Ink & Beyond » Post Tags » 2009

Video | Visual journalism

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:00:14 +0000

Michael Roberts

Michael Roberts, deputy managing editor for staff development at the Arizona Republic, discusses the need for multimedia planning in the newsroom.

Video | Newspapers have muscle

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:57:59 +0000

Suzanne Raitt

Newspapers remain a viable business and are here to stay, says Suzanne Raitt, VP of marketing and innovation for the Canadian Newspaper Association.

Video | The future of news

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:53:27 +0000

Michael Rogers

What does the future hold? Michael Rogers, a former futurist-in-residence at the New York Times, discusses the impact of technology on the news business. Rogers writes the popular Practical Futurist column for MSNBC. Previously he was the vice president of the Washington Post’s new media division, as well as editor and general manager of Newsweek.com.

Video | Protecting and profiting from online content

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:49:55 +0000

Rob Weisberg

Policing the reproduction of articles on the Internet is the wrong approach, says Rob Weisberg, manager of corporate and government licensing at Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.

Video | The danger beat

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:44:58 +0000

Julian Sher and Graeme Smith

It’s a necessity for media to cover military conflicts say two journalists who have experience reporting from wartorn countries. Writer Julian Sher and the Globe and Mail’s Graeme Smith have worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes at considerable personal risk.

Video | An international perspective

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:41:54 +0000

Theo Blanco

Theo Blanco from Sweden’s UNT Media Group talks about reaching out to female newspaper readers and suggests papers are neglecting younger readers overall.

Video | Social networking: Insights and best practices

Staff — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:37:25 +0000

Susan Karol

How can sites attract engaged readers? Susan Karol, executive director of the Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation, explains.

Prep your sales reps!

Jennifer Freitas — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:39:46 +0000

Publishers seeking to build a state-of-the-art sales force, one that earns fast and sustainable returns from both print and digital media, heard about a five-point plan for effective sales at the Selling Multimedia session at Ink & Beyond on Friday.

The panelists were Peter Kvarnstorm, vice-president of B.C. newspaper operations for Glacier, Stephane Le Gal, vice-president of advertising sales for The Gazette, and Zouhaire Sekkat, vice-president of digital solutions for Transcontinental. Kirk Allen, senior vice-president of publishing sales for Canwest, moderated the panel.

The five-point plan addressed the structure of the sales force, the kind of training reps need, how to keep reps engaged, pricing and which types of products are most salable.

The plan boiled down to these four must-haves: Sales reps need to be Internet-savvy; they need support from specialists; they need regular training sessions; and they need significant compensation to stay engaged.

The panelists agreed that sales reps with these four credentials would be equipped to handle both print and digital sales without difficulty.

Niche publications: Find a gap and own it

Janelle Jordan — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:00:59 +0000

Everyone talks about niche markets, but few have a concrete idea of how to find and profit from them.

Candy Hodson, vice-president of sales and marketing for Black Press, offered insights on niche marketing at Ink & Beyond on Friday in a session titled “Creating niche publications.”

“Find a gap and open it,” she told the crowd. “The key is to have a team dedicated to making it succeed and community resources that can continue to make it succeed.”

Hodson said the four fundamentals of niche marketing are finding a unique segment of the population, offering a distinct product, appropriate distribution and audience.

For example, Hodson said she had collaborated with local real estate organizations in British Columbia to target a niche of 350,000 homebuying readers. Together, Black Press and the organizations created NewLocalHome.com, which invited both developers and consumers to post blogs and videos detailing current and future projects.

“The key element is to include real people and inclusive dialogue from a trusted peer group,” Hodson said.

Traci Folkins shares this sentiment. As director of sales and business development for ShopTV Canada, she’s worked to inspire a genuine feel at three community-focused sites. First, mississauganewsauction.com, a weekly online auction boasting continuous business-to-consumer interaction, has racked up over 7,000 registered bidders and significant revenue. Speaking at Ink & Beyond before Hodson, she sang the praises of social networking sites that tap niche markets in a talk titled “Innovative advertising models.”

“With the online auction, it’s about keeping the focus on the bidder, rather than on the advertisers,” Folkins said. “How active your bidder base is and how many items they buy depends on your ability to keep them coming back every week.”

Perfectcouple.ca, a web-to-print initiative that eventually evolved in a TV show, The Perfect Wedding Show, targets engaged couples who compete to win the title of Mississauga’s favourite couple. Local retailers provide a $5,000 honeymoon vacation package, and in exchange, they promote their annual bridal show. ”

Finally, babynamegame.ca is another web-to-print contest that connects with young families, another important niche. Entrants were asked to submit their baby’s photo along with the story of how they chose its name. The public voted on the best story and the winner took home a calendar bearing the child’s photo. This audience-driven initiative drew on the interactive model to generate revenue and win followers.

Finding a niche to exploit starts with devising a roadmap, Hodson said. This means doing loads of research, finding a new approach, not just creating “an extension of a pre-existing product,” and having a “core group of champions” with the talent and conviction needed to connect with the niche audience. “You can’t have a baby and let it raise itself,” Hodson said. “You need to know how to collaborate and sell, so the whole staff is rowing the boat at the same time.”

Photo Gallery: Great Ideas Awards

Amy Egan — Mon, 25 May 2009 06:07:35 +0000

Recipients of the 2009 Great Ideas Awards were celebrated over a power breakfast on May 21, 2009 during the Ink & Beyond conference in Montreal.

Photos by Amy Egan, Canadian Newspaper Association