Properly Position Online Product in Sales Presentations

At this stage of the game, your online sales should account for at least 15% of the revenue in any given ad territory. It's not a question of whether print is still viable, but rather what is a good supplement to print advertising?

Your advertisers are looking for methods to reach new prospective customers, similar to the prospects that you have delivered to them in the past using your newspaper. Your website is a perfect solution -- many of your online visitors are not regular readers of the print product, yet they have many common demographic features with your print readers.

How you deliver the message makes all the difference in the world. It is important that you reinforce your brand by demonstrating the continued value of your newspaper, while at the same time touting the additional reach of your website.

Let's say you have a shoe store owner who advertises $100 a week in your newspaper. She gets good response from it, but she's looking to add new customers. She's been thinking of doing some direct mail, which will cost her about 10 cents per household. We can deliver to her a better prospect at a much more attractive return on investment.

Present her with a solution that allows her to continue the print campaign that's working so well, but enhance it by reaching a new group of prospects. Let's assume that your readership is 5,000 per week and your online sports page receives 1,000 unique visitors each week and your banner rate is $20/M ($20 per thousand visitors).

Your presentation to your current customer could look something like this:

* You are currently reaching 5,000 weekly readers, which works out to just two cents per reader. That is a terrific return on investment.

* What would likely happen to your business if you were able to reach an additional 1,000 similar-looking prospects each week?

* Our sports homepage reaches over 1,000 unique visitors each week, and many of these visitors aren't readers of our printed newspaper. And, of those who do read the printed product, this is an excellent opportunity to reinforce your message.

* By combining the power of your print campaign with that of your new online campaign, you can reach nearly 6,000 prospective shoe buyers each week for an average of just two cents each.

* Would you like to use your current promotion for your banner ad? I can get a spec out to you tomorrow, and we can have it up by Friday, just in time for this week's sale.

Using this type of strategy, you can maintain your print revenue, while at the same time growing your online revenue. Remember, position your print and online as a single solution.

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