Newspaper Ads and Other Strategies

On October 27, 2008, New York Times reporter Richard Pérez Peña, published a story documenting the dramatic free-fall decline of newspaper readership around the country. For the six months ending September 30, 2008, the New York Times lost 3.6% of its readership on weekdays and 4.6% on Sundays from the same period the year before. This icon of the publishing industry should consider itself lucky since the Atlanta Journal-Constitution lost a whopping 13.6% of its readers in the same period. Circulation of The Houston Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Star-Ledger of Newark, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Orange County Register and The Detroit News all declined 10 percent or more. Of 500 newspapers across the nation that reported its results to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, circulation on weekdays fell 4.6% and on Sundays, 4.8%. These results between 2007 and 2008. The deep recession that the country faces today had not even fully blossomed. Prior to 2007, the newspaper publishing industry had been fighting a yearly decline of about 2%.In my view, there are four strategic and important elements at play in this conundrum that should be considered by every retail merchant that spends advertising dollars to populate their showroom floors.

First, as retailers that advertise in local newspapers are well aware, lineage costs have risen, consistently year by year. Readership has gone down while costs have gone up. If readership has declined, obviously reach has declined with it. Therefore, with all things equal, effectiveness has been lost at least by the amount of the rising costs and the eroded reach provided. Newspaper advertising is just not as effective as it once was for most retailers and as a consequence not as cost efficient a strategy.

Second, newsprint advertising has always represented a veritable shotgun approach. There has always been newsprint readership in nearly every economic demographic. Potential consumers at the more promotional end of the spectrum to the highest read the paper. That means that a certain segment of advertising expenditures in the local newspaper by a highly promotion retail company essentially has wasted those dollars on the percentage of readers that are in a higher socio-economic class (most would never buy from that retailer). Of course, the reverse is also true. High-end retailers (from a near-term perspective) get no reward for ads in the local newspaper that result in readership from potential consumers that cannot afford to buy at that store. Any marketing or advertizing expert would affirm that the most effective advertising delivery system for a retailer’s message is one that specifically reaches the company’s targeted demographic, probably a goal that can never really be reached.

The third element is the reality that a greater segment of the population represented by individuals that are more youthful today obtain their news from sources other than the newspaper. The Internet has become a substitute for newspapers for millions of people, most of them in their twenties, thirties, and into their forties. If one wonders where the reduction in readership and circulation of print media has gone in this country, to a great degree one need look only as far as their own computer monitor and the younger demographic that goes online every day. I don’t mean to suggest that there are no older folks that go online to acquire some news or younger folks that don’t read the newspaper. Just that, clearly this is the trend. More and more younger people get their information from a computer monitor. By attrition, this is where a good deal of the erosion of readership of newspapers is occurring.

Finally, other news delivery systems are garnering a greater share of the attention of the population that heretofore, read the newspaper every morning (and/or evening), including the various Internet tools, search engines, and service providers. Remember, the Internet as we know it, did not begin to really interface in a user friendly fashion until 1991. It did not make the giant leap to commercial usage until Bill Gates and Microsoft introduced Windows 98 in 1998. For the masses then, essentially none of this even existed only a dozen years ago. Along with delivering the news these same outlets today, also provide for delivery of promotional messages. That’s how they make their money.

Combine all of this with the fact that a furniture retailer’s web site is, to a greater and greater degree, becoming one of its most important assets. Consumers today, young, middle-aged and even many seniors, visit a store’s web site first before venturing through the doors. So, while newspaper and television may continue to represent a major portion of a retailer’s arsenal of advertising tools, other mediums are gaining in importance and should be investigated.

So what am I suggesting here? I am not suggesting that retailers should eliminate advertising in the local newspaper entirely. This might be suicide, particularly at the more promotional levels.

I am suggesting that retailers, in this unsure and difficult economy, analyze every part of the advertising budget for cost effectiveness and efficiency. If, indeed, newspapers provide a medium for delivering a message across a very broad base it may make sense to reduce (not eliminate) that portion of the sales promotion budget in favor of other mediums that can present a message to a consumer that is more targeted for that business.

I am suggesting that some retailers may wish to capitalize on more targeted methods of distributing messages like direct mail (which can target demographics as well as zip codes) and cable television, which can reach specific demographics. (I have often wondered why, since women make most of the furniture buying decisions, there aren’t many more furniture retailer ads on the Cooking Network, HGTV, the Oxygen, and the WE channels.)

I am suggesting that, however the message is delivered, the message itself is of the greatest importance, never more so than now. Just to have an ad in the paper that is just a rehash of last week’s ad, may be self-defeating and a very inefficient way to spend money. Retailers should have something to say and offer explanations as to the difference and superiority it enjoys over the competition.

I am suggesting that retailers pay attention to who is receiving the message from whatever delivery system is used. If younger consumers are receiving their information from the Internet, shouldn’t the message reflect that and special attention be paid? If older readers still use the newspaper as their source of information, shouldn’t this be a factor in determining the message presented? (Please, don’t misread this and interpret it to mean that I am suggesting all newspaper ads should be geared to the elderly).

I am suggesting that retailers pay close attention to the strides as they occur in the use of the Internet, in social networking and interaction, in the effectiveness and friendliness of their own web sites, and in future developments today, unimagined.; these things, to be sure will be embody a significant component of furniture retailing in years to come.

So, maybe rethink the advertising strategy, be sure the message is dynamic, deliver the appropriate message to a specific targeted customer, spend the dollars wisely, and go sell something.