A multitude of escalating costs for newspapers, such as newsprint, production supplies, utilities and fuel, make producing a profit a difficult challenge. Subscribers and advertisers alike are being squeezed with their own difficulties with inflation. The value of every dollar being spent is increasingly being scrutinized. Therefore, continuing to pass the escalating costs on is increasingly risky. Somehow holding the line is imperative.
Since the newsroom is the golden goose that underpins the value to both subscribers and advertisers alike, any cost-cutting there potentially reduces perceived value. Nonetheless, “something has to go” when it comes to reducing costs. Almost the last place to turn when it comes to cost reductions is within the creative team.
Getting an accurate picture of those costs is the first step in the evaluation process, but completing that step is complex. The cost of newsprint is as straightforward as looking at an invoice, while the costs of an in-house design team encompass far more than just compensation and benefits. The calculations must include turnover and training, software/hardware, IT support and a host of other figures.
Remove the mystery of creative costs
Adroitsquare is making a whitepaper and a cost analysis tool available to facilitate “doing the math” to determine existing costs. Adroitsquare believes that information is power, so the cost analysis and comparison tools are available to anyone, and merely plugging in an e-mail address will deliver the whitepaper. Simple!
“We endeavor to equip newspaper management with the information to provide an accurate view of their existing cost structure in addition to potential cost savings of partnering with Adroitsquare,” says company CEO Dinesh Kummar. “Making the analysis easier is unabashedly self-serving,” explains Kummar, “once our portfolio is reviewed and the numbers are compiled, prospective clients reach out to us. The numbers do our selling.”
Whether the gloom and doom whispers of a recession in 2023 come true or not, maintaining a high value to subscribers and advertisers alike — while holding the line on costs — will be just as challenging as the year just passed ... if not more. The pressures of maintaining current production or offering new product vehicles to grow future revenue are not being met with an increased budget for the creative team. In the newspaper world today, necessity mandates “doing more with less.”
With Gallup reporting a continued two-year decline in U.S. employee engagement, plummeting to 32% in 2022, “doing more with less” is increasingly unrealistic. Creativity doesn’t happen with the accelerator constantly on the floor, even with a fully engaged team. Creative types are just not wired that way, which accounts for an average turnover rate of 25%. Within this scenario, the appeal of publications and the ROI to advertisers declines along with readership. For the newspaper industry, it is a vicious cycle that seems never to end.
Advertisers demand value with an ever-increasing ROI, or they will go elsewhere, and there are plenty of other alternatives to newspaper advertising. A creative team with a high turnover, impossible deadlines and yet another project to complete can’t be creative, much less increase ad ROI for advertisers. Even though Adroitsquare can typically slash the cost of digital/print ad production and pagination/layout by 40% to 60%, that’s far from the best part of the story.
“By integrating our creative services with those of in-house creative teams, as is typically the initial scenario, all boats rise,” says Kummar. “Doing more with less becomes possible, in-house teams are more creative due to reduced stress levels, and when turnover does occur as we all know it will, production continues forward without a hitch.” With Adroitsquare as a partner, managing creative production becomes fun, as intended once again, and everyone is happier at reduced overall costs.
“Initially, some of our clients were skeptical that our rate card could deliver on the creative end,” says Kummar. “We’re converting skeptics into believers almost daily and love the challenge associated with doing so.” Adroitsquare is making the conversion of skeptics completely painless with extended no-cost, no-obligation, real-world production trials. The company encourages trials where newspaper prospects can complete A/B ad testing to measure ROI. “Although no trials to date have resulted in zero additional business, we remain humble; it will happen,” adds Kummar. “No outsourced solution is a perfect fit for every newspaper operating scenario, but we believe we should be in the mix for consideration in every scenario.” Holding the line on rates to advertisers and the cost of subscriptions requires innovative thinking and execution.
At a minimum, conducting a cost analysis via the Adroitsquare whitepaper and cost comparison tool makes business sense. As a percentage of the overall operating budget, not knowing the cost is not a number that should be guessed at, much less seen as intractable.
Every number counts in today's newspaper world, with creative costs ranking high on profit variables. Scrutinizing those numbers — while looking for alternatives that maintain value for advertisers and subscribers alike — is now much easier with the Adroitsquare whitepaper and costs calculator.
To learn more, visit us at Adroitsquare. Download the whitepaper and access the cost comparison tool at whitepaper/calculator: https://www.adroitsquare.com/whitepaper-calculator
Jon K. Latta is director, sales & marketing, with Adroitsquare and can be reached at 919-653-8160.
