I am a circulation director for 2 small community newspapers that have almost no marketing... I have been here for just over a year and finally had the opportunity to ask why... I was almost floored at the response from my publisher. She said, "I don't think marketing is effective enough to warrant the expense...." I am beside myself as I can not effectively sell subscriptions to a product people do not know about..... Whats worse, she was an Ad Director for 10 years..... A bit of geography, we are in the immediate shadows of one of the nations top 10 newspapers..... While this isn't an internet specific question but I think the folks on here may have some sound ideas. What the hell can I do to get our name out?
Maybe start by advertising EVERYWHERE where you are. Ads in public buses, bulletin boards, posters, even ads in.. in other newspapers.
I would suggest going over her head. She's obviously someone that is blocking the growth of the company and someone at the top should know about it. I have to agree with 8everthing, advertise everywhere your customers are.
First, you have to set a marketing goal for your company. You said, you want to get your name out by any means necessary. In order to suggest methods and strategies that work for your company and that eventually result in profits, you will have to analyze marketing specifics. Branding, as partly suggested by 8everything, is definitely an option if you have the money to do this. To forecast the results of this, you'll have to analyze the past activity of your paper. A lot more analyzing and predicting will follow before you ever get started with a branding marketing campaign. Another option is to advertise directly to the most interested. This may be done online or offline, depending on the audience of your paper. There are ways to spend money in order to gain subscriptions and then calculate the overall ROI. This is very effective if done properly and would certainly not result in losses if done right. As you may know, I can't really write up all of the options you have - this would make up an entire ebook "How to market a community paper"... You can PM me anytime though if you have any question or if you are serious about marketing your company papers now. Cheers
The only thing I can think of for a answer like the one you received is maybe her definition of "Marketing" is somewhat confused. Either that or to be frank, she's a moroon. Have you tried talking with her about this? There's tons of ways to "market" without spending tons of money, however I would think in your case with a local newspaper you really need to get your name out in front of every consumer near you and often. So unless you plan on knocking on peoples doors in your spare time, it's probably going to cost the company something. And I don't have to tell you it'll either cost them advertising dollars or cost them in a lack of sales. Did she give you any of her ideas?
I mayb wrong, but i think she mite ask you to quit. Piece of advice, whenever you speak to your managers, always try to read between the lines, cause they will never say things directly to you. Had i been at your place, i would have certianly told her, u know wat, i do feel the same and identify fews points for which she's responsible, i know it would get me into her bad book but she would certainly know that you're no pushover. Coming to the your marketing topic, try to identify the niche of ur newspapers and try to make it sound pretty big <-- thats marketting