A Wise Play

Last Friday my roommate opened the sports section of the newspaper and noticed a two page spread on the paper’s football pick contest. “Look at this,” she urged. “They have listed the advertisers’ picks for the games this weekend.”

Indeed they had.

Below their pictures, eleven advertisers’ picks were listed along with their names and the names of their businesses. These were the advertisers providing the prizes for the contest and advertising in the two-page spread which promoted the contest. Since their picks were in the center of the paper, the picks jumped out at the reader.

“That is smart,” I replied. “The newspaper involved the advertisers by having them make those picks.”

Contests are notorious for getting the involvement of consumers. This time of year, consumers frequently participate in contests which offer the opportunity to pick the winners of football games. Football fans love to guess the winners, don’t they? Melding their interest in picking football game winners with the involvement that consumers have in contests, the local newspaper created the “Click, Pick, and Win” contest. Entrants can sign up and make their picks online. Their results are totaled each week and added into a running total. Weekly prizes as well as a grand prize are awarded.

Tapping into the football hype at the beginning of the season is smart for the newspaper and for the advertisers. Why? First of all, most readers of sports pages are part of a hard-to-find market: men. Guys read the sports pages, especially this time of the year, to keep up with their favorite team and find out what is happening with other teams, too. If men are a business’s target market, this is an excellent vehicle to reach them.

Second, guys who are football fans love to participate in guessing which team will win a game. Setting up a contest in which they can do this on a weekly basis gives them the opportunity to do so and have bragging rights as to their picks for the week.

The newspaper took this a step further, however, with the third reason that this idea is smart. By having the advertisers make their picks every week, the newspaper opened the door for feedback to the advertisers. One of the greatest challenges to selling media is feedback. The advertisers’ weekly picks will prompt unsolicited comments from consumers on a particular game or week’s picks such as “You did okay this week on your picks, didn’t you?” or “I can’t believe that you picked New York in that game!”

These picks give advertisers an opening for conversation with consumers and the opportunity to build a relationship with them. The picks give both the target market and the advertisers a common interest. Rather than being a stranger who wants to take the consumer’s money, the advertisers become people, establishing trust. After all, you can trust another football fanatic, can’t you?

Trust opens the door to building a long term relationship as a customer and a business person. These relationships are profitable for both parties. That is what you want from your marketing.

The next time that you are offered an advertising opportunity, take a careful look at it. Does the offer involve your customer? Does it offer an opportunity for two-way communication with your customer? Will it afford you the chance to lay a foundation of trust and build a relationship with your customer?

If it does, grab it. That is profitable advertising.

Why Does Your Customer Buy?

The New York Times announced yesterday that it will no longer be offering its news online for free. Beginning next month, readers will get two articles per month at no charge. They will pay for the rest.

This announcement prompted a Twin Cities TV station’s news to ask people on the street if they would pay for news online. "No," replied one. "Not when I can get it from other sources online for free."

All the other interviewees echoed that sentiment.

Finally, the reporter asked the last person if she would pay if all the news sources online charged. "Well, yes, I suppose that I would pay if I had to," she responded.

How likely is that to happen?

News organizations, especially newspapers, made a huge error at the dawn of the Internet. They did not know what they sold. Rather than view what they sold as news and information, they saw what they offered was the form in which the news and information arrived. They saw what they sold as newspapers or TV news. The format, paper or airwaves, mattered more than the content.

Their readers and viewers, however, were picking up the paper or tuning into the broadcast for the news. They didn't care about the format. They wanted the information. Therefore, when the news became available online 24/7, readers and viewers found getting the information online convenient.

This disconnect between what the readers and viewers wanted and the way that the newspapers and TV news perceived what they sold spelled trouble for the news organizations. You see, the way that these news organizations make their money is by inserting ads or commercials amid the news stories. In addition, the newspapers are accessed by subscription, which is more revenue for them. Free online availability of the news wiped out those sources of revenue. These news organizations cannot insert the number of ads or commercials online that they can in print or during a broadcast.

They did not initially see their problem, however. Since they didn't know that they had a problem and they didn't know how to use the Internet to make money, they did what everyone else did at the dawn of the Internet. They climbed on board. They set up a Web site. They started having their stories available online as well as in print and on the airwaves. "Hey, look," they proclaimed. "Find us on the Web. Read our stories or watch our news whenever you want."

They thought the Internet was a great marketing tool. Since everyone else was climbing aboard the Internet, they got on, too. They certainly did not want to be the last organization to do so. None of them sat down and thought this through first. Nope. They just climbed aboard the Internet bandwagon. No news organization likes to be the last. They all want to be the first with the story. They certainly did not want to be the last on the Web.

Now newspaper subscriptions are declining at a rapid pace. So is TV viewership. People are getting their news online. Since the newspapers and TV stations offer the news online for free, that is what people have come to expect. They have been trained by the newspaper and TV stations to get their online news at no charge. That is a difficult training to reverse, especially when all the organizations that provide news need to do so. As the last interviewee noted, "If they all charge, then I will have to pay."

That's not likely to happen, particularly when these news organizations still do not know what they sell and why the customer buys.

Learn from these news organizations' error. Know what you sell and why your customer buys.