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Jekel interview
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Chicago, IL —
This month Tom Jekel, publisher and editor of The Times-Reporter in New Philadelphia, Ohio, shared with me a success story involving GateHouse News Service's weekly Health pages.
"Our biggest local hospital has been looking for ways to ramp up its advertising, hoping to better position itself in a very competitive market," he wrote. "On the heels of filling out the recent GateHouse niche-content usage survey, which reminded me of the weekly health page, I began thinking about ways we could grow an already strong advertising segment (health).
"Ad director Larry Chiott and account executive Lori Ferguson pitched the idea to Union Hospital’s advertising agency on June 28. Within just a few days, the Dover, Ohio, hospital committed to a 6-month contract starting July 5 generating $475/week for at least 6 months. That’s $12,350 in new revenue, and was one of our easiest sales in weeks."
You can hear more from Jekel in the audio file to the left. Here's more on the project from Chiott:
Describe the pitch to Union Hospital.
We gave them the chance to “own” the page with excellent content relevant to their business. Going into our Monday paper with the additional non-subscriber distribution in our revamped TMC was also attractive, and they were willing to pay the premium to do so.
Do you plan to go after other advertisers with similar niche products?
We already use the food and home pages from GateHouse in a similar fashion, although not exclusive to one advertiser.
Does Union advertise in your core product(s), or just the TMC? Why do you think they spend money where they do?
Union advertises in our core Times-Reporter on a regular basis, almost always in a premium position like front pages. They like the visibility and the results.
What other advice do you have for GateHouse publishers and editors on taking advantage of GH niche products for revenue potential?
In addition to selling multiple insertions on the weekly pages, we sell other GateHouse pages on a one-time basis in areas such as home-building and environmentally green copy.
If you have a success story to share on how GateHouse weekly and niche products worked for you, contact me, and I'll post it on GHNewsroom.
This month Tom Jekel, publisher and editor of The Times-Reporter in New Philadelphia, Ohio, shared with me a success story involving GateHouse News Service's weekly Health pages.
"Our biggest local hospital has been looking for ways to ramp up its advertising, hoping to better position itself in a very competitive market," he wrote. "On the heels of filling out the recent GateHouse niche-content usage survey, which reminded me of the weekly health page, I began thinking about ways we could grow an already strong advertising segment (health).
"Ad director Larry Chiott and account executive Lori Ferguson pitched the idea to Union Hospital’s advertising agency on June 28. Within just a few days, the Dover, Ohio, hospital committed to a 6-month contract starting July 5 generating $475/week for at least 6 months. That’s $12,350 in new revenue, and was one of our easiest sales in weeks."
You can hear more from Jekel in the audio file to the left. Here's more on the project from Chiott:
Describe the pitch to Union Hospital.
We gave them the chance to “own” the page with excellent content relevant to their business. Going into our Monday paper with the additional non-subscriber distribution in our revamped TMC was also attractive, and they were willing to pay the premium to do so.
Do you plan to go after other advertisers with similar niche products?
We already use the food and home pages from GateHouse in a similar fashion, although not exclusive to one advertiser.
Does Union advertise in your core product(s), or just the TMC? Why do you think they spend money where they do?
Union advertises in our core Times-Reporter on a regular basis, almost always in a premium position like front pages. They like the visibility and the results.
What other advice do you have for GateHouse publishers and editors on taking advantage of GH niche products for revenue potential?
In addition to selling multiple insertions on the weekly pages, we sell other GateHouse pages on a one-time basis in areas such as home-building and environmentally green copy.
If you have a success story to share on how GateHouse weekly and niche products worked for you, contact me, and I'll post it on GHNewsroom.
