So, no matter how you read it, online or in print, I hope to be here helping you to “mind your business” in some form in the future.
Technology always takes over
In the past couple of weeks, a lot of talk has been around the daily newspaper here inCleveland. The question becomes relevant to everyone who works in this type of business.
If the daily paper cuts down to three days from seven days, what affect will it have on some people getting their daily news? Keep in mind, not everyone has a computer or iPhone to read various news outlets.
In this day and age, there are more apps you can get to read and do anything you want. You can get anything from a flashlight to an app to find your phone for you. Has the new digital age wiped out the old way of getting your news?
I guess it all depends on which generation you are talking too. I am in that in between generation where I know how to be computer savvy but still know many who do not use a computer and prefer a paper in their hands to read.
My co worker, Rhonda Crowder, and I both agree that the digital way is the best way to keep up with the news. Digital editions allow for the easy delivery of news immediately. This could represent a very large saving on the amounts spent on delivering hard copy publications and sometimes when the print comes out, it is now old news.
But, I have also heard there’s no denying that satisfying feeling of holding a paper in one’s hands. Many seniors still want their news this way. They sit around the table with their morning coffee or in the evening after dinner reading their news. Plus, after a few days that paper becomes useful. You can clean your glass tables or your car windows to name a few things.
Another factor has become how far of a reach you can touch online. It now spans across the world being online. With the technology of Facebook and Twitter to help promote a story or video, you can increase the hits on your web site.
A lot of times, I go back and look at past issues of the Call & Post and see pages and pages of print advertising. Makes you wonder was it because of the late John Lenear, who knew a lot of people in the community and was a great sales manager, or was it businesses believed in advertising?
I think it was little bit of both because print marketing is one of the oldest forms of advertising and has probably made more money for businesses then any other advertising medium. In order to sale, you have to want to and know how to.
Don Graham, to me, was a master at cutting deals for clients at the bank.
He never cut an employee’s throat to make himself look good. It was about bringing in the business for the bank. He had that sales team wanting to do well, especially when it came time for the bonus each month.
These days, all I see is people in charge fighting against the staff, bad news everyday. Just like suggestions. Have you ever notice how, if it’s not their suggestion, it’s not a good idea? You can’t make a deal but they can give away the farm to their friends?
So to me, that’s the same argument many have about print versus online.
Online advertisers can get access to global markets for less pay versus the higher cost for print. Online advertising has a true price advantage over print advertising. It’s easy to place an advertisement on a website for the entire world to see, but it’s not so easy to send out print media on a global scale.
Advertising is the key to helping any print medium operate. No sales mean no revenue and we all know no revenues mean no print.
As a person with compassion, I do not want to see the news and hear of anyone losing their job, especially in the same profession I am in. Online also can be done from anywhere and that’s a plus. No overhead, just equipment. Do you realize how much money you can save doing it online?
The wakeup call, for me, came in May of 2012 when the New Orleans Times Picayune announced they were going to print onlythree days a week. In was a surprise being they are one ofAmerica’s oldest papers. They only come out Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
In case you are wondering how they picked those days, I researched it and found out the Sunday edition is typically the week’s most lucrative as readers have more time to spend with the paper. Wednesday has traditionally been a market day, in which supermarket chains run ads featuring price specials. And Fridays are a magnet for restaurants and entertainment venues seeking the business of readers planning their weekends.
I have embraced change and realize just like the vinyl record became a CD and VHS became DVD and that almighty 8-track became a cassette, print medium is slowly becoming digital.
SmartMoney and Newsweek magazines have both stop the print edition and are now all online. After 80 years, Newsweek changed. The magazine will transition to an all digital format early 2013. As part of this transition, the last print edition in theUnited Stateswill be Dec. 31 issue.
No matter which side you chose to be on, one thing for sure, both avenues will be around. Vinyl records never really faded. They became absolute but continue to be a hot item for my DJ’s before completely converting to CD’s and this I feel will happen for print.
So, no matter how you read it, online or in print, I hope to be here helping you to “mind your business” in some form in the future.
Follow me on twitter @JimmyWadeIII
Write Wade at the Call & Post, 11800 Shaker Blvd., Cleveland, OH, 44120, or e-mail him at jwade@call-post.com. Comments and questions are welcome but, because of the volume of mail, personal responses are not always possible. Please note that comments or questions may be used in a future column.
