2007 august
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SAPAToday our association newsletterTRANSCRIPT
SAPATodayDetached Address Cost Increase
The Quarterly Newsletter for the Free Paper Industry July, August, September|2007
In this Issue:
visit us at www.sapatoday.com
by Donna Hanberry
In May 2007, the USPS began charging mailers using a detached address label (DAL) to deliver their saturation advertising flats a surcharge of 1.5 cents. The Saturation Mailers Coalition (SMC) has been working with saturation flat mailers and the USPS to explore ways the Postal Service and mailers can reduce their combined costs of delivering saturation flat mail. In the last rate case, the Postal Service indicated a strong preference that saturation flats going to city routes have an address “on-piece.” Saturation mailers in rural areas can use the simplified “Postal Customer” address format. According to Postal Service’s costing studies, simplified mail has the lowest costs for the Postal Service to deliver.
In anticipation of a DAL surcharge, some mailers were able to retool their business to convert to on-piece
addressing. SMC has requested the Postal Service to adopt a “simplified but certified” proposal that would allow saturation program mailers to do simplified addressing on city routes. The Postal Service has yet to officially act on SMC’s “simplified but certified” proposals.
Under the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), mailers using a DAL cannot print anything on the address side of the card except “required information” and offer pictures and data circulated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Required information includes the address,
Southeastern Adver t i s ing Publ i shers Associat ion (800) 334-0649 (888) 334-0649 fax
page 2SAPA Board of Directors
page 3Advertising A-Z
page 4Bill Derby receives honor
page 9Photoshop CS3
page 10Calendar of Events
Southeastern Advertising Publishers Association
continued on page 10
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SAPA Board of Directors
Past PresidentGreg LedfordShelby Shopper &
InfoShelby, NC
704-484-1047
PresidentMike WoodardTuscaloosa Shopper
& ReporterNorthport, AL205-333-7525
Vice PresidentBill Bowman
Up & Coming Weekly
Fayetteville, NC 910-484-6200
TreasurerRussell
QuattlebaumSoutheast Sun
Enterprise, AL 334-393-2969
Past PresidentMolly Richard
Quik Quarter Classifieds
Lafayette, LA337-234-3463
Board MemberGarth HawkenFlashes Shopping GuideStuart, FL772-287-0650
SecretaryTony Onellion
Bargains PlusSlidell, LA
985-649-9515
Past PresidentGary Benton
Peddler ADvantageParis, TN
731-644-9595
Board MemberAlan Lingerfelt
The Piedmont Shopper
Danville, VA434-822-1800
Past PresidentBrenda Finchum
Coffee County Shopper
Manchester, TN931-728-3273
By John Foust, Raleigh, NC
Attitude: It all starts here. As Henry Ford said, “Think you can, think you can’t. Either way you’ll be right.”
Benefits: People don’t buy products. They buy what those products can do for them. Sell benefits.
CAmpAigns: Don’t emphasize individual ads. Show your customers how to promote their businesses with long-term advertising campaigns.
design: Use graphic techniques that make ads stand out on the page (white space, big graphics, easy-to-navigate layouts, etc.).
expeCtAtions: It’s not realistic to expect to close every prospect every time. Sometimes, the objective is to advance the sale – by scheduling another meeting, or discussing additional information.
fAst: Return phone calls and e-mails right away. Don’t keep people waiting.
goAls: Establish accountability with specific goals for yourself and your advertisers.
HeAdline: Research shows that eight out of ten readers don’t read further than the headline. Learn how to write good ones, so your ads will be in the top 20 percent.
illustrAtion: Defined as “a picture or diagram that helps make something clear or attractive.” With this in mind, an ad’s illustration should clarify the headline and attract attention.
JAm: The letter B is taken, so we’ll use the musician’s term for brainstorming. Set aside some time to bounce ad ideas around.
Knowledge: The more you know – about your product and your customers – the more you’ll sell.
listen: Like the old saying, we have two ears and one mouth because we should listen twice as much as we talk.
meAsure: Strive to create ads that generate measurable results. Nothing sells like (documented) success.
niCHe: This is a world of niche audiences. Personalize your advertising to hit the bull’s-eye.
oBJeCtions: Since most of them are predictable, there are few excuses to be caught off guard.
proofreAd: There’s a big difference between $995 and $9.95
Questions: Ask open-ended questions to gather information from advertisers.
reAson: Create urgency. Use the right offer to give readers a reason to buy now.
strAtegy: Go beyond budgets, schedules and flow charts. Formulate creative strategies for advertisers.
trutH: Honesty is still the best policy. One of the fastest ways to lose readers is to make “unbelievable, fantastic, one-of-a-kind” claims.
uniQue: Look for ways to differentiate each advertiser f rom the competition. Stay away f rom “me too” advertising.
VAriety: The same note doesn’t appeal to everyone. Develop different ways to explain your selling points.
win-win: Sure, it has become a cliché. But it is hard to find a better selling compass. Help your customers win, and along the way, you’ll win, too.
x-HeigHt: Know more about typography than a few font names and the difference between serif and san serif type. X-height is a good place to start.
yes: The most important word in customer service. If you’re asked about something that is out of your realm of expertise, say, “Yes, I’ll look into that for you,” instead of
“That’s not my job.”
Zero: The number of sales you’ll make if you don’t ask for the order.
(c)Copyright 2007 by John Foust. All rights reserved. E-mail John Foust for information about his training videos for ad departments: [email protected]
Use graphic techniques that make ads stand out
“Think you can, think you can’t.
Either way you’ll be
right.”
3 SAPAToday
Advertising Sales From A - Z
Bill Derby, publisher of The Johnson City News & Neighbor, was named the recipient of the 2007 ETSU Department of Communication Hall of Fame Award for Advertising during ceremonies at the University. The award was presented by D.J. Jessee, Department of Communication, Advertising Division.
Derby earned his degree in j o u r n a l i s m in 1972 af ter comple t ing a three-year stint in the U.S. Army a s a mi l i t a r y j o u r n a l i s t /pho t og r aphe r in Korea . He combined his talent and passion for advertising and journalism at the old ETSU newspaper, The P i r a t e P r e s s .
After graduation, he joined the Johnson City Press-Chronicle and was later promoted to Advertising Manager in charge of all advertising for the daily.
He later built a formidable resume’ publishing and owning several newspapers and shoppers (consumer newspapers). He joined Dickson Media in 1987 as a publisher helping in acquisitions and operations of the publications in numerous
communities across the country.
Before starting The News & Neighbor, he was president of Dickson Media, Western Division, headquartered in Sturgis, South Dakota with 16 weekly/bi-weekly newspapers, a livestock publication with circulation in 13 states, two shopper publications, tourist magazine, and two commercial web printing divisions.
He and wife, Judy of 38 years and son, Jeff, moved back to Johnson City to start The News & Neighbor in 1997.
“I’m having a great career. It’s an honor to be recognized by your peers and the ETSU Department of Communications. When I entered ETSU’s Journalism Dept. I felt right at home. We only had a couple of professors then. Our other instructors were professionals who came from area newspapers and television stations. They taught us the essence of good journalism,” Derby said.
“Even though we are in our 10th year of publishing The News & Neighbor, I feel like we’re just getting started. We are in the process of converting our weekly 31,000 mail circulation to a private carrier delivery system. That will give us more control of our publication, expand our news coverage and give us more
readership, especially for our customers,” he continued.
“While daily newspapers are losing circulation due to various reasons, our paper and the free newspaper industry is growing very rapidly. Our readers love our good news. It’s completely opposite from what everyone is bombarded with from other media. Hard news is important. We let the other guys deliver it. Our gentle, easy-to-read news format makes a wonderful forum for consumers to make buying decisions from our advertisers.
It ’s a win-win situation,” he concluded. The publisher is also active in community affairs and serves on numerous boards. He is a board member of the: Children’s Advocacy Center; Mountain States Foundation Board of Trustees; Salvation Army; and Johnson City Schools Foundation. He is also a recipient of the Milligan College Leader in Christian Service honor. He is a long-time member of Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church having ser ved on numerous boards and committees and was Administrative Council Chair and Lay Leader in 2003. He is also a member of the Johnson City Rotary Club. Derby enjoys playing golf, fly fishing and playing guitar with his old rock n’ roll ‘60’s cover band.
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Publisher Named to ETSUHall of Fame
January 2005Publishers: 4Circ. 80,000
April 2007:Publishers: 65 and growing!Circ.: 750,000+
January 2006Publishers: 21Circ.: 420,000
Is on the Grow!Find out why! KIDSVILLE NEWS! IS THE NATION'S FAVORITE AND FASTEST-GROWING CHILDREN’S NEWSPAPER. From a humble but persistent start of four publications just two years ago, to over 65 editions today, Kidsville News! is making an educational impact all across the country. Why? Because children need to read and Kidsville News! creates new revenue streams and higher profits for newspaper publishers.
With a circulation of over 750,000, Kidsville News! has proven itself to be a fun and effective learning resource for children, teachers and parents. It is the source for school news, information and local community events, while promoting literacy and the development of good reading habits, character traits and study skills in young children — and Kidsville News! is always FREE!
Find out the revenue and profit potential in your community and explore the Kidsville News! opportunity by visiting our booth at: AAN Conference, Portland, OR, June 14-16SAPA Fall Conference, Charleston, SC, August 23-26MACPA Fall Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October 5-7 IFPA/FCPNE Fall Conference, Boston, MA, September 13-16MFCP Fall Conference, Coraville, IA, October 19-20
Call today to “get on the grow” with Kidsville News!TM Contact: Bill Bowman, President [email protected] 910-222-6200 or 910-391-3859www.KidsvilleNews.com
5 SAPAToday
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Our expertise, simple pricing structures, technology and personalized customer service are just some of the reasons why we’ve been able to help so many businesses operate more effi ciently and become more profi table.
To learn more about our credit card processing program available to SAPA members or to receive a
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8 SAPAToday
by Kevin Slimp
I try to offer some variety in my columns, but sometimes it’s hard. Most of the e-mail requests I receive are related to Acrobat (PDF files), Photoshop and InDesign. All Adobe products. It’s hard to remain objective when most of the software released for our industry seems to come from one company. I can’t put it off any longer. Photoshop CS3 deserves its own review. A lot of you downloaded the free trial of Photoshop CS3 last year, when the free beta upgrade was released for Photoshop CS2 users. However, most folks in our business haven’t had the opportunity to see what all the fuss is about. Let me tell you, there is plenty to fuss about. I plan to limit our discussion to three features in Photoshop CS3 that are sure to become favorites of paginators and photo editors.
Improved CurvesMost photo editors can adjust Levels and
Curves in their sleep. They know to bring the highlight and shadow end points in using Levels, then adjust the midtones using Curves. Using both tools is handy thanks to the histogram included in the Levels adjustment window.Levels might be history thanks to the histogram now available in the Curves adjustment window. Now Photoshop users can bring the end points in using Curves, without visiting Levels first. The Curves histogram shows up in light gray underneath the adjustment Curves. Users who want to adjust the highlights and shadows, lighten the midtones, then create an “s” curve to create contrast can do all this in Curves.
Controlling Grayscale PhotosPhoto editors have created all kinds of ways to convert photos to gray sca le in Photoshop. A lot of photo editors convert images to Lab colors, selecting the Lightness channel to convert to grayscale. Most simply select Image> Adjustments>Grayscale.Photoshop CS3 introduces the Black & White tool. Adobe must have had newspapers in mind when they developed this tool, because it’s perfect for many of the challenges we face.The Black & White tool, found under
Let me tell you, there is plenty to fuss about.
Photoshop CS3Worth the Upgrade?
9 SAPAToday
Image>Adjustments, lets the user adjust individual color channels in an image while viewing its representation in grayscale. To test this tool, I took a photo of my son at his birthday party. When I converted the image to grayscale using Image>Mode>Grayscale,
it was difficult to see the difference between the green and blue balloons. Using the Black & White tool, I was able to lighten the green balloons and saturate the blue balloons to get the results I wanted. Sure, I could have done this in earlier versions of Photoshop, but it would have taken more tools and
more time. This tool alone justifies the cost of an upgrade.
Yes, You Can Create Animated GIF FilesS ure , I cou ld c rea te animated files in earlier versions of Photoshop. An animation is a sequence of images, or frames, that is displayed over time. Each frame varies slightly from
the preceding frame, creating the illusion of movement or other changes when the frames are viewed in quick succession. Just think of the rotating ads on your newspaper
Web site and you know about animation.Prior to CS3, I had to create my artwork in Photoshop, then move to a separate application (by clicking on a button at the bottom Photoshop’s tool bar), to create a sequence of frames which eventually became an animated GIF file. In the CS3 version, I can do all my work in Photoshop. While this might not seem like a big deal to folks who have been creating GIFs all their lives, I found creating these files much more intuitive using Photoshop CS3.
What’s This Mean To My Newspaper?Yes, it’s true we could accomplish these tasks in earlier versions of Photoshop. The nice thing about the CS3 version is that you can do them much more quickly and without a long learning curve. Newspaper photo editors are busy people; finding time to learn new tools can be a problem. But these tools are very intuitive in CS3 and you will be using them in no time. And, for those using Intel-based Macs, the latest version of Photoshop runs considerably faster than the CS2 version.The cost to upgrade to Photoshop CS3 varies, depending on the software you already have. Visit adobe.com for more information.
Don’t forget that all the cool styles and abilities are still in your favorite image editor.
The original RBG photo
The converted grayscale photo
Photoshop Creative Suite 3Upgrade? continued from page 8
return address, proof of postage payment, and a statement reading “USPS regulations require that this address label be delivered with its accompanying postage paid mail. If you should receive this label without its accompanied mail, please notify your local Postmaster.” The title or brand name of the item (which may include an illustration of the item) must also appear on the front or back of the DAL to associate it with the accompanying item.
In an effort to provide relief for SMC members who need to use the DAL, the Steering Committee of SMC unanimously agreed to write a letter to the Postal Service Mailing Standards Manager asking that the restriction on placing any advertising on the address side of the DAL be deleted. Representatives of SMC attended a meeting in Washington, on May 16, 2007 where this request was discussed. Postal Service representatives told SMC members that their request would be approved subject to the requirement that mailers wanting to place ads on the front side of the DAL must make the DALs automation compatible.
SMC is continuing to urge mailers with advertising programs in rural areas to not use a DAL. The Postal Service costs associated with the contracts for rural carriers makes the use of a DAL on rural routes more costly for the Postal Service. Saturation mailers can help our industry, and the Postal Service, by making sure that rural routes are prepared using the simplified address procedure. SMC has been working with the Postal Service to test a do-not-deliver procedure on rural routes that will
SAPA SuperConference in 2007: On August 24 & 25, 2007 SAPA will give you the “Blueprint for Success.” We’ll have our annual conference at the Francis Marion Hotel in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. For the first time ever that charming city will host our event. The food is unequalled, the hotel is first class, so plan now for a great time, we’ll all do the Charleston.
Joint IFPA / FCPNE Conference: Thursday, September 13, 2007 Through Saturday, September 15, 2007. Phone: Gary Rudy 800-441-4372 or Lynn Duval 877-423-6399 Location: Hyatt Harborside, Boston, MA
MACPA October 2007: Mid-Alantic Community Paper Association. Occurring Daily Beginning Friday, October 05, 2007 Through Sunday, October 07, 2007. Phone: 800-450-7227 Location: Crowne Plaza Pittsburg Airport, Coraopolis, PA email: [email protected]
AFCP Conference 2008: The Association of Free Community Papers hosts its annual conference at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California. This is in the Coachella Valley adjacent to Palm Springs.Westin Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage, CA 4/24/2008 08:00 AM To 4/26/2008
SAPA Conference 2008: We contracted the Renaissance Hotel in refreshing Asheville, NC on August 22 & 23, 2008 for our Fall Conference. Mark your calendars today. And please give us a call at 1-800-334-0649 or email: [email protected] if you would like more information.
Calendar of Events
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Detached Address Label ProgramSMC Efforts Explained
continued on page 11
mailers to honor customer requests to be deleted from a saturation mailer’s program advertising. When this procedure is finally refined with the Postal Service, mailers will have a way of complying with consumer preference requests and will not need a DAL in rural areas.
As of the writing of this column, the official announcement of the change in policy has not yet been printed in the Postal Bulletin. Mailers should watch the Postal Bulletin for the month of June, 2007 to see the official announcement and requirements for what mailers must do if they want to place advertising on the front side of a DAL. Based on the information we have received, we believe the current and new rules regarding the DALS will be as follows:
1- Mailers can continue to produce DALs as they have in the past. This means the DAL need not be automation compatible. But the mailer will not be able to place advertising on the front side of the DAL.
2- Mailers who want to place ads on the front side of the DAL will need the DAL to meet automation letter standards and be bar coded. DALs with a height of more than 4-1/4 inches or a length of more than six inches will need to produce cards of this size on .009 inch thick stock to be automation compatible.
Automation compatibility will require that the DAL have a current delivery point bar code or an intelligent mail bar code with an 11 digit routing code.
Any advertising on the front side of the card must not obstruct or overlap this required statement, or any of the other required information.
The advertising must be to the left of the delivery address and must be placed to maintain the required clear spaces around the address, postage payment, and bar code.
3- All DALs will continue to require a statement on the address side that reads: “USPS regulations require that this address label be delivered with its accompany postage paid mail. If you should receive this label without its accompanied mail, please notify your local Postmaster.”
SMC is pleased that the Postal Service is working with our members to help those mailers that need the DAL recoup some of the postage costs of the new 1.5 cent surcharge. SMC will continue to ask the Postal Service to consider our “simplified but certified” proposal for city routes. SMC believes this is the lowest combined cost way of doing business for the Postal Service and mailers.
To get the text of the precise restrictions for advertising on the front side of a DAL mailers, or their mailing service providers and printers should consult the June, 2007 issues of the Postal Bulletin.
SMC is continuing
to urge mailers with advertising programs in rural areas to
not use a DAL.
11 SAPAToday
Mark your calendar today for the Super Conference August 2007 in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina.