VISIT US AT WWW.SAPATODAY.COM Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association (931) 223-5708 (888)450-8329 fax 1 SAPAToday Advancing the ee paper industry by providing resources for success and venues for sharing ideas. Board of Directors e leadership of SAPA is in good hands. e board of directors, director, and assistant are listed with contact information. Page 3 Nobody Wins A Turf War John Foust teaches us what can happen when sales, graphics, and management don’t look out for each other. Page 3 USPS Update Donna Hanbery of the Saturation Mailers Coalition educates us on how a Ten Billion Dollar difference of opinion can really add up to some major bucks. Page 9 Graphics Series Ellen Hanrahan, our resident graphics guru, demonstrates how ad borders make or break a good ad. Page 4 Work Positively Dr. Joey Faucee gives us the keys to growing our businesses with gratitude. We are all grateful for his monthly columns. Page 5 New Ideas For Savvy Publications Bob Berting, Mr. Community Paper, gives us five great ideas that will improve the way our publications work. Page 3 by Jim Busch & Joe Mathes The rise of social media in the first years of this century has had a huge impact on American life. Friend- ster was launched in 2002, to be fol- lowed by MySpace in the following year and finally Facebook in 2004. According to Digital Marketing Re- search, there are 1.44 billion active Facebook users worldwide, a number that is projected to grow to 1.63 bil- lion by 2018. About 56.5% of U.S./ Canadian citizens, 210 million peo- ple, are active Facebook users. About 936 million people spend some part of their day on Facebook. These are very impressive numbers, but what do they mean to the free and commu- nity paper industry? What does the rise of social media mean to the local businesses that make up our custom- er base and how do they impact the consumers in our markets? One of the advantages of writing these articles is that doing the research for them allows me to expand my knowl- THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE FREE PAPER INDUSTRY AUGUST 2015 Competing Against Social Media edge. I am 63 years old and my wife and I are among the almost 50% of the population who do not participate in social media. Because of my limited knowledge of the subject, I had to “call for back-up” to do this month’s col- umn and I knew the perfect person to call. Joe Mathes is a renaissance man for advertising in the 21st century. He is the vice president of Delta Publica- tions, a traditional community paper and a partner in Delta online, an online continued on page 7
Transcript
V I S I T U S A T W W W . S A P A T O D A Y . C O M
Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association (931) 223-5708 (888)450-8329 fax 1
SAPATodayAdvancing the free paper industry by providing resources for success and venues for sharing ideas.
Board of DirectorsThe leadership of SAPA is in good hands. The board of directors, director, and assistant are listed with contact information.
Page 3
Nobody Wins A Turf WarJohn Foust teaches us what can happen when sales, graphics, and management don’t look out for each other.
Page 3
USPS UpdateDonna Hanbery of the Saturation Mailers Coalition educates us on how a Ten Billion Dollar difference of opinion can really add up to some major bucks.
Page 9
Graphics Series Ellen Hanrahan, our resident graphics guru, demonstrates how ad borders make or break a good ad.
Page 4
Work PositivelyDr. Joey Faucette gives us the keys to growing our businesses with gratitude. We are all grateful for his monthly columns.
Page 5
New Ideas For Savvy PublicationsBob Berting , Mr. Community Paper, gives us five great ideas that will improve the way our publications work.
Page 3
by Jim Busch & Joe Mathes
The rise of social media in the first years of this century has had a huge impact on American life. Friend-ster was launched in 2002, to be fol-lowed by MySpace in the following year and finally Facebook in 2004. According to Digital Marketing Re-search, there are 1.44 billion active Facebook users worldwide, a number that is projected to grow to 1.63 bil-lion by 2018. About 56.5% of U.S./Canadian citizens, 210 million peo-
ple, are active Facebook users. About 936 million people spend some part of their day on Facebook. These are very impressive numbers, but what do they mean to the free and commu-nity paper industry? What does the rise of social media mean to the local businesses that make up our custom-er base and how do they impact the consumers in our markets?
One of the advantages of writing these articles is that doing the research for them allows me to expand my knowl-
THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE FREE PAPER INDUSTRY AUGUST 2015
Competing AgainstSocial Media
edge. I am 63 years old and my wife and I are among the almost 50% of the population who do not participate in social media. Because of my limited knowledge of the subject, I had to “call for back-up” to do this month’s col-umn and I knew the perfect person to call. Joe Mathes is a renaissance man for advertising in the 21st century. He is the vice president of Delta Publica-tions, a traditional community paper and a partner in Delta online, an online
continued on page 7
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Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association (931) 223-5708 (888)450-8329 fax 2
Board MemberKathy CrumptonPiedmont Shopper
Danville VA434-822-1800
Past PresidentTony OnellionBargains PlusSlidell, LA
985-649-9515
PresidentCaroline
QuattlebaumSoutheast SunEnterprise, AL 334-393-2969
Past PresidentRussell
QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun
Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969
Board MemberGreg Ledford
Shelby Shopper & Info
Shelby, NC 704-484-1047
Vice PresidentWill ThomasExchange, Inc.
Fayetteville, TN 931-433-9737
SecretaryMike Marlow Rutherford WeeklyForest City, NC828-248-1408
TreasurerTodd Godbey
Livin’ Out Loud Magazine
Wilmington, NC 910-338-1205
Executive Director
Douglas FrySAPA Headquarters
Columbia, TN931-223-5708
Administrative Assistant
Vickie BeldenSAPA Headquarters
Columbia, TN931-223-5708
SAPA Leadership
by John Foust, Raleigh, NC
THIS STORY HAS A CAST OF FIVE CHARACTERS:
1. The advertising sales person worked hard to build relationships with cli-ents, learn their objectives and de-
was to make each ad a work of art. She resisted suggestions and acted like she was threatened by others’ knowledge of ad design and creativity.
3. The advertising director managed the sales person and the graphic de-signer. Her goal was to oversee ad rev-enue. She wanted everyone to do their
Nobody Wins A Turf War
continued on page 3
velop marketing plans. Since he had previously worked as a copywriter at an ad agency, he had unique market-ing insights.
2. The graphic designer saw herself as an artist, and indeed had impres-sive design skills. However, she had no contact with advertisers. Her goal
If you are interested in serving on the SAPA board please give our president, Caroline Quattlebaum, a call at 334-393-2969. Ser-vice in our industry is fulfilling, enjoyable and gives you sense of accomplishment. Besides that you give back to the industry that enjoy. SAPA works hard to keep you informed and up-to-date on the latest advances and trends in publishing.
We’d love to talk with you about how you can give back.
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jobs, follow the rules, keep quiet, leave her alone and make money for the pa-per.
4. The big entity in the background was the corporate newspaper office, which had ironclad policies for its newspaper properties. In their minds – and in their employee manual – sales people sell and creative departments create.
5. The advertiser in the story had little confidence in the ads the paper cre-ated for him. Although the ads looked good, they didn’t produce the results he needed. As a result, he was seri-
ously considering cutting back – or not renewing – his ad contract with the paper.
Tensions had been building for several months. The inevitable collision was set off when the advertiser approved a series of ads which were proposed by the sales person. When the graphic designer saw the layouts – with copy written, type specified and illustra-tions selected – she hit the roof and complained to the ad manager. It was the classic case of a complainer and a person who wants the problem to dis-appear. In the interest of a quick fix, the ad manager told the sales person
to “stop being creative.”
What happened in the end? The sales person found another job. The ad manager eventually left the advertising industry, after experiencing nearly 100 percent turnover in the sales depart-ment. The advertiser took his adver-tising elsewhere. The graphic designer celebrated the hollow victory of re-gaining control of the paper’s creative product, but lost the chance to devel-op ads for that advertiser. So in reality, everybody lost.
In today’s competitive advertising en-vironment, it is crucial for sales and creative departments to work together. If sales people have unique creative talents, encourage them to use those skills in developing ad campaigns. And if graphic designers are particu-larly effective in explaining creative techniques, encourage them to talk with advertisers who want inside in-formation on the production of their ads. It’s called teamwork.
What would have been the right ap-proach? In my opinion, the ad man-ager was in position to come up with a solution. She could have seen the conflict as an opportunity to challenge a bad company policy. And she could have encouraged everyone on her staff – not just the two at the center of the controversy – to bring their talents to their jobs.
Tire pioneer Harvey Firestone once said, “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leader-ship.”
(c) Copyright 2015 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad de-partments are using his training videos to save time and get quick results from in-house training. E-mail for informa-tion: [email protected]
by Bob Berting, Berting Communications
In today’s newspaper work place, ex-panding opportunities and challenges are good for creativity. In truth, great ideas are universal—and in most cas-es, the greater the idea, the more uni-versal it could be.
THE SIZE OF THE PUBLICATIONDoes the size of the publication have much to do with the size of the idea? Not much! After all, many times we know the greatest ideas are created by just 2 people working together—the advertising salesperson and the graph-ic artist. The large publication can provide more resources for people,
but size can also mean bureaucracy. For exam-ple, many newspaper ad departments are largely open and free with no elaborate offices. The idea is to build your publica-tion without sacrificing your freedom.
THE CREATIVE OUTLOOKGraphic artists at publications should have the right attitude, not a style. This attitude should be a combination of curiosity and sensitivity. In other words, there must be an instinctive interest and curiosity in the business world as it is…..and the sensitivity
continued on page 6
New Ideas ForSavvy Publications
Display & Classified Ad Sales & BillingCirculation Direct Mail Payroll Accounting
Integrated Management Software designed by publishers for publishers
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Ahhh summertime… and this is the time for gardens and all the great seasonal produce. Once upon a time we had a garden, but we got tired of feeding the rabbits and other critters. So to take advantage of a truly care-free, weed-free experience — I like to visit the local farmer’s markets! It’s a great way to spend a Saturday morning (in our area), and we have some fantastic markets in our area, so I pulled a couple of ads that we run for these area markets. Most Farmer Markets pretty much run the same ads year after year, so they are fairly easy to do! The idea is not necessarily to name everything for sale, but to get the people to the event. Again, most of the time the ad size is small but the information is also more general so there’s room in these ads to use art as an attention grabbing device. Both of the top ads on the right are effective. The borders and graphics work together to support and unify the information in these ads. Ads are shown at 100%… our 2x3’’ size. But the framing of the information—the borders— are both distinctive. These bor-ders not only define the outer boundary, but also frame the information inside the space. The top ad’s irregular white space really pulls all the market information together and the art further emphasizes the text. On a page with simple rectangular borders this ad stands out and the text is organized into a readable hierarchy (meaningful order). The Slinger Farmer’s Market ad uses a rectangular border, but the art is incorporated into the border for the distinctive frame. Both the top ads do not use realistic photos of the produce but focus on a more whimsical, suggestive approach. Type size is consistent in both ads again, in other words, there is no change from line to line which can really be distracting and impede readability. These ads can hold their own, but I also found a 2x2’’ ad from a couple of year’s ago and I really think it can be better.
Just a little fix…The first thing I notice is the type running over the top of the art. In some cases this may work, but by and large, newsprint can “muddy up” very fast and that’s what has hap-pened here. Also, you really aren’t sure what the art is because the image doesn’t have enough room to be legible. The art used is a photo of produce and I think it’s a little more difficult to use because of the grays to define the art— try some art that’s a little less “fuzzy.” So I chose an illus-tration to more clearly define the produce (same art as Slinger Farmer’s Market ad). Seriously, I thought the photo of the pro-duce was balloons at first. Ad size is a little too small to carry off the use of this photo. The rectangular border is one-point thinner in the revised ad, but I also added an inner glow to tie into the drop shadow on the vegetables. Farmer’s Market is now a little larger because I used Amplitude Bold Condensed instead of the Amplitude Ultra in the orig-inal. There is a little more contrast in the new ad. Since newsprint is not a bright white to start with, you have to create your contrast areas and that sometimes means leaving gray tones out of the mix. Just a little fixing and more appropriate art made this ad more readable—and legible!
Just a little more white space…Since I’ve recently been discussing white space, you’ll notice that all three ads on the right use a little extra white space to set off the text areas so the readers can more easily digest the information. This space is an integral and thoughtful part of the design. It is not “dead space” if it helps to highlight the what, when and where information to help reader’s retain the information.
Ad BordersADVERTISER’S PURCHASE A SPECIFIC AMOUNT OF SPACE TO GET THEIR MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC. IT IS UP TO THE DESIGNER TO FRAME THAT INFORMATION AND WE CAN START WITH…
Final thoughts…Creating or developing an effective ad is not just about add-ing text and artwork to a specific area. Through the years, I’ve done my share of “could have been better” ads. I just didn’t know it at the time… but every time I learned something new, I saw that I improved. And the weird thing is that I still have more “learning” to do too.
Slinger Farmer’s MarketMay 29—October 30 7:30am to 1:00pm
Held at Slinger St. Vincent DePaul parking lot
For vendor information please contact Nancy Aston at 555-5555
Farmer’s MarketDowntown HartforD
Every Sat. 7am–1pm through november 17 Located at the north rural Street · Hartford rec Center/Schauer arts Parking Lot A variety of seasonal products, plants, fruits, vegetables, honey, herbs, fresh and dried flowers, hand crafted items and more!Call the Hartford BID office for more information 555-555-1234
DOWNTOWN HARTFORD
Farmer’s MarketStarting May 6th 7aM–1pM
EvEry Saturday through novEMbEr
North rural Street, hartford rec ceNter/Schauer artS ParkiNg lot!
For MorE inForMation 555-555-1234
DOWNTOWN HARTFORD
Farmer’s MarketStarting May 6th 7aM–1pM
EvEry Saturday through novEMbEr
North rural Street, hartford rec ceNter/Schauer artS ParkiNg lot!
For MorE inForMation 555-555-1234
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Work Positive3 STRATEGIES TO GROW YOUR
BUSINESS WITH GRATITUDEYou’re increasing your sales. Your team is more productive. You get out of the office earlier to do what you love with those you love…
…and yet there’s something missing. You struggle to keep all the business plates spinning simultaneously. It’s ex-hausting most days. Your family and friends ask, “Are you okay?”
THE MISSING SOMETHING IS GRATITUDE
Here are 3 Strategies to Grow Your Business with Gratitude:
GRATITUDE FOCUSES ON THE POSITIVE
You see what you look for.
Is your default zoom set on what’s wrong with your business? That’s ex-hausting.
Of course all of our companies have room for improvement. Systems and strategies can be tweaked for greater efficiency. If that’s all you see when you look at your business, you completely miss what’s working positively.
Ask yourself, “What have we done that’s producing positive results?” and “What can we celebrate because it grew profits?”
Focus on this positive aspect. Be grate-ful. Experience happiness at your re-
markable accomplishment. Write it down in your Gratitude Diary so you read and relive it later.
Gratitude that focuses on achievement instead of absence creates a Work Positive attitude that is your jet fuel to stratospheric future results.
GRATITUDE FINDS POSITIVE PEOPLE
As you focus on the positive at work, you recall that people produced these most excellent outcomes. These people constitute your Work Positive Dream Team. Every extraordinary goal met involves ordinary people who went the extra mile.
Instead of worrying about how to please the negative people—Eeyore Vampires—at work, be grateful for these ordinary people. They could work anywhere. They could do busi-ness with your competitors. They chose you.
Go one step further. Express your grat-itude to them in very specific ways, re-marking on their positive qualities that contributed directly to the growth of the company.
GRATITUDE FINISHES POSITIVE ACTIONS
Once your gratitude focuses you on positive results and finds positive people, you discover your energy level turbocharged, your attention riveted,
and your time more productive.
Those unfinished to-do list items sur-rounded by road blocks get done, and you’re moving forward with ease.
How?
GRATITUDE REDEFINED YOUR REALITY
You focus on positive results and know that if you did it then, you can do it now. What you have done and what you have are your default zoom settings.
You find positive people who contrib-uted to those positive results. You dis-cover that these ideal customers send their friends to do business with you, because they know you will appreciate them.
Instead of, “Are you okay?,” your fam-ily and friends say, “You look great! What’s going on?”
Your new-found gratitude propels your business upward on a profitabili-ty trajectory for which you say, “Thank you!” as you Work Positive and achieve your business dreams.
Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Positive Suc-cess Coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they get out of the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.GetPosi-tive.Today.
Southeastern AdvertisingPublishers Association
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to reflect the world as it is—in their work.
PRESENTATION PROSPECTSMost advertising sales presentations are heavy with newspaper industry jargon… and mostly out of date. If the prospective client finds themself listening to a 30 minute opening, be-fore the actual campaign presentation, they might wish they were listening to another competitor. This opening could involve extensive interviewing of the prospect and asking a laundry list of questions, which is bad, because most companies have a website which will provide most of the information needed.
THE CRITICAL ELEMENT OF CREATIVE ADVERTISING
Whether a movie turns out to be good or bad, depends on the director, the cast, the story, the music, and edit-ing. Successful ad campaigns are strat-egy, execution, marketing, creativity, graphic art, and copy…. everything is critical. One slip up, one second rate element, and a planned campaign can turn into a probable disappointing flop.
TODAY’S NEWSPAPER ADVERTISER
Today’s advertisers are very knowl-edgeable. They know advertising, in-side and out. They study it in books. They get on the internet constantly, and attend seminars by leading adver-
tising experts. With knowledge comes cynicism. For this reason, campaigns which are designed for the creative satisfaction of the newspaper graphic artist many times do not work…as are campaigns designed to win awards. The customer is looking for results, not overly designed ads.
THE BOTTOM LINEIt’s not easy to be trusted anymore…you have to get things right, time after time, time after time. In the customer’s eyes, you have to be a trusted advisor that tells the story of their business.The reality is that you must be abso-lutely trusted and absolutely believ-able.
Bob Berting, newspaper marketing con-sultant, has published his new e-book for sales professionals in the newspaper in-dustry entitled “Advanced Selling Skills For The Advertising Sales Pro”. This is a publication for beginning salespeople who can learn advanced selling techniques and experienced salespeople who can sharpen their selling skills. Salespeople can learn more about this publication by using the link www.adsalespro.com and see the table of contents as well as reading the complimentary first chapter. Payment of $19.95 to download the 34 page e-book.
Bob can be contacted at [email protected] or 800-536-5408. He is located at 6330 Woburn Drive, India-napolis, In 46250.
Savvy Publicationscontinued from page 3
Justin Gerena, President, Director of Salesp: 888.592.3212 x710e: [email protected]
JB Multimedia, Inc. P.O. Box 704 N. Bellmore, NY 11710 888.592.3212 phone/fax www.jbmultimedia.net
M a k i n g p u b l i c a t i o n s i n t e r a c t i v e.
Free PapersWorking For You
While others retreat, we are moving forward.Some publication’s numbers are falling behind. Your free community paper is moving forward. Readership of free community papers is now higher than paid daily papers, and continues to grow. Rather than being replaced by “instant” media, your local free community paper has become an important part of our neighborhood.
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IFPA & TCNA JOINT CONFERENCE IN SAN ANTONIO
IFPA (Independent Free Papers of America) and TCNA (Texas Commu-nity Newspaper Association) will join to host a free/community paper con-ference in beautiful San Antonio, Tex-as. The host hotel is the Hyatt Regency located right on the famous Riverwalk. The theme of the conference is “Back
Conference SchedulesTo Basics.” The theme will be applied to all aspects of the conference. One of the key features will be that every at-tendee will be shown at least 100 great ideas to be taken back home that will improve the bottom line, make you more efficient, save money, increase sales, or some other positive aspect of your business. Call Douglas Fry at 931. 223. 5708 for more information.
N E W S P A P E R P R I N T I N G C O M P A N Y
N E W S P A P E R P R I N T I N G C O M P A N Y
N E W S P A P E R P R I N T I N G C O M P A N Y
N E W S P A P E R P R I N T I N G C O M P A N Y
A c c o u n t E xe c u t i ve
5 2 1 0 S O U T H LO I S AV E N U E / TA M PA , F LO R I DA 3 3 6 1 1( 8 1 3 ) 9 0 2 - 1 1 9 6 / C E L L ( 5 6 1 ) 2 3 9 - 2 4 9 5P ro d u c t i o n : ( 8 1 3 ) 8 3 9 - 0 0 3 5 / FA X : ( 8 1 3 ) 8 3 9 - 7 2 9 5E M A I L : d o u g s @ N P C p r i n t i n g . c o mw w w. N P C p r i n t i n g . c o m
Doug Schwenk
• Sales is a contact sport. It takes contact to make sales.
• Thinking about a prospect is not prospecting. Prospecting starts when you make the call.
• Regardless of what I’m selling, what the customer is buying first is me.
• Your competitor is not you. Don’t try to be like them.
• Don’t spend time to save money. Spend money to buy time.
• Attitude will trump knowledge on any sales call.
• Sales is not about selling; it’s about enabling the customer to benefit from what we’re providing.
consulting firm. Joe is deeply involved in the print and the digital world and this gives him a unique perspective on the proper place of both platforms in a marketing mix. I have known Joe for years and never walk away from a conversation with him without feeling better informed. Joe kindly agreed to take time out of his very busy schedule to talk to me about social media.
FACEBOOK IS SERIOUS COMPETITION
Facebook has become a serious com-petitor to community papers. It is es-timated that 90% of small business owners in the U.S. are active on social media. It is easy to understand why promoting themselves on social media is so appealing to small businesses. So-cial media allows them to have a direct conversation with potential shoppers without having to invest in advertis-
ing. I asked Joe how he counters this argument; after all it is hard to compete with “FREE.” Joe talks to the customer about the number of people who have “friended” them on Facebook. In most cases, local businesses have at most a few hundred Facebook friends. Com-pared to the number of readers of even the smallest community paper, the number of friends most businesses at-tract is quite small. Joe suggests using your CVC audit or similar studies to put these disparate numbers into sharp focus. He also made the point that while Facebook is a way for busi-nesses to have an ongoing conversa-tion with their current customer base; it is a poor way to attract new clients. By definition, their “friends” are peo-ple who are already aware of their business and what they offer. On the other hand, a local paper reaches both
Social Mediacontinued from page 1 their current customers, reinforcing that relationship, and new prospects, introducing them to the business. The obvious advantage of a community paper, both in print and in an on-line format, is that it reaches a larger market and is not limited to current customers of the advertiser’s business. Some businesses attempt to overcome this challenge by offering incentives to consumers who “friend” them by of-fering special offers or even free mer-chandise to those who like them on Facebook. While this strategy may lead to short term increases in their Facebook presence, bribing people to friend your business rarely produces a fully engaged customer base.
Facebook and similar sites are called “social” media for a reason. Most people access Facebook to stay in touch with friends and rela-tives. Most of the pages shared on Facebook offer “light” content. Cute pictures of children and animals, in-
continued on page 11
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ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR
SALES TRAINING AND CUSTOMER RELATIONS?
A Message To Newspaper Management and Salespeople:
• Reference material sent in advance of each session
• Q/A –better ccommunication with instructor
Live Sales TrainingYou’ve Got to Believe to Achieve
• Let Bob energize yoursales staff
•• Bob can instill greater belief in each salesperson
Live Customer SeminarsCreative Transformationof Clients
• Invite your inactives, regulars, and prospects
•• A great public relations event for your publication(s)
Regional SeminarsHow To Sell Bigger Chunks OF Business
• Invite other publications in your state
•• Bob will conduct a seminar in 3 geographical state zones
Racks For SaleWeather Resistent w/ Product Window
Less than 75 left$50 Each Or Best Offer
The Southeast Sun
334-393-2969
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By Donna Hanbery, Executive Director, Saturation Mailers Coalition
A TEN BILLION DOLLAR DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
EXIGENCY REMAND CASE
On June 5, 2015 the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued its opinion on the combined appeals of the USPS 4.3% Exigency Rate Case. The Court of Appeals upheld the por-tion of the PRC decision that found the USPS was not entitled to a “perma-nent” exigency increase, but was only entitled to collect losses that occurred between the start of the recession and the return, on a class basis, of a new normal for each class of mail. How-ever, the Court of Appeals found that the PRC was unreasonably limiting in the “count once” rule it applied to cal-culate the losses due to the recession. The PRC had limited its calculation to a 12-month loss of contribution for each class of mail. The Court of Ap-peals remanded the case to the PRC for further proceedings to calculate losses in light of the Court of Appeals’ ruling.
The Postal Service lost no time in at-tempting to characterize the Court of Appeal’s decision as an “invite” for the Postal Service to reopen several argu-ments before the PRC, including an ar-gument about when the “new normal” began, and, in turn, the length of time that the USPS could collect losses “due to” the recession. The mailing industry quickly countered with a request that the PRC limit its proceedings to a de-termination of the “count once” rule.
The PRC issued a prompt order on June 12, 2015 opening a docket for the remand case. Without tipping its hand on what the PRC would do, the
USPS UpdatePRC did limit the time for the Postal Service and interested parties to file initial comments and to file reply com-ments. All submissions needed to be completed by July 6, 2015.
Significantly, the PRC did not grant the Postal Service’s motion to lift its order or to extend the period of time for which the USPS would be enti-tled to collect the exigency surcharge throughout the remand proceedings. The PRC did suspend the requirement that the Postal Service file a 45-day no-tice of the date when the USPS would have collected sufficient dollars to be required to terminate the collection of the exigency surcharge under the De-cember 24, 2013 PRC order. The PRC signaled that it would have completed its deliberations and will inform the USPS and the industry of its ruling before the early August time frame. As of the present time, however, the PRC has not announced a date for its deci-sion.
So where does the USPS and the in-dustry stand on what the PRC should do under the Court of Appeal’s rul-ing? The USPS has three theories. All of them would lead to the industry paying the exigency rate increase for a much longer period of time. Two of these theories encourage the PRC to change its initial decision on the meaning and the timing of the “new normal.”
In the PRC’s original decision, it found that the Postal Service was entitled to collect losses of contribution due to the recession up until a time that the PRC defined as the “new normal.” The PRC found that the period of time when the “new normal” began was different for each class of mail. The “new normal”
dates were 2009 for Standard Mail, 2010 for First Class, and 2011 for pe-riodicals. In calculating the amounts of lost contribution the USPS was entitled to recover, the PRC used contribution figures from 2014 USPS financials, but limited the period of time to a period of 12 months. The USPS argues, at a minimum, using these same 2014 contribution levels for the time period leading up to the years that the new normal began for each class of mail, that the differences in lost contribution would increase from $2.8 billion to $3.9 billion. Under this interpretation, the exigency surcharge would remain in effect for approximately six more months, ending in early 2016.
Grasping at some dictum in the Court of Appeals’ ruling, the USPS has also argued that the PRC should reconsider its ruling on when the “new normal” began.
The first argument the Postal Service makes to greatly expand the length of time it could collect the exigency sur-charge is to urge the PRC to adapt one year, for all classes of mail, as the “new normal” to begin. Not surprisingly, it wants to pick one of the later years, 2011, that would increase the amount of contribution it could recoup until $5.6 billion. This would continue the exigency surcharge for approximately two more years. The last, most aggres-sive argument, the Postal Service ad-vances, is that the PRC should find that the “new normal” did not begin until a date when the Postal Service was able to “effectively” adjust to its recession-related volume losses by changing the network. This argument ignores three other factors that the PRC discussed
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as being part of the “new normal” test. The USPS says that it was not able to “effectively” respond to the losses due to the Great Recession until 2013. Under this approach, the USPS seeks to have the PRC find it is entitled to recover a total of $11.4 billion in lost contribution. This would extend the exigency increase until 2020- an ad-ditional 6+ years.
The Saturation Mailers’ Coalition, along with other trade associations, led largely by the Association for Post-al Commerce, and the Association of Magazine Media have combined to file Initial Comments and Reply Com-ments rebutting the USPS arguments.
In the Initial Comments, the industry associations stated the PRC task, and the Court of Appeal’s remand order, were clear. The PRC was not ordered to or required to reopen the entire pro-ceeding. The case was sent back for a simple, mathematic computation of how the numbers would change if the PRC used the findings it had already made to calculate the losses beginning with the date the recession started, and the separate date, for each class of mail, that the “new normal” began. One important difference in the indus-try argument from that made by the USPS was the contribution figures the mailers asked the PRC to use in calcu-lating the additional lost contribution. The industry stated that the Postal Ser-vice was in error using 2014 contribu-tion levels. The amount of contribu-tion per piece in 2014 was higher than the contribution levels in the years the losses were found to have occurred.
The mailers stated that the PRC should only give the Postal Service addition-al losses based on calculations of the losses in the year they occurred. Under this approach, the difference between the December 24, 2013 ruling and the recalculated losses, the increase in lost contribution, is a modest $60 mil-lion. If the PRC was to adopt this ap-proach, the exigency surcharge would still need to end sometime in August, 2015.
If the PRC follows the same method-ology it used to calculate losses in its original ruling, it would not use the numbers advanced by the industry. The PRC did use the higher number of lost contribution in its original order. If the PRC sticks with its original meth-odology, it would seem reasonably likely that the PRC might extend the exigency increase to allow the USPS to increase the contribution it can collect from $2.8 to $3.9 billion.
The industry was outspoken in con-demning any effort to reopen or ex-pand the docket before the PRC. The PostCom, et al. Reply Comments point out that the Court of Appeals soundly approved the PRC creation of a “new normal” standard, referring to it as “reasonable,” “sensible” and well within the PRC’s discretion. The Court of Appeals simply noted that the USPS had raised a new argument on the appeal that the PRC was free to consider on remand, if it liked. The industry chided the Postal Service for taking this polite acknowledgement by the Court of Appeals that the PRC, as an administrative agency charged with
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rate making authority under the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhance-ment Act (PAEA), was free to con-sider any issue it liked in its remand proceeding too far. The industry writes “the USPS has misrepresented the Court’s polite “stop by any time” as a formal invitation to dinner. Be-cause the Court’s holding upheld the Commission’s “new normal” finding in their entirety, there is no reason for the Commission to revisit these findings, whether it has been invited to or not.”
The mailers point out that reopening or expanding of the remand docket would create due process concerns. The mailers would be entitled to raise new issues and a case, that has been dragging the industry down since 2010, could lead to another round of proceedings and appeals. This would defeat the central purpose of predict-ability and stability that the 2006 PAEA sought to create with a rate-cap framework.
The case is now in the hands of the PRC. With mailers and advertisers seeking to plan for the future, and to do budgets for 2016, we hope for a speedy ruling, that truly limits the exigency increase to those losses the USPS suffered “due to” the recession in a manner consistent with the mailers’ calculation. At a minimum, we must hope that the PRC soundly rejects any efforts to reopen and expand the ar-gument about the “new normal,” and slaps down the USPS’ efforts to make mailers pay $10 billion more in post-age relating to a recession that ended many years ago.
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spirational quotes and sayings, selfies and photos of memorable meals are common fare on the site. People use social media as a mini escape from the stress and tedium of ordinary life. Direct advertising, such as a list of specials or a limited time offer, seem out of context and are seldom forwarded to others. Social media is a good way to build brand awareness and foster a long term relationship with your business. Social media is not nearly as effective at generating immediate traffic or moving specific products. According to Digital Mar-keting Research the average Facebook referral produced an average of just $1.24 in revenue. DMR also found that 57% of businesses that have used Facebook to promote their business reported that, “they don’t think or don’t know if their posts made a dif-ference in their sales volume.”
THE ILLUSION OF “FREE”In an article written for Fast Com-pany, Chris Luo, the former head of SMB (Small and Medium Business) Marketing at Facebook, noted that, “recently customer engagement rates on Facebook and Twitter have declined to the point where only paid promoted posts can create meaningful results.” In the article titled, “How Facebook is Failing Local Businesses,” he quoted Facebook research that found small business pages only organically reach 16% of their desired audience. This low exposure is the result of Face-book’s manipulation of their user’s newsfeed to keep them engaged. This also gives businesses which purchase advertising from Facebook a competi-tive edge. Mr. Luo also quoted a For-rester Research study that found, “that the top brands on Facebook are reach-ing only 2% of their fans and that only 0.07% of followers actually interact with each post.”
The key to maintaining and building
a customer base on Facebook is regu-lar and quality content. Customer en-gagement comes from the use of visu-ally interesting images and videos and cleverly written posts. DMR research has found that the most engaging posts are no more than forty charac-ters long. This means that the business person needs to be an excellent writer to convey an interesting and effective message in a concise format. Accord-ing to DMR the number one reason people “de-friend” a business on Face-book is “uninteresting posts.” While a Facebook page does not require an investment of capital, maintaining a social media customer base does re-quires a huge investment in time.
MAKING MONEY WITH FACEBOOK
Many local publications have their own Facebook page. Papers which provide editorial coverage of the com-munity often post “breaking news sto-ries.” As most people want to know what is going on in their commu-nity, local papers often have a large number of “friends” on their page. Unlike other local businesses, they also have a ready means to drive us-ers to their Facebook page. Joe Mathes uses software that regularly “scrapes” his website and posts new stories on Facebook, thus reducing the time and labor involved in maintain-ing an active social media presence. Many publications sell “Sponsored Posts” on their Facebook page. In the midst of posts covering local news they will post a post about an event at their advertiser’s business. For exam-ple, after a post about the local girls softball team beating their rival, they place a post like, “Tonight is Prime Rib Night at the Ourtown Steakhouse.” These can be packaged with other products as part of a multimedia pro-gram. Some papers also offer a service to set up and maintain a customer’s so-cial media presence. This is often one
of the services of an in-house “Digital Ad Agency.” In my discussion with Joe Mathes, he told me he sees limited val-ue in promoting a publication through social media. He finds that a regular e-mailed newsletter containing infor-mation of interest to advertisers and prospects is far more productive.
CONCLUSION, “WISHING WON’T MAKE IT SO”
The biggest challenge we face in con-fronting competition from social media is “wishful thinking.” Business owners want to believe that they can effective-ly reach potential customers without spending a nickel on paid advertising. This was what the creators of MySpace and Facebook promised them a de-cade ago, in the infancy of social me-dia. Unfortunately, like so many prom-ises of the digital era, (Remember the “paperless” office) this did not come to pass. While there is a place for social media in a business’s marketing mix, it cannot replace the reach of traditional media and the expertise of an adver-tising professional. As in confronting any other form of competition; the key to confronting the social media chal-lenge is replacing wishful thinking and empty promises with hard facts. While the use of social media will continue to grow, local print and digital media will continue to be an advertiser’s best means to attract customers to their business for the foreseeable future.
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