Save money and give more, not less
You're the general manager of three small newspapers in north Florida, two of them much smaller than the third. It would be easy to cut costs by closing one or both of the smaller papers, each with circulation in the hundreds, not the thousands. Just shut one or both down, give their subscribers the larger paper instead, and hope they don't resent it too much. That's not what they did.
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Upgrades that save money
Cost cutting at media companies doesn't have to involve the news product. Several participants in an SNPA video conference in April presented ideas that saved money on everyday business operations.
Keeping the lights on costs a lot less than it used to cost at The Jonesboro Sun in Arkansas. Publisher David Mosesso said the switch from fluorescent light bulbs to LED lights has cut the utility bill by 28 percent, or $1,000 month, and the lighting part of the bill by 68 percent. "It's strictly math," he said.
Mosesso credits his production manager, Roger Brumley, with taking the initiative and being skillful enough to do much of the work in-house.
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Cost cutting? Check out eBay
Lance Moler has taken bargain hunting to a new level at The Edmond Sun in Oklahoma. As general manager, before he replaces a part on the press or the CTP processors he checks eBay.
In the last few months alone, Moler has saved nearly $1,000. He said he's amazed by the markups on manufacturer replacement parts and that while he doesn't find every part he needs on eBay or the local hardware store, occasional dramatic savings are well worth taking the time to search.
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Project Transformation
With the help of NIIT Technologies, Morris Communications has reduced costs more than 15 percent across the board (infrastructure, operations and technology), is reporting higher customer retention and acquisition statistics (12 percent), and has added new business/revenue streams.
MOREOne paper's spoilage is another paper's preprint
A 7,500-circulation Monday-Friday daily in rural Dunn, N.C., has grabbed its own piece of the preprint pie with a two-part sales pitch. First, people in Dunn like to shop, too, and they're willing to leave town to do so. Second, why not drop off a small percentage of the preprint spoilage destined for larger papers at The Daily Record in Dunn instead?
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The color of money
Taking advantage of its new press, The American Press in Lake Charles, La., has rolled out new ad rates based on all color.
The difference should be quickly noticed by readers and advertisers since color ads previously made up about 37 percent of the ads in the Shearman family-owned southwest Louisiana newspaper, circulation 24,000 daily and 27,000 Sundays.
"Certain national or major accounts that request black-and-white ads will be honored. Most ads will automatically publish in full color," said Advertising Director Titus Workman.
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