work and then divide up into two departmentals, the news and the business end, which departmentals would then convene in separate rooms. Each of these departmentals would take up certain general subjects in their department for a short session and would then divide up into discussion of each of its departments,
An idea in Advertising
The Cottage Grove Sentinel put over a Christmas advertising stunt that brought in a number of extra shekels. During the two weeks carrying the bulk of holiday advertising, special sample-copy editions were issued and a charge of 10 cents the inch additional was made for insertion in the special edition of any ads appearing in the regular edition. Every local advertiser came in and the make-up of the
the news force dividing up into Associated Press and United Press—most of
the work. however, will be in their gen
eral session. The business department
could divide up into advertising, circula
tion, job printing, cost system, mechan
paper was so arranged that two pages
ical, labor and newsprint.
contained all foreign advertising. These two pages were dropped out for the spec
“The business department would have so much longer a program that some of their problems could be thrown into the
ial edition. This method reduced the cost to a minimum. A thousand extra copies of the paper were sent into territory in
general discussion of the business office and again some of these problems such as newsprint, labor and circulation could be taken up in general discussion of the
tions of Lane county tributary to Cottage
departments.
“In the arranging of our conference in to departmentals we should bear in mind that some of the discussions may be of interest to other departments than those which are holding same; i. e., the country
weeklies may want to sit in and listen to the business office talk about advertising, circulation, etc., as well as with the news office in their discussion of features, cor respondents, beneficial state propaganda,
northern Douglas county and in the por Grove for trade purposes but not thoroughly covered by the Sentinel.
Some newspaper men might argue that this was an admission to its advertisers that the Sentinel did not fully cover the field it should reach, but no advertiser
presented that argument. The territory that can be developed as a trade territory is much larger than the natural news paper field. No extra copies were sent into the local field, which the Sentinel
claims to cover thoroughly. The fact that every local advertiser
came into the special edition showed that the idea was appreciated by the business
etc. Orrinns’ Exrnrm-rses HELPFUL
interests. “I believe this to be a complicated pro
gram to accomplish but worth giving con siderable thought to so that we may get the benefits of the other publishers’ ex perience as well as listening to special speakers who would appear before the differentdepartments as well as in gen eral conference.
“Every editor should feel free to say what he thinks of this idea, and what his ideas are. If there is anything that can be suggested in a definite way of benefit to the publishers, it should be brought forward from the publisher’s viewpoint.”
If a newspaper does not cover
a certain territory, the only honest thing to do is to admit the fact. That gives the newspaper an opportunity to suggest a way of reaching that tenitory, with additional profit to itself. It gives the paper the opportunity to make itself the only advertising medium needed by its
advertisers. Instead of leaving the adver tiser to doubt the newspaper’s circulation statements, it cashes in on honesty and adds to its prestige. —~
The Coquille Sentinel has just added an
electric caster.
[5]
