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People advertise with newspapers for many reasons.
Sometimes they want to support a local business. Most of your other local media choices are owned by out-of-town and often out-of-state companies; as the owner of the Pulaski County Daily News, I not only live and pay taxes in Pulaski County, I’m committed to buying products and services locally whenever possible and reasonable.
Local newspapers are supposed to be covering the local community. While I can’t be everywhere all the time, those who know me and know my background know I’m committed to covering local news. I live in Pulaski County, and I’m perfectly willing to get out of bed in the middle of the night or drive 30 minutes on ice and snow to get to a breaking news story.
But advertising decisions are first and foremost business decisions — who can provide you the maximum readers for your dollar?
Let’s be honest. The modern news media is in crisis; several of America’s largest newspaper chains have declared bankruptcy and others — including GateHouse Media, the parent company of the Waynesville Daily Guide, Camdenton Lake Sun, and Rolla Daily News — are teetering on the edge. Newspapers all over the United States are facing major circulation declines and revenue drops that are forcing severe staff cutbacks that will make it even harder to turn around the circulation declines.
In this environment, any media organization that wants your advertising dollars can and must tell potential advertisers just how many people will see their ads.
The main problem hurting newspaper circulation is that more and more people are getting their news from the internet rather than paying to purchase a newspaper. As a result, unlike nearly all print newspapers and many other media options, the readership of the Pulaski County Daily News is growing, and growing rapidly.
The following chart shows the last 12 months of readership, based on average daily visits. Notice that the average number of people visiting has increased almost every month.
- August 2010: 1,628 average daily readers
- July 2010: 1,261 average daily readers
- June 2010: 1,369 average daily readers
- May 2010: 1,618 average daily readers
- April 2010: 1,395 average daily readers
- March 2010: 1,406 average daily readers
- February 2010: 1,425 average daily readers
- January 2010: 1,209 average daily readers
- December 2009: 1,111 average daily readers
- November 2009: 1,083 average daily readers
- October 2009: 1,004 average daily readers
- September 2009: 653 average daily readers
- August 2009: 719 average daily readers
- July 2009: 602 average daily readers
- June 2009: 603 average daily readers
- May 2009: 400 average daily readers
- April 2009: 375 average daily readers
- March 2009: 317 average daily readers
How does the Pulaski County Daily News
compare to other local advertising options?
The number of average daily readers for the Pulaski County Daily News for August 2010, the last month for which complete statistics are available, was 1,628 readers with 157,753 pageviews.
Both of those numbers are higher than the Waynesville Daily Guide, which according to the Missouri Press Association, reported a circulation of 1,150 readers.
Not only average daily readership of the Pulaski County Daily News but also the total number of pages viewed had been increasing for months previously, as follows:
- August 2010: 1,628 average daily readers, 157,753 total pageviews
- July 2010: 1,261 average daily readers, 136,712 total pageviews
- June 2010: 1,369 average daily readers, 131, 439 total pageviews
- May 2010: 1,618 average daily readers, 160,767 total pageviews
- April 2010: 1,395 average daily readers, 124,248 total pageviews
- March 2010: 1,406 average daily readers, 137,213 total pageviews
- February 2010: 1,425 average daily readers, 117,335 total pageviews
- January 2010: 1,209 average daily readers, 101,529 total pageviews
That means your ad in the Pulaski County Daily News will have been seen at least 100,000 each month since the beginning of this year.
Of course, the Waynesville Daily Guide isn’t the only newspaper in Pulaski County.
- The Pulaski County Mirror, which is owned by the Lebanon Daily Record and is a merger of what until last year were two separate weekly newspapers, the Richland Mirror and the Pulaski County Democrat, reported a circulation of 1,350 readers.
- The Dixon Pilot reported a circulation of 2,200 readers.
- The Fort Leonard Wood Guidon reported a circulation of 10,000 readers. That number needs to be qualified, however; it’s a free-distribution publication printed by the Springfield News Leader, which sells and profits from the advertisements, under contract with Army Public Affairs, which produces the news content.
What are the pricing options for
Pulaski County Daily News advertising?
After 14 months of hard work, the Pulaski County Daily News readership rose to 1,209 average daily web visitors for January, which is higher than the Waynesville Daily Guide, and rose to 1,425 average daily web visitors for February, which is higher than the Pulaski County Mirror. That means for most of this year, the Pulaski County Daily News has had the highest number of average daily readers of any civilian publication covering the Fort Leonard Wood area.
For last month, your ad would have been seen by 1,628 average daily web visitors for August.
Where the Pulaski County Daily News provides the greatest value for your money is the number of times your advertisement will be seen. Not only will your ad in the Pulaski County Daily News be seen by more people per day than the Waynesville Daily Guide or the Pulaski County Mirror, if you purchase a sitewide ad, it can be seen more times than any of the weekly or daily newspapers — more than 100,000 times per month, rather than a few thousand times in a weekly paper that is printed only four or five times per month, or about 25,000 times per month in the Waynesville Daily Guide, which is printed only five days per week.
Also, remember this: Your ad in a print newspaper can be seen only by readers who actually turn to that page of the newspaper. Sidebar ads on the Pulaski County Daily News can be seen by nearly every reader of nearly any article on the entire site.
Option 1: Sitewide right-column ads, at $100 per month
Sitewide ads are ideal for branding and name identification ads.
If your goal is to get your business name out to as many people as possible, an ad in the top right-hand corner of every page in the entire site will cost you $100 per month, and be seen more than 100,000 times per month.
Unlike a print newspaper where your ad might be placed on a page that a reader doesn’t even see because its content doesn’t interest him, or a radio ad that a listener might not hear unless he’s got his radio on, a sitewide ad will be on every page that every visitor to any page on the Pulaski County Daily News will see, no matter where or how they enter the site.
That’s important because many readers aren’t entering the site through the homepage. It’s not an issue here locally, but some newspapers like to sell lots of ads on their home page because advertisers believe — correctly — that the newspaper’s homepage on its website is the most-read page on the entire site.
That’s true, but unlike a front-page advertisement in a printed newspaper that most people will see because they’ll all start reading the newspaper at its front page, many readers of online news find an article through a Google News search, or because someone sent them a link. I actively promote my Twitter and Facebook feeds, and while my homepage is the most-read page, many readers don’t see it because they go straight to an article that interests them. But with a sitewide ad, every reader anywhere on the site will see your ad.
Depending on the size and settings of a reader’s computer monitor, those ads will typically be slightly more than one inch wide by a third of an inch high, and are usually two ads wide per column. The technical specs are 150 pixels wide by 40 pixels high.
And yes, you can buy a double-wide ad for $200 rather than $100 per month.
Most advertisers choose to “layer” the ad, which means they have several levels of text or pictures on the ad. Much like a flashing electronic bulletin board, it also attracts reader attention.
The ideal construction for a sitewide ad is to have it clickable with a link directly to your own website. Why pay extra money every time you want to offer a special promotion? Readers can click Pulaski County Daily News ads and go to the advertiser’s website where you give as much detail as you want. There’s no need to pay a news organization for a large ad if you can buy a small ad that links to your site, and then offer the details there.
This is also ideal for smaller businesses that don’t have a large advertising budget. A small ad costing $100 is likely to get lost, buried somewhere inside a daily or weekly newspaper. It won’t get lost on the top right-hand corner of the Pulaski County Daily News.
Sitewide ads carry a standard discount of the 12th month free after 11 consecutive months of advertising. Customers who prepay for a full year receive 12 months for $100, which is two months free.
Option 2: Single-article ads, at $20 per month
For most businesses in Pulaski County, the best buy is to reach everybody who wants to read news about Pulaski County, its local communities, or Fort Leonard Wood. That means a sitewide ad, which costs $100 per month.
But for some smaller businesses, $100 per month is simply more than they can afford.
If you’re a business in Laquey, Richland, Crocker, Dixon or Plato that primarily serves customers in your own community, your best buy may be a $20 single-article ad that runs horizontally across the entire bottom of an article. ($30 buys a vertical ad that’s the same size but begins at the top of an article — that will be seen by more people since some readers don’t read to the end of an article.) These ads can provide the best value for a small business whose customers are mostly located in a single community.
How does a single-article ad work?
It’s simple. Depending on your budget, you may request to advertise only on articles — perhaps your local city council or school board — that are more likely to be seen by people in your community. For $20, $40, or $60 per month, or less than that if you advertise less often than once a month, you can obtain targeted marketing that reaches primarily the readers interested in your product or service.
This is much like zoned advertising in printed newspapers where an ad buyer can purchase a cheaper ad that will go only to subscribers in a particular zip code or region of a larger city.
However, single-article ads don’t have to be limited to individual communities.
One advertiser is a former Air Force dentist who likes to sponsor articles on the Missouri National Guard or other military-related subjects. News content will not be adjusted to satisfy advertisers — period. But if there’s a particular type of news that you’d like to sponsor — perhaps Scouting if your son or daughter is in the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, perhaps car wrecks for a towing service, perhaps something else — give me a phone call and I can work out a custom program for you and your budget.
Smaller versions of these single-article ads will also be sold for upcoming major news events such as deployment ceremonies, troop homecomings, and similar items that are likely to attract large numbers of readers.
Option 3: Larger custom-designed sitewide ads
For most medium-sized and small businesses, a $100 per month sitewide ad or a $20 single-article ad works well. Your goal is to get your name out to potential customers. Instead of paying extra to a newspaper for advertising, put the details on your own website.
However, for larger businesses or those with a special product promotion that requires a larger ad to attract customers by explaining what you have to offer, custom-designed sitewide or other ads can be produced.
Pricing on these ads will necessarily vary depending on what you want. One option is to purchase a banner ad that’s the same width as the single-article ad but half as high, and have that appear at the top of the news section above the articles on the homepage of the Pulaski County Daily News. Other options can be designed on an individual basis.
What’s next? How do I buy?
The next step is up to you. There won’t be any hard-sell sales pitches. There won’t be an effort to push you into buying a bigger ad. I’m confident in the number of readers that the Pulaski County Daily News can deliver, so give me a call at (573) 433-6733, and let’s see if we can work something out. |
