Dear Reader | Where’s my advertising circular? And other questions about the news biz

Late last week, three newsroom leaders and I spent a day and a half at the Charlotte Observer, hearing from some of the best minds in journalism, technology and design about the future.

One of my fellow editors described it as being on the receiving end of a firehouse, which is an accurate metaphor for the amount of information that was shared, discussed and debated.

And while we are still processing what we heard, and pondering the right approach for our news team, the goal is clear: We must change our processes and our culture to ensure that we are providing readers, not just with the most important and interesting information of the day, but presenting it in a way that makes it compelling to look at and read on a variety of surfaces — tablets, smartphones and in print.

That’s the task at hand for the journalists in our room and newsrooms across our company and the nation. It certainly presents challenges and we most certainly will make some mistakes along the way as we adapt to technology that seems to change every hour. But in the end, the most important task won’t change, and that is to be your trusted source for what you need to know about your leaders, your community, your neighborhood heroes and what there is to do in this diverse region of the coastal Carolinas.

The experience reminded me of some wise words I once heard from a mentor, whicht went something like this: Change is difficult, but the brave ones go on to grow and succeed. I work with some uncommonly brave journalists, so while we may stumble along the way, we will most certainly succeed.

Stay tuned.

Advertisers are changing too

One common complaint from callers has to do with the advertising inserts in their newspapers, or, more accurately, the absence of inserts they expect to see. Fred Benson, vice president of advertising, explains:

“We receive a volume of calls from readers regarding the sales flyers that are inserted into our newspaper. We’d like to clear up some misconceptions about who gets them and why.

“The vast majority of sales flyers are printed by the advertiser and shipped to our printing facility. The advertiser tells us where they’d like to have their pieces delivered and we use an inserting machine to sort them to the appropriate ZIP codes. There are times when the machine misses a paper or inserts more than one piece into a paper. Our inserting mistakes account for less than 1 percent of all the papers we produce.

“While most of our readers see almost all of the flyers, each advertiser determines which day to use and where their message should be delivered. Those targeted deliveries can change weekly depending on the featured items during the sale period. In addition to ZIP code variations, advertisers also demand to have a choice between papers delivered directly to homes versus those sold at retail stores or single copy boxes. So the inserts in a paper purchased at a store might be different from one delivered to your neighbor’s home.

“The most common complaint that we get is: ‘I used to get this [name store here]’s flyer, but I don’t anymore.’ Many advertisers have fixed budgets. When our circulation increases because of an influx of snowbirds or summer tourists, advertisers make the decision on where their pieces will generate the greatest return on their investment. They often provide us with the same quantity as they do in non-peak seasons and readers get cut off.

“Since advertisers pay us based on how much of their material we distribute, we would be happy to provide every insert to all of our customers.

“If you have not received an insert that you think you should be getting or would like to start receiving specific inserts, the best course of action is to contact your local store manager.”

I don’t have the answers on advertising contracts or requirements, but I’m happy to hear from you on news and other content questions. As always, thanks for reading.

This story was originally published January 19, 2015 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Dear Reader | Where’s my advertising circular? And other questions about the news biz ."