Should you subscribe to your own publication?

Hmm...let's see if the parallels are correct.

Advertising needs help meeting quotas, so they enlist the help of editorial? Dumb idea? Yes

Composition needs editorial help because of the wording within an ad. Dumb idea? No


Selling ads or trying to help boost circulation through non editorial means is not a task you want to give to someone from, say, the press or the newsroom. Neither, though, would I expect an ad rep to pitch in when it's time for layout and editing.

Your comparison doesn't wash, thereby making your little "alleyallen" comment pointless.

 

It enters new territory when you're talking about actually peddling product.

 

It's not doing circulation's job. It's doing something that benefits your rag. And God forbid, circ numbers go up, which means they can charge more for advertising, which means we have fewer reasons to worry about losing jobs (note I didn't say more money in newsroom pockets, because I'm very aware the monetary benefits likely won't filter down anytime soon, if ever. that said, you do have the benefit of knowing your job is a bit more secure.)

btw, I'm not saying you need to give a 10 minute speech about why Mr. X should buy the paper. But a quick line, "Hey, the paper has a deal right now. Eight weeks for $20" isn't too much. And it's not doing circulation's job.

 

It's not a 10-minute speech. A quick, "Hey, they paper's got a deal. eight weeks for $20 if you're interested."

 

Hell, you don't even have to give a speech at all. Here are some exchanges I have had on the tennis court:

"Is there any tennis on TV this weekend?"
Me: "Yes, our section published the weekend listings this morning."

"Who does Roddick play in the first round?"
Me: "Our section ran the entire draw in this morning's edition."

If people know they are missing something by not getting your paper . . . they might decide to get it. No sales pitch needed. Just talk up your product, something you should take pride in doing anyway.

 

Of course, if you didn't subscribe to it or didn't read it off the press the night before, you wouldn't KNOW that. Which is the exact problem being addressed in this thread.

rb

 

No, it generally doesn't. But if I'm out of town for four days covering a golf tournament or whatever, I don't have much choice.

 

Actually, that is precisely circulation's job.

Employing your logic, shouldn't I also carry a rate card so that when a local business owner mentions casual that sales are slow, I can whip it out and say, "Hmm...you know what would help? A 2x3 ad on page 2. We've got great rates going right now..."

 

I subscribe to my paper, which I get at half-price (delivery included). I subscribe, and I read, for several reasons:

* I want to know what's going on in my town/state/country/world and I don't care to get it off of television or from BLOGS!.

* Everyone who stops me in public does so for one of three reasons: They are related to me, we're friends, or they recognize me from the little square picture that appears with my newspaper work on a regular basis. Most times they want to talk to me (or bitch at me) about something I've written. Sometimes they want to talk to me about what SOMEONE ELSE at the paper has written. It's almost always about a local matter. And if you want to make yourself come off like a surefire dumbass, here's some advice: have no clue what they're talking about. They'll lose faith in you and your product in an instant. People who care enough about the product to stop you in public and talk to you about are people who usually are astute enough to know you're bullshitting them.

* I want my neighbors to see me getting the paper each day, because maybe they'll keep thinking that ol' OnTheRiver, a charming, intelligent fellow, subcribes, so maybe they should, too.

* There are few things more professionally embarrassing than being in the nightly budget meeting and offering up a story idea that was done four weeks ago. That's always followed by the uncomfortable "Wow. You oughta call the newspaper and tell them to re-run that story." comment from a superior.

* We carry some really bitchin' ads, especially in the Sunday newspaper.

So subscribe. And read.

 

Of course, by your logic, offering the newspaper phone number would be doing advertising's job then, because, Lord knows, we can't help any other department.

 

The answer should be obvious from my posts on the Trentonian thread.

 

That's such an incredible leap of logic that Carl Lewis wants your number and some advice.

And since when do we HAVE to equate reading with subscription, as OTR has suggested? I know people on the staff who had a subscription but didn't read a word. I didn't have a subscription but I was aware of every word which appeared in a given issue during my days.

And after my two days off, I'd come in and get caught up with anything and everything I'd missed. I just skipped the middle part of the equation and came up with the same results.