GeoTargeting: Community newspapers secret weapon

The drivers behind the major job boards, with their big national presence, are the exact antithesis of what drives the success at many local newspapers and their websites. Recruitment is a local game for the most part and community newspapers which are progressive in their offerings are in a prime position to remain top dog in that market.

When classified ad managers from SNA members gathered in Chicago late last year, they heard from an impressive array of speakers covering the three big categories and the Recruitment Agency Roundtable panel was unanimous in their praise for community newspaper's local marketplace. But, of course, in the challenging arena that is the playground of most newspapers today, nothing is a slam-dunk and there are some definite strategies that newspapers should be deploying.

Go Local.
"Geotargeting is the main focus now," said Mike Temkin, Vice President Strategic Planning and Development for Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communications. "The premium value that suburban and community newspapers offer to Shaker and our accounts is the high penetration of the local market," he said.

Admitting to being both non-traditional and media agnostic, Temkin was candid that he doesn't really care very much about how prospects are getting the recruitment message. The prime concern is the reach itself, and in his business it's a local game so the local marketplace, read the community newspapers and their local job boards, is a prime tool in their arsenal.

Matthew Adam, Vice President & Talent Strategist at NAS Recruitment Communications, added that 63% of organizations recruit locally. As both job seekers and employers migrate to web based searching and recruiting, an excellent tool for local newspapers is to link the online ad to the recruiter's corporate website. "Driving traffic to the employer's website is the gospel we preach at the moment. It's a big driver of our strategy," said Adam.

"Newspapers are the original niche marketing tool in terms of demographics," said Dana Kingshill, Partner at Harger, Howe & Associates. With about 80% of their accounts in the healthcare industry, Kingshill said her company finds suburban and community newspapers to be good partners to fill many of their clients' slots. She urged newspapers to call on nursing homes, hotels, restaurants and other companies like these who experience high turnover among their hourly workers. "These are the types of clients that we have who find good success with suburban papers so these would also be good targets for you to pursue directly," said Kingshill. "If you're calling on one of our clients, however, we definitely want to be involved in those appointments," she added.

Strength In Numbers.
All panelists agreed that there's strength in numbers and smaller newspapers can definitely increase their chances to survive in the competitive online market by partnering with other local media to create local job boards. Online ad growth is dramatic - NAA reports that newspaper online ads jumped 34.9% in 2006 1st quarter compared to same period a year ago.

Partnering for success is not a new business model but it is one that has taken on a life of its' own in the Internet universe. Internet companies have found that in some cases it makes sense to cooperate in a certain geographic area or business while still competing in other areas. According to E-Bay CEO Meg Whitman in a Dow Jones Newswire interview, "I haven't seen this level of cooperation in other industries. In the Internet space there are things that companies can do better together while in other spaces or geographies, they're competitors."

To that end, the SNA board of directors has recently established a committee to learn about the partnership opportunities available for SNA members. To date they have met with senior executives from Monster, Yahoo/Hot Jobs, Career Builder, Shaker Recruitment, Adicio, Redmatch, Matchbin and others. A full report will be issued to the SNA membership soon and informational conference calls will also be available for SNA members to learn more about what each of these companies can offer them.

According to a Borrell Associates report, the "most reassuring Web site for suburban and community newspapers can be found in the success of the regional recruitment site ChicagoJobs.com. Run by a recruitment agency for a consortium of 19 local suburban and community newspapers, ChicagoJobs.com has become a successful model for a local initiative."

Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communications is behind ChicagoJobs.com and, as of this writing, now has five sites affiliated with newspapers.

http://cj.chicagojobs.com/employer/affiliates.html
http://ct.ctjobs.com/employer/affiliates.html
http://ri.rijobs.com/employer/affiliates.html
http://jf.jobfetch.com/employer/affiliates.html
http://ic.illinoiscareers.com/employer/affiliates.html