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May, 2000
What Advertisers Are Telling Us - Part 1
The relationship between advertiser and newspaper is no longer one of sales reps taking orders and
newspapers displaying ads. Advertisers now see the newspaper as a partner to grow their business.
They rely on the newspaper for information about the marketplace, and they want their advertising
needs considered as the newspaper develops advertising vehicles and strategies.
Belden advertiser research indicates that top retail and classified newspaper advertisers use an average of six
other media during a 12-month period. Retail advertisers are most likely to use local radio, direct or solo mail
and yellow pages display ads, while classified advertisers are most likely to use the Internet, direct mail,
yellow pages display ads and weekly newspapers.
How satisfied are advertisers with their investment in competing
media? From the investment satisfaction perspective, newspapers’ strongest competitors are usually direct mail
and local broadcast television. The weakest are shoppers and local magazines (retail) and co-op/marriage mail
(classified). Other media fall in between. These findings can vary, though, in individual markets.
In more than ten years of customer satisfaction research among newspaper advertisers, they have told us:
They are most satisfied with service received from their sales rep, the deadlines the paper sets for placing
advertising, and the geographic coverage offered.
Satisfaction is lowest for cost compared to results, marketing and research information provided by the
newspaper, and the ability to track advertising response.
Advertising customers are most satisfied with those aspects of service involving direct communication and
the day-to-day mechanics of getting ads into the newspaper – reliability in executing insertion orders,
keeping advertisers informed about deadlines, and timely response to the customer’s inquiries.
Sales reps rate less well in areas of service that require more training, more background knowledge, more
advertising skill and more experience – things such as making suggestions to improve the effectiveness of
ads and knowledge of trends in the advertiser's business. In many instances, advertisers would like sales
reps to have more authority to resolve problems.
In most of our advertiser satisfaction research, we measure how well advertisers think newspapers can help
them meet specific advertising objectives. Newspapers perform best in the eyes of retail and classified
advertisers on covering the geographic targets advertisers desire.
Satisfaction is somewhat lower for newspapers’ ability to reach the advertisers’ demographic targets, to
reach their current customers, and for the effectiveness in generating sales or other customer response.
Satisfaction with the ability of newspapers to reach potential new customers is lower than their reach
of the advertisers’ current customers.
Satisfaction is lowest when the cost of newspaper advertising is compared to the return.
When compared directly to other advertising media, newspapers are strongest competitively for their geographic
coverage, meeting advertising objectives through newspaper advertising, and generating sales or other customer
response. Newspapers are weakest competitively when the cost to advertise is compared to the results received.
When media are compared by those who are currently good newspaper advertisers, the newspaper's closest competitor
is direct or solo mail. In addition, among retail advertisers, broadcast television and radio offer some
competition to daily and Sunday newspapers.
Since simply reducing advertising rates is an unacceptable option, what could make a difference in advertisers'
satisfaction with their investment in daily and Sunday newspapers? Where do newspapers need to focus attention
and resources to improve the perception of value for the money spent? Answers, and then some, in our next newsletter…
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