are sure you will want to subscribe.”
He is correct.
They are about $300 a year roughly.
A major CEO in the USA subscribed. The value is immense. He then sent the FT in house, to his subordinates to read, in effect, subscribing for all but paying for one.
FT sued. The embarrassment alone was not worth the cheap misdeed.
You have had economics so you know that nothing is free. Right now, the globe is trying to grasp how to monetise the Internet fruitfully.
ETN serves a very limited audience of Erie County and surrounding Tri-State areas, plus a few subscriptions sold to folks who moved, retired, whatever.
Our local population is NOT advancing rapidly at all.
Inroads from alternate news providers take a chunk of viewers from ETN.
And, their politics drives away another segment of the public.
These are difficult days at ETN and the newspaper industry everywhere. It will get far worse.
When the fish are not biting, change bait or use a net.
ETN is happy to use a crawler no matter what the level of happenings anywhere is. They need to try alternate approaches.
This is not the forum to debate economic policy and the like, so I switch gears here to a comment from Roger and the gal at ETN GoErie who made navigation from dead people in Obits a reality. I read her story one time only and frankly can not recall her name.
But she is good.
There was one mention of the atrocious automobile ad trailing ever so slowly across all entry portals on the homepage at GoErie. You would click that car ad with annoyance trying to go anywhere, or wait eons for the lousy car to move to the right.
She blasted that ad away in a single day, after realizing the negative effect.
If anyone knows her name, it should be posted here for recognition in the positive contributions she makes.
In general, ETN heirarchy takes credit for good deeds within the company, and as a new hire, she may be quiet. Kudos to her anyway.
She moved to Erie, and it put a smile on my face to read all the time of Brain Drain, and not a peep on behalf of this tech savvy woman from elsewhere. She is a brain INFUSION to GoErie.
Roger, I suspect she will have your FF working navigation wise from Obits to elsewhere. She is good.
They would be wise to fire her boss and move her up now.
Obama has long had a Twitter account
(over a million followers too).
http://twitter.com/BarackObama
He Text Messaged his Vice President choice.
He used HIS Twitter account yesterday, to announce a White House Twitter account.
Now you can go direct to the top to get information on swine flu, banks, bailouts, ballot stuffing, whatever you want. The White House opened a Twitter Account.
TWITTER
http://twitter.com/whitehouse
Follow @whitehouse
How else is the White House getting its message and news to people?
FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse
MYSPACE (only 13,000 friends ??? )
http://www.myspace.com/whitehouse
FLICKR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse
VIMEO
http://vimeo.com/whitehouse
YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse
iTUNES (video and podcasts)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=299652047
BLOG
http://www.whitehouse.gov/
TV, RADIO, Email and BlackBerry on top of that.
Have you noticed that in all this media forum to connect a message to an audience,……
there is NO newspaper?
NO White House Times?
No White House Gazette?
No White House Inquirer, Post, Patriot, Courier, or any?
Now review our local newspaper and see how many of the above communications they use
(and see if you can find them).
Blogs show up on Homepage, if you scoot way to the right and click the tag “Blogs”.
A few blogs are listed.
Then, curiously, you click anew to get “All Blogs”.
Voila, some new ones come up, and the first group disappears.
Maybe they believe the Internet requires you “turn a page” and go to column 8 for the balance.
Hey GoErie, list ALL the blogs on your homepage, and people will click what they want from there, without a foxtrot to find the one they want.
All politics aside, our White House has updated to the new media in every category. It is an incredible turn around in only 100 days, from “old” to Web 2.0, for citizens to communicate directly with the top.
Forget the newspaper, Ms. Cheeseman.
Find someone on the planet that can fix GoErie for good.
Obama did it for the government communications.
Ironic that in my reader I see your comment followed by this as a new item from Podcasting News:
WhiteHouse 2.0: The Future Of Propaganda?
http://www.podcastingnews.com/2009/05/02/whitehouse-20-the-future-of-propaganda/
No irony spoon.
It was announce 24 hours ago by the government and has been carried by the news everywhere.
You can find even more Web 2.0 (than I listed) being announced yesterday too. (May 1, 2009).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-rosenbaum/the-emergence-of-a-digita_b_159941.html
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ik1WzCUcAlqihQDFUaZkhFASZCTg
Dozens of sites are telling the public.
I could not link to Podcast, since I do not hear, and subscribe to none. The podcast link I posted does not work for me. Glad you added that.
In this post on ETN, I note that in 100 days, the government has connected to its audience in every possible way, and made 2 way communication instantaneous for the general public.
I also left out (as did your article) that Hula is a source for Obama too.
My main point is that if the government can do this Web 2.0 lickety split, how come the newspaper that serves us, and seeks to survive, does not do the same?
Erie readers will get the Twitter announcement and Web 2.0 story between D-Day and July 4th from GoErie that Obama went Web 2.0 on May 1, 2009 (at least his WH Twitter account).
Much of the rest has been there all along.
A source I like for IT in government is Computerworld.
They also have an even blend of folks who love and hate what is going on, so it must be balanced, eh?
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9132248&intsrc=news_ts_head
Much of this was used in the campaign for President.
I began receiving emails from Obama about 18 months ago, BlackBerry and Obama is an old story, his transition team was insistent on moving Web 2.0 and did. It opened at whitehouse.gov at noon on the day of Inauguration.
In any direction you look, Obama is seeking to pull any form of media to reach his audience and allow them to reach him.
He gets 40,000 personal letters a week and it is culled to 10 a day for him to read on anything (one of those read was from an ex-smoker, giving him tips on how to quit smoking). So even snail mail is used.
But newspapers?
They are not even getting bailout funds!
For all Erie laid off reporters. We are looking for an unbiased moderator to moderate a panel of businessmen and citizens on the public news channel. We want to make our politicians accountable for their actions. The Mayor asked the business community for their suggestions a couple years ago on recommendations to fix city government and fix things in Erie and ignored our suggestions.
Erie is in a major financial mess with no accountability from its politicians. In order to fix things, we need to identify expose the real problems and imlement a citizens plan to fix things. Between the Mayor and City Council, not one of them is capable of fixing anything. It’s time to bring back accountability. Even the Erie Times has taken down their message board because citizens wantt to expose these problems.
If you have any interest in becoming a unbiased, non-political moderator and really care about fixing Erie, please let us know. We are planning a meeting.
Editor’s Note: If interested, please contact me (Joel) at joel@nataliemedia.com and I’ll forward your interest to our anonymous friend.