Think like the advertiser to grow your revenue

We always need to consider the audience (the advertiser) when creating our advertising rates and options, and we need to see how print and online can work together.

If I were an advertiser, I would want some specific information:

With fewer issues of the print product, I get fewer opportunities to appeal to eyeballs. I vaguely care about the publication's goal of more in-depth coverage, but when it comes to my sparse ad dollars, I really care about getting some sort of return (beyond the good feeling of supporting the school). Do the four, or six, or whatever publication dates connect to any major events that might help me target my ads? For instance: Would that Dec. 15 issue be a good fit for a "pick up that last minute gift" sort of ad? Is the March issue the best choice to market my prom offers?

Is there any way to give me a heads up on the focus of a particular issue? When we publish twice a semester, the trend is to "theme" most issues, starting with an idea WAY up the ladder of abstraction (like love or "your voice" or patriotism or stress...) and then including a variety of coverage that investigates the esoteric ideas at a much more grounded level. If I were a business that had some connection with a particular theme, I might be more motivated to be part of that issue. Do I need student workers? I need to advertise in issue 1, but I may have lots of turnover, so continual ads may be good for me.

Why be stingy with the social media "shout-outs? I might gladly pay a reasonable rate for a commitment of a social media post each WEEK. But I also want to know how this will work. Do I share a message (and an image or two) with your staff, which then posts? Does the staff create a message, based on information I supply? My business may or may not have its own social media accounts, so how can they work together with the school media program?

I am interested in eyeballs, ultimately, so can you share how many social media followers you have (that can help me decide on whether this is worthwhile)? If your Facebook or Instagram feed, for instance, consistently reaches 600 students, that is great market penetration and I might want to know if I can ONLY advertise on your Facebook or Instagram page (or perhaps on ALL your social media accounts). That might be worth a lot more to me than a print ad that appears four times per year.

Can you share with me the number of papers that get picked up each issue? Is there any way to estimate the number of readers there are each issue? Some research shows that each copy of a school magazine is viewed by up to 3 or 4 people (shared at home or with friends from another school, for instance). Do any papers get distributed through professional offices or Hy-Vee, or the local libraries, or other places that might welcome free publications? Circulation numbers translate to eyeballs.

Can you share any numbers from Google Analytics that could indicate how many times the home page is viewed each week or month? With SNO, you can include ads on INSIDE pages (beyond the homepage) that might generate more readership. This matters if people are arriving at your website often by clicking on a link to a particular piece of coverage they find through social media (and that is the overwhelming trend). No one bookmarks websites anymore, so you might think about where on your site any display ad will receive the most eyeballs.

Can I count on students to actually create at least some of my ads? I don't have the expertise, and normally hire someone to do this. Having that service included is attractive.

That's a lot to think about, I know. The key is to START with the audience in mind, and create ad programs that can create additional revenue for the advertiser (or increase usage, in the case of some services, like Planned Parenthood or Scouts, or even a church, if that is allowed in your ad policy).

I must admit that for most of my advising career, I tended to start with OUR needs in mind, and I think we missed chances to be better partners with our community.

Dear parents... your child is invited to join our team

As with any elective course these days, the numbers won't stay up simply because student media advisers know that journalism classes are the best way to improve skills, build citizenship, incorporate technology and critical thinking, and so much more.

Sometimes we just wonder HOW other people can't see how terrific student media programs are!

When advisers get together with one another, at a conference or online, there can be a lot of angst over how difficult it is to convince students to choose a media course. We bemoan the lack of support we get from counselors or even fellow teachers. We despair about how to counter the rising tide of STEM classes and the pressure for kids to focus on them. We see traditional journalism struggling to find its way in the new century. 

We feel helpless, at the mercy of societal forces that seem to be set against us. What can we do?

My modest proposal: appeal to a population that cares more about the students than the educational institution, and that wields extraordinary influence over the academic lives of students. That population is parents (and guardians, of course). I know it is fashionable to think of parents as disconnected from their children, too busy to really communicate with their children, too focused on grade point and test scores to worry much about much else. 

Baloney. They want their kids to learn to deal with adversity, to learn to work well with others, to have fun yet make good decisions. They know their children are more than numbers, more than test scores and more than bodies being prepared for careers. 

So after identifying a group of promising freshmen or sophomores (or even some of the academic hotshots in your AP Lang course), how can we get those students to take the next step, and actually enroll in a journalism class?

As people in sales know, sometimes the most important part of the pitch is "the ask." 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Kenerski,

Please consider encouraging your son (daughter) to enroll in our student media course in the coming school year. I am writing to you, specifically, because your son is a good thinker, a good writer and a good citizen. The evidence is in the recommendations I have received from other faculty and staff, and from my own observation.

But I assume that "good" is not enough, for your son or for you as parents.

You want your son to part of something real, something that demonstrates his talents and passion. You want your son to be part of a supportive team, with goals that rise about individual glory. You want your son to be challenged, but with the support he needs to have the best chance to succeed.

Our student media course provides what you want.

We offer genuine leadership opportunities. We offer authentic publishing experiences, where your son can test his ideas beyond a single classroom or beyond a single teacher. We offer a chance for your son to actually practice being a citizen of a free nation, going beyond theory.

I don't want to deluge you with statistics about the growing popularly of college journalism and mass communications classes. I assume you understand the importance of being a smart consumer of media, which now comes at us relentlessly and without much of a filter.

Yes, our media course will help prepare your son for dealing with an increasingly complex and challenging world. Few of our students will become journalists, but all will consume journalism, all will need to be clear and persuasive communicators, comfortable working in groups, adept at sorting through the blizzard of information we all encounter each day. Those are exactly the skills we develop in our media classes.

But you already know that.

And here's what I know: in this hurried, often chaotic world, there are voices that children will listen to: yours. Your influence, quite rightly, outweighs that of the school, of educators and legislators, and even of friends.

When you sit down with your son to choose next year's schedule, please consider how his working on a Pleasantville publication can benefit him. A word from you can make all the difference.

You want the best for your son. I do, as well.

Sincerely,

Jack