We make a lot of mistakes!
I spend more time than I would like to admit apologizing for something we did or didn’t do, trying to figure out how to pay for this idea or that and sometimes wondering what possessed us to try that!
Still, we don’t make enough mistakes. … Read More →
Feeling a case of the Monday workday blues today? You are far from alone! The Gallup organization has interviewed 25 million Americans over the years. About two-thirds of us are not fully engaged in our work. That’s a pretty sad commentary on how most of us manage our businesses! The good news in this year’s … Read More →
In small business, you never know what the day will bring.
When the letter addressed to Ms. Jesse Dow landed on my desk, I knew my day was in trouble.
I smelled trouble because Jesse left CTW 10 months ago to pursue an opportunity in the computer industry. Also, last I checked, Jesse is a guy. … Read More →
“You are more likely to finish Navy Seal training than click on a banner ad.”
“You are more likely to survive a plane crash than click on a banner ad.”
“You are more likely to get a full house while playing poker than click on a banner ad.”
I could go on and on about the horrors of display advertising results online … Read More →
“Advertisers are beginning to tell us they can just use Facebook and don’t need us anymore,” lamented a worried ad director recently. “They say it’s easy, cheap and targeted.”
You might not understand Facebook’s success, or you may not enjoy using Facebook, but you must admit it has a huge reach and user base. Ads on Facebook can easily be targeted to reach men or women, age groups, college educated or not, married or single, by their interests and where they live. In short, advertisers can target customers in your market that have the characteristics they seek.
The question becomes: What do you do about it?
Luckily, you have three advantages that Facebook lacks: … Read More →
The likes of Google and Groupon, Facebook and Twitter, AutoTrader and Ebay Cars… plus many, many more have a clear focus on the Holy Grail of owning local commerce and advertising — with good reason. Local commerce in the U.S. is estimated to total somewhere in excess of $3 trillion dollars annually. That’s a lot … Read More →
I apologize for a few days of absence from this blog while I attended the Inner City Capital Connections program here in Chicago. What an experience! As I told program director, Hyacinth Vassell, “This was the best four days of my professional life. My only regret is that this wasn’t around 30 years ago. If … Read More →
Like B.B. King’s iconic classic, for many in the newspaper industry the thrill is gone, baby. In just more than a decade we have gone from conducting grand experiments in how to compete online — think Cars.com and Career Builder — to firing all of the photographers, among other ways to cut millions in cost. … Read More →
Yesterday, I explained why running on that fateful hamster wheel to grow your impressions is a bad idea – you (and advertisers) get diminishing returns in value as you gain more impressions.
Now, as I promised, I am here to present some solutions. And yes, there is a solution that fits with the way the internet works and what local media companies have always done.
First, stop pricing based on cost per 1,000 impressions … Read More →
