Good news, the third episode of Broadsheet will be released soon! This time, we’ll focus on how to perform a needs analysis with small business owners to develop the right marketing strategy for their business and how to educate these business owners on the value of digital advertising.

One of my favorite quotes from this next episode is from our founder and CEO Lloyd Armbrust. He said, “I blame newspapers for the reason why internet advertising is so cheap.”

What he meant by was that newspapers first began offering digital advertising services without attaching any perceived monetary value to digital. They either hid the charges from their clients, or bundled digital with print without properly explaining the benefits digital had to their overall marketing goals. That combination led clients to think the digital products weren’t worth paying for, driving the price down.

Bundling digital with print can be a great way to introduce digital marketing services to a client, but it has to be done correctly.

It’s ok to add on a digital display ad with a print ad and charge the client for it, because that digital display ad goes on your website and gets thousands of page views a week and adds value to the client’s business. However the key is to be 100% transparent with the client about what they received.

Lloyd’s suggestion that he discusses in more detail in Broadsheet, is that after the ad runs, newspapers should provide the client with a detailed report showing things such as: how many views the ad received, where their ad was placed on the site, and the value of the ad so the client realizes what they are paying for. Digital advertising is so much easier to measure than print, so this act of accountability should be a welcome change.

Newspapers have an uphill battle to climb to reset clients’ expectations to perceive digital advertising services as worth paying for but it can be done!

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