Breaking News Sales Tips

Speaker: Dave Merk, Milwaukee Business Journal

Dave Merk: Hi, I'm Dave Merk from the Milwaukee Business Journal. I'm a senior account executive. Been here about 25 years now. I've had the pleasure of having, a sponsored client on our Breaking News for all 10 or so years that it has been in Milwaukee and I sell it based on overall brand impressions, certainly, and being associated and tied to breaking and exclusive news items.

Regan Krupp: Hi. my name is Regan Krupp and I'm out of the Columbus market and one of, or a couple of the main benefits that I have shared with, clients about Breaking News. the first is exclusivity. obviously they're the only ones on there. second would be value. I mean, compared to weekly newsletters, the amount of impressions and visibility they get, with the Breaking Newsletter is just ridiculous. and that third would be scarcity because, for instance, in our market for years it was one sponsor who did the entire year and now it's two sponsors who each do six months. So there's really, you know, limited opportunity to hop on.

Melanie Clark: Hi, my name is Melanie Clark. I'm with the Kansas City Business Journal and I work with Community America on the Breaking News sponsorship. The main benefits that we really go over every year are just the sheer amount of impressions that come in through the Breaking News with, you know, the daily sends, they see over 9 million impressions by the year. So when you break that down to a cost per impression, it is really a no brainer when it comes to it.

Dave Merk: When it comes to the Breaking News, it really does somewhat hinge on your editor's use of it in your market. In Milwaukee, our editor has used that product with a decent amount of frequency and it really is about pervasiveness of the customer's brand in front of our readership. In this case, Milwaukee, it's only been with two customers, two banks. And it's all been about fighting for market share.

Regan Krupp: Moving on to the second question, what client objectives prompt you to pitch this product. And I feel as if I kind of had a unique situation. I've sold both of the halves of the Breaking News sponsorship in our market and one client, they had it years ago and they gave it up and then they were unable to get it back. So as soon as it became available, they really jumped on it, the other client is one who did a lot of weekly newsletters and they love to have their attorneys' faces in the forefront really to just expose them to the community. And, you know, we were talking about the frequency of the newsletters and the overall value. It just made sense that they should move from like 12 or so weekly newsletters over the course of the year to the Breaking News sponsorship.

Melanie Clark: Anyone looking for brand awareness is really what kind of sparks that Breaking News idea. We've had Community America here in Kansas City, take that for the last handful of years. So unfortunately, we haven't had the opportunity to really seek new clients for it. However, when it comes to the frequency of the Breaking News emails, it is definitely something that if you want your client's brand in their inbox on a almost more than daily basis. This is definitely the way to go.

Dave Merk: When it comes to campaign examples, I think number one best practice is to consistently swap out creative and the bank that's been on it here in Milwaukee now for a number of years uses that monthly, they change out creative and that can be everything from private wealth management to commercial banking products. But as most banks are right now hungry for deposits, they most recently used a retail product to drive deposits, which I thought was a very unique example where banks don't typically do that kind of thing with business journals.

Regan Krupp: I will say that the law firm who has sponsored for the past couple of years in Columbus is the one who likes to, showcase their attorneys. and for overall brand awareness, they recently acquired a firm out in San Francisco. So, Siggy, shout out, and I were able to get them, on a three month, Breaking News sponsorship out there. And I really think it helped that they were already familiar with the product. And I mean, they really liked how effective it was.

Melanie Clark: When Community America first started considering taking Breaking News, this was pre-pandemic, and so we were really just looking for a way to build awareness for their brand and awareness for their community support. It was definitely a shot in the dark with everything going on in the world that following year, we really kind of saw obviously those impressions skyrocket, they were able to really build awareness and swap out that artwork on a regular basis to really mesh with their campaign. And it really has become one of the main platforms for their campaign when it comes to showcasing their clients about every couple of months they swap out. And so it's a really great way to just share the story and really showcase the brand on a frequency that is really kind of unlike any other of the products that we have.

Dave Merk: I guess any overriding tips might just be the word urgency. I mean, if you do the math on the Breaking News for the most part and certainly in Milwaukee, the CPM is extremely attractive, the brand impressions are extremely attractive. We do set an early December deadline for renewal each year. So it's something that if you do have someone that may be looking to go away from the product, you can get in front of, if you set an early deadline and then it's all about urgency.

Melanie Clark: I would say pulling the impressions that your market is getting for Breaking News would definitely be the first step when you see those numbers and you break that down by impression, cost wise. like I said earlier, it just becomes a, a no-brainer. The, the next thing, the really the only pushback that we've ever gotten was not wanting their brand aligned with negative news. This is something that when you go through and look at the articles that come out on Breaking News, there might be some kind of in a negative light but nothing is necessary a detrimental article by any means, these are really just the, the big hits of the week. And kind of the articles that everybody is really thriving to get anyways so highly recommend, really for anybody that's just wanting the brain awareness.