Entries for month: January 2011

Fine line between leading and forcing change in newspaper advertising sales

It’s easy to talk about changing the sales strategy, implementing new regimes of multimedia sales tactics and the great opportunities we have with the growth of digital. The hard part is putting these strategies into place and effecting real change into the daily routines of our sales staffs.

A pet peeve of mine in this industry is that many of us still refer to the internet (and digital media in general) as the “wave of the future” and “where it’s all going.” The future is now, if not yesterday, in terms of where the consumers are going and where our mindsets need to be focused if we’re going to translate our great news empires into true digital dynasties that can profit from our tremendous reach and credibility.

So, creating true integrated sales staffs within groups of people who have largely sold (and been primarily incented on) print advertising for many years is a challenge, but not an incalculable one. There are many ways to push your company’s sales assets in the right direction, towards embracing and enthusiastically supporting a multimedia sales effort. None of us seem to have determined the perfect formula for how to achieve this state of Nirvana – but there are some pitfalls to avoid and some best practice tips that this blog group can certainly provide.