Downsizing of Column Inches

Just read the headlines… we’re not out of the economic woods yet. Ironically there are now fewer newspapers for those headlines – with Colorado’s oldest newspaper publishing its last edition this past Friday.

Although the Rocky Mountain News has been a scrapper through the past 150-years, they were unable to remain operational in tough economic times. According to the ABC News feature, the newspaper lost $16M in 2008 and was unable to find a buyer to remain in business. This is the latest and largest newspaper to fail. We’ve blogged about the challenges the newspaper industry has faced in the current economic climate; adding to this info are the four owners of 33 U.S. daily newspapers who have sought Chapter 11 protection in the past 90 days and others are up for sale.

As we continue to forge through the uncertainty, many marketers are continuing to edit their efforts; specifically we’ve seen a few trends:

– Heavy Focus on ROI: Campaigns, efforts and departments must prove worth or faced getting scrapped.
– Stay on Course: Marketers are making the necessary cuts but keep consistency and retain as much recipient continuity as possible.
– Experimentation: Alternate, more affordable mediums are being considered to help expand efforts without offsetting budgets.
– Ruthless Editing: Those initiatives that don’t prove successful or retain that sought-after continuity are being slashed without a replacement in sight.

Continue your focus on these principles; the economic turndown could help you judiciously edit your current practices and help you know where to concentrate once the bull market returns.
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