Newspaper Price Hikes 4-02-11

Down here in gorgeous Sarasota, Florida there is only one main newspaper, the Herald Tribune. The locals call it "a rag" but I enjoy reading it online. Like many other newspapers, it is in BIG financial trouble. Half of the 2005 number of employees rattle around in the offices right now. Paid circulation is nosediving. I have been advertising in it, more on than off, for over a year and a half now. I often run a 1/4 page display ad in their Fitness Section. It comes out on Tuesdays. I almost always get at least one new client from the ad...but my record was SEVEN in one week. After that week, I had too many clients and had to stop advertising for 3 weeks while I took a deep breath and hired some more staff. I have a total of 8 staff members now and am ready for yet another advertising blitz.  But the Herald Tribune is not co-operating. My rep emailed me about a "rate adjustment." I knew the paper was struggling, needed more paying readers, but also needed more advertisers that paid up on their invoices too. My rep assured me that if I commited to 26 ads per years, the Herald Tribune would only raise my rate 15% per insertion! Shock? Yes. A feeling of betrayal? Of course. Poor business sense on the part of this RAG? What do you think? Without the 26 ad commital, my new rate was to be hiked 64%!!! That must be a key part of their new customer loyalty program.  To be cont...