E&P Reports with Mike Blinder

Printing 300,000+ dailies, 160,000+ weeklies and 180,000+ shoppers, Trib Total Media (TTM) still has a strong commitment to print. But their focus on digital is just as impressive with more than 40 people employed by 535 Media, their full-service agency that works with some of Western Pennsylvania's most prestigious businesses. And even in a COVID-19 impacted marketplace, TTM achieved close to 90 percent of last year's revenue.

Perhaps the secret to their success is their strong commitment to staff, due to an ownership mandate to support their employees; or it could be their diversification into other industries, which help support and fund their award-winning editorial team. Maybe it's their leadership that focuses on making sure that TTM has the staff, audience and advertising solutions it needs on an ongoing basis.

TTM CEO Jennifer (Wolfe) Bertetto is not new to the company. Starting as a sales rep in 1998, she successfully led Trib Total Media's 200+ employees through a tumultuous year, with plans to launch some exciting new programs in 2021.

In this edition of E&P Reports, publisher Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with Bertetto to explore what it takes to lead such a company and what advice she would give to be successful, even in these challenging times.

Related Links:

Trib Total Media Website

Trib Total Media, Media Kit

Trib Total Media CEO Jennifer Bertetto named to international board

The Webster-Kirkwood (Mo.) Times is back in print following their shutdown in March due to Covid-19. The comeback is due to donations from loyal readers and the focus and energy of managers who worked with the local business community to craft a deal to keep this paper printing.

Today, the newspaper prints more than 35,000 full color copies each week to two suburban communities just southwest of St. Louis. The staff, although operating on a tight budget, boasts high ad count with tons of profitable classified ads.

In this edition of E&P Reports, E&P publisher Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with two of the paper's managers/owners: publisher Randy Drilingas and editor-in-chief Jaime Mowers, who detail their struggle to get the paper back in business and what they continue to do to keep it growing.

Related Links:

Back By Popular Demand! Webster-Kirkwood Times returns under employee ownership:

https://www.timesnewspapers.com/webster-kirkwoodtimes/back-by-popular-demand/article_8b7af5ae-fe6a-11ea-a066-b71b55d5e06d.html

In The News: Webster-Kirkwood Times Relaunch Makes Headlines:

https://www.timesnewspapers.com/webster-kirkwoodtimes/in-the-news-webster-kirkwood-times-relaunch-makes-headlines/article_4ce9f8e2-0ccc-11eb-bd33-57cfc5b76afc.html

Hello There! A word from publisher Randy Drilingas:

https://www.timesnewspapers.com/webster-kirkwoodtimes/1-hello-there/article_dca9b2fc-fe6b-11ea-936c-3bd557d9733a.html

Industry sales guru Ryan Dohrn is the creator of the 360 Ad Sales Training system and is a globally recognized media revenue consultant who has created more than 600 corporate sales strategy programs. To date, he has taught more than 20,000 business professionals how to sell better.

In this segment of E&P Reports, E&P publisher Mike Blinder, who also has a sales consulting background, goes one-on -one with Dohrn to discuss what tactics he would recommend to any media sales rep in order to prosper and win in 2021. Topics discussed include:

· Helping advertisers find the knowledge they lack · What should ad directors and publishers should know about selling via Zoom

· "Recommendation selling" as opposed to the dated method of lengthy needs analysis and "open ended questioning"

· How to get "old sales dogs" to embrace new tricks

And lots, lots more!

Related links: Ryan Dohrn's E&P Column "10 Ways to Close 2020 Media Sales Strong:" https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/10-ways-to-close-2020-media-sales-strong,181066

360 Ad Sales: https://360adsales.com

A recent study conducted by The Whitman Insight Strategies Initiative and Creative Circle Media Solutions takes a deep dive into how a global pandemic has affected the actual feelings and emotions of local media consumers.

One of the key takeaways revealed from "The Covid-19 Societal Impact Study" is that even though half of those polled say that they lack confidence in news media, those perceptions do not extend to local community media, where those same viewers and readers state they have a much higher trust. Moreover, when asked where they go for essential information about COVID-19, local news scored much higher than cable news and social media channels.

In this segment of "E&P Reports," Editor and Publisher's Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with Ostendorf to talk about the study and what local news media can do to serve our audience better.

It was just a few years ago that a group of local citizens bought the Half Moon Bay (Calif.) Review from Wick Communications, a sale that included the 122-year-old newspaper, a pair of magazines and the building they occupied. And just a few months ago, those same local entrepreneurs decided to expand their small, local media empire and purchase the Pacifica (Calif.) Tribune, which has served their neighboring county for almost 90 years. Today, these two combined publications make up the new Coastside News Group, a locally owned, for- profit media company that continues to serve these two California communities. In this segment of E&P Reports, Editor and Publisher's Mike Blinder interviews Coastside News Groups publisher Debra Hershon and editorial director Clay Lambert on how they were able to find investors to invest in local journalism and what it takes to build and maintain a local media company that is owned by local investors.

Schneps Media is Rocking New York With Hyperlocal Free Weeklies

In 1985, Victoria Schneps-Yunis began a community newspaper in her living room called the Queens Courier. Today, that one free weekly has turned into the largest local media company in New York State comprised of newspapers, magazines, websites and events.

Victoria's son, Joshua Schneps, now serves CEO and publisher of more than 70 community newspapers and magazines, in addition to community websites, email newsletters and social media channels serving all five boroughs of New York City, Long Island and Westchester and more.

In this segment of E&P Repor

John C. Tompkins left college his junior year to buy his first newspaper. Today, he is owner of News Media Corporation, a company that owns 65 different newspaper titles in eight states, serving smaller cities and towns with populations between 5,000 and 50,000.

Tompkins also boasts good cash flow from his properties, even during a pandemic, and claims that the reason his newspapers maintain profitability is because he makes sure that all of his managers follow simple rules in monitoring their productivity via a system of metrics.

Tompkins is not only bullish on our industry, he thinks now is a great time for entrepreneurs to buy community newspapers. In this segment of E&P Reports, Mike Blinder, publisher of Editor and Publisher, goes one-on-one with Tompkins to learn his secrets to success.

"Vision25: Building Racial Equity in Newsrooms" is a new initiative started as a collaboration between the Online News Association, the Maynard Institute and OpenNews, with a goal to be a major catalyst creating social change within journalistic institutions that help newsrooms be anti-racist and collaborative, and where journalists of color feel like they truly belong. Vision25 is creating programs that any news organization can access, in order to effect change in leadership, workforce and partnerships that can result in building a truly anti-racists environment.

In this segment of "E&P Reports," E&P Publisher Mike Blinder speaks with Vision25 founders: Irving Washington, Executive Director/CEO Online News Association; Sisi Wei, Director of Programs OpenNews; and Martin G. Reynolds Co-Executive Director, Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, to learn why they feel there is such a need for such an initiative today, and, how news publishers can take advantage of the Vision25 resources.

The Branded Content Project, an initiative by the Local Media Consortium, Local Media Association and Facebook Journalism Project, today released the results of a report on content marketing in collaboration with Borrell Associates Inc., which found that, despite the effect Covid-19 had on businesses, content marketing remained relatively steady and is projected to be more of a priority in 2021.

"Sizing the Content Marketing Opportunity" measured how vast the content marketing space is, what types of media benefit most and what kind of businesses are most inclined to utilize it and at what rates.

In this segment of E&P Reports, Mike Blinder speaks with Julia Campbell of the Branded Content Project and Corey Elliott of Borrell Associates about the report's findings and what local media can do to seize the opportunities of content marketing.

Aequalitas is Latin for "equality." But there is very little equal to today's struggling media outlets at the growing Aequalitas Media Group, who now owns eight publications targeted to the LGBTQ+ Reader in several U.S. major markets. Plus, their sought after ad network has become popular with some very large brands that want to connect to their claim being a "single point of contact to almost 100% of all LGBTQ+ print/digital media now representing 2.2-Million+ readers they deliver each month."

Aqualitas founder and executive director DJ Doran spent 23 years as a U.S. Air Force Reserve Pilot before working as a CEO for multiple corporations across varied industries. Today, he is a publisher who still believes in print and says he can turn around a niche publication from red to black in 45 days.

In this segment of E&P Reports, E&P publisher Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with Doran to not just learn more about the LGBTQ+ reader and why it is in demand by Madison Avenue but what secrets work for him in pushing profitability from these niche publications.

Related links: Aequalitas Media: https://aequalitasmedia.com

Aequalitas Media acquires Kansas City Missouri LGBTQ+ publication CAMP Magazine

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aequalitas-media-acquires-kansas-city-missouri-lgbtq-camp-dj-doran/

CMI Community Marketing & Insights: 13th Annual LGBTQ Community Survey USA Summary Report

https://www.communitymarketinginc.com/documents/temp/CMI-13th_LGBTQ_Community_Survey_US_Profile.pdf