Newspapers Are Happily "App-ing"

by Mike Reiber

The newspaper business has been bleeding red ink for many years. Is it on it last breath? I think not. Adversity has unleashed long-needed innovations in the newspaper business. Innovations which can be harnessed to create consideration, preference and purchase in addition to basic awareness.

Consider this. According to the Newspaper Association of America, newspaper websites averaged more than 111 million unique visitors in Q4 2011. This represents an increase of 6 million compared to the same period in 2010. The association reports that 63% of adult internet users visit newspaper websites. Reach among the key 18-34 demographic remained at or above 60 percent. Lastly, seventy percent of households with income above $60,000 are reached by websites. This number climbs to 75 percent for households with incomes above $100,000.

These are just a few reasons why newspapers underpin many of our successful marketing and sales campaigns. The real question is how to harness the new innovations which are predominately app-focused. Whether it's fashion, gaming, ticket sales or even cause-related, these days it's the Wild West for apps.

Below are a few questions to ask yourself, your team and your agency partners:

1.) What apps are under development by your local daily newspaper?
2.) How can you creatively partner with the newspaper team while the apps are in beta test mode?
3.) What non-traditional resources can you bring to the partnership that will bring a unique twist to the app launch?
4.) What's happening in other countries where newspapers are under siege?

Redefining the Fine Print

The deal-a-day website Groupon has had a pretty good year. They've rocketed to fame, more than doubled their unique visitors (4.6 million in May, according to Compete.com), and just last week started partnering with a few major newspapers.

CorePower Yoga, one of the Twin Cities' most popular yoga studios, took advantage of Groupon's fame with a coupon for a free month of classes on Friday. However, the catch was that the coupon couldn't be used if you had purchased a package or taken a class within the last 60 days.

Obviously, this was CorePower's attempt to bring in people who were probably new to yoga or weren't familiar with the studio. However, the majority of people who would want to use the coupon were victims of that fine print stipulation.

This resulted in quite a backlash on Friday, with a flurry of angry and frustrated tweets and posts about not being able to use the CorePower deal.

This brings up an intriguing issue with these mass deal-a-day web coupons. With Groupon launching coupons back into the mainstream, at what point do promotions and deals like these factor into a company's social media plan? More importantly, what will be your response if that coupon isn't received all that positively?

New Focus for Vocus

While the general public may not haven given it a second glance, the news of Vocus acquiring Help A Reporter Out caused (or should have caused) anyone in the PR, journalism or media industries to sit up and take notice.

The reason this is so newsworthy is that the two services have always had a similar goal, but with polar opposite means of achieving them.

Vocus, the traditional media list builder used by many PR professionals (including myself), and Help A Reporter Out (HARO), the grassroots-style service that started as a Facebook group to connect reporters with sources directly.

The two services are at odds because HARO's process circumvents the need for using PR to gain media attention.

So on the surface, this may look like Vocus getting rid of a competitor, but that's actually far from the truth. Vocus has already stated that they don't plan to change or start charging for HARO, nor did they go into any details about future integration between the two.

So what does this acquisition mean?

It means that even those in the traditional PR sphere are looking to social media as a viable influencer, and recognizing the problems of outdated media lists and ignoring individuals such as sources and journalists that HARO has been focusing on.

As someone who has had a love-hate relationship with Vocus, I hope that this acquisition leads to a middle ground that combines the best qualities of both services.

Happy One-Year HARO!

Today marks one-year since the first HARO was published. HARO (Help A Reporter Out) was started by the ever-energetic Peter Shankman as a resource for reporters to connect with information, resources, and other people to help with stories. Three times a day a list of requests is published and sent out all over the world. In a year, the list of subscribers is now up to 70,000 strong and growing.

Consider signing up for HARO's list. If you are a reporter looking for sources, this is definitely the place to go. If you are a marketer or PR person, this is a great list for finding opportunities for your clients (just make sure to read and follow the rules). Happy HARO Day!

Traditional Media ROI - Just As Hard To Quantify?

We put a lot of value on landing a mention or story in a big newspaper like USA Today. Once we make it into a big newspaper, we have hit the jackpot. Everyone will hear about us. Millions read that paper everyday, which translates to lots of exposure for our brand or product. There has been a lot of talk about the ROI of social media lately and yes, it is hard to measure, but is it harder to measure than that of traditional media?

Consider the following funnel: I subscribe to the newspaper > I actually read the article with your brand name > I actually remember the brand name > I use the info in the article to make a purchasing decision.

My argument is this: it is just as hard to measure true ROI in traditional media as it is with online or social media. Sure, lots of people subscribe to USA Today, but everyone does not read and soak in every single article or advertisement. They skim. They pick and chose. They filter. A newspaper readership with 100,000 subscribers does not mean that 100,000 people saw your brand name, let alone used the info to make a decision that effects your profit.

Are we too comfortable accepting the ROI measurements for traditional media?

RIPs

The Austin American Statesman is up for sale, along with Daytona Beach News-Journal. Tribune just sold Newsday. NJ Star Ledger and Trenton Times are under threat to be sold.

What does it mean? More death of print media, call me psychic if you will. For us, headaches may be induced by updating contact lists. And maybe more news from odious wires, which would mean less pitching, and less diversity of news stories.

Goodbye, hard-hitting investigative journalists. Hello, bloggers.