Thinking local

It's no secret that the one strength newspapers have, despite the online onslaught, is local ads. Even though classified are slipping away quickly, newspapers still have a local sales force that can sell to local businesses interested in reaching a local audience.

Well, even that advantage is slipping according to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal (Click here for full article.)

According to the piece by Emily Steel, local chains are hiring digital sales teams trying to catch up with Web-only enterprises that are quickly rushing ahead.

Here's a good summary of the problem:

Local media companies, because they are based in the communities they serve, would seem to have an edge over Internet sellers when it comes to persuading the diner or corner hardware store to take out an ad. But they have largely failed to convert that advantage into sales. Instead of tailoring their sales to local businesses, many newspaper companies initially focused on selling ads to bigger advertisers who were already buying space in their print products.

And the impact of that approach:

While this strategy allowed them to quickly and cheaply create a customer base for their online ventures, it also limited their growth, because they weren't expanding their customer base. Many newspapers also hurt themselves by simply plopping their papers online instead of creating new Web sites that offered advertisers something they couldn't get in print. Meanwhile, Web companies such as Google and Local.com are growing rapidly because they have made it cheap and easy for local companies to take out ads.

It's hard to have any sympathy for local newspapers anymore which seem intent on just watching the world pass them by.