Someone asked me recently what they could do to help the newspaper.
I was complaining a little about the lack of advertising support in some quarters, and my own struggles with selling ads.
I am a writer, not a salesperson, and though I know the value of our paper and how it could help businesses reach customers – our web site got nearly 9,000 hits the week in question, in addition to the 1,000 papers we have printed for subscribers and newsstands every week – I sometimes have a hard time getting that idea across.
There is this idea among businesses that newspapers are antiquated. That it’s a dying industry. That it just isn’t worth the investment for your advertising dollars.
And while it’s true that print sales are shrinking, people don’t quite grasp that the newspaper is more than the paper it’s printed on. It’s the content, and that content in the modern world can be accessed in multiple ways – from your smartphone; your laptop; or the good, old-fashioned print newspaper that comes in your mailbox.
Often folks will say to me something along the lines of, “I don’t need to support the newspaper, I get all my news on my phone.”
Then they’ll point out a local news story, written by me or Charles or one of our other contributors, scraped from the web by a news aggregator and repackaged for them. The fact that they wouldn’t have this “free” content from the internet without all our work behind the scenes is completely lost on them.
So, when someone asks me what the newspaper needs from them, the truth is, we need what all the other businesses in our community need.
We need folks to be more locally minded with how they spend their money.
Not just you, the readers, who pick up our local newspaper (thank you for your support!) and shop from local retailers. But also, the businesses who want to draw in those shoppers.
If a business wants to draw local shoppers, they need to advertise locally.
While a business who advertises in a larger, regional publication might get a few people who come into town from Ashland or Morehead for their event or to shop in their store, for the most part those folks have plenty of shopping and entertainment options closer to home.
It isn’t a bad idea to engage with those folks.
But it’s also a good idea to remind those thousands of eyes – the ones who view stories in our local print paper or our online edition each week – that you’re still here too. Many of them may be walking or driving past your business on a regular basis without ever stopping by.
Every advertisement that goes into our physical paper can also be placed online too. Not only that, but online ads can include links directly to your website or social media presence. However you choose to engage with customers online, the newspaper can help you do that.
We’ll write a story too.
We’re always glad to do that.
If you have an event, and it’s newsworthy, we’re going to make sure it receives the proper coverage. If you’re a new business, and you want the community to know that you’ve opened, we’ll gladly run the Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting photos. We’re even glad to have a reporter stop by and talk to you about your journey from concept to business.
It’s why we’re here.
We didn’t start a newspaper because we expected to get rich – I’ve been a writer for way too long to ever have such delusions. We did it because the community deserved a reliable news source. One with reporters in the community, regularly covering local events and government meetings. And we were positioned to be able to provide that.
But if the community values that, and the services provided by other local businesses that they might be tempted to take for granted, they need to show their support.
Shop with our locally owned groceries and hardware stores instead of making the trip to the big-box store in a neighboring county. Eat at a locally owned restaurant or dairy bar. Sign your kid up for dance or tumbling lessons at a local studio. Continue to pick up this newspaper from the newsstand and, if you want to be sure you never miss an issue, subscribe.
And support the businesses that you see advertising in our pages every week, and let them know you appreciate their support of local media.
The world often seems like a fractured, divisive, and chaotic place when you look at it through the lens of social media.
But we all still live in the same place, with the same neighbors. We all want it to be a good place to live, and to raise our children, regardless of our various political leanings and opinions.
This isn’t the world of Leave it to Beaver and a 1950s Main Street anymore, and it’s never going to be again. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a new, vibrant, 21st century Main Street that provides more of what we need right here at home; if we’re willing to support it.
We’re more than glad to do our part in bringing that vision to life, but we need your help too.
