Before the clock ran out at BostonNOW.com, our advertising sales staff was busy pitching this idea to advertisers. The response, when presented to the right advertiser, was enthusiastic. Feel free to copy the idea, which I've offered to people across the country.
At least one Web director who tried it called me to say it's selling quickly, even in her small market. I guarantee you can sell it. I wrote the following letter to explain the concept to advertisers.
To our advertisers,Blogatorial takes advantage of newspaper readers’ natural interest in finding information. Here’s your chance to convert their news habit into a passion for your business’ products and services.
A salon might talk with readers about personal grooming and then recommend their own products. A bank’s blog about managing your money attracts people who might be interested in advice from professional financial planners. The goal is to engage consumers early in their decision-making process.
The Blogatorial page is a permanent section on the BostonNOW.com Web site. All of the banner ads on your Blogatorial section are exclusively for your business. Because the business manages the blog on its own, you’re invited to post as much or as little as you want. There’s no limit. But we highly recommend getting the most out of your Blogatorial by posting regularly.
Run the blog as part of a campaign for a selected time period or let it work continuously and build an audience of passionate users of your product.
On its own, starting a blog costs just $300 per month.
But let’s not throw a party without sending the invitations. To lure the newspaper’s information-hungry readers, the Blogatorial package includes promotional ads in print and online that let readers know about your blog.
Contact a BostonNOW sales representative to create a package that fits your budget, and get started today using Blogatorial to convert consumers’ interests in the things they love into interest in your products and services.
This is yet another opportunity to bridge advertisers from the newspaper to the Web while retaining those big-budget print ads, which are used solely to promote the advertiser's new blog. Don't be surprised when advertisers pay to promote your site.
As I did with the "How-To" guide, here's everything I have to help you get started:
This idea makes the most sense for news sites that are already taking advantage of community blogging on their sites. BostonNOW had hundreds of community bloggers, so mixing in a few featured blogs from advertisers was a way to build on an existing advantage. Otherwise, these blogs might same strangely out of place.
John Wilpers points out that too few papers are taking advantage of local bloggers in their midst. Blogatorial is just another reason why that's a huge missed opportunity.
