One of my favorite things about being a revenue leader is perfecting the overall sales strategy. I love harmonizing the beat of all sales and marketing efforts to help others and grow revenue. Growth in any industry is a skill set rooted in a genuine passion for helping others. Sales is the business of people, and having a passion for helping people is a must if you’re going to grow.

Too many newspapers and other media, their advertising sales reps, local businesses and retailers are unaware there is a giant pile of billions of dollars they could utilize to increase everyone’s revenues. That pile of $75 billion is in the form of annual co-op advertising funds manufacturers make available to local businesses and retailers to co-promhttps://editorandpublisher.creativecirclecms.com/images/close_button_red.gifote the manufacturers’ products and services.

It’s a new year and time for media, agencies and local advertisers to digest the many competing forecasts for 2023 ad spending. There will be sales quotas; agencies will create pitches; and local advertisers will search for the most effective media mix. However they may approach these tasks, the universal forecast is: Digital advertising will continue to gain on legacy media and become an even more dominant force.

This year's Sales Superstars stand out in their ability to stand up against the challenging times newspapers face today. They stay focused and get the job done for their customers, their communities and the companies they represent. Our list of 16 individuals spans the age range, years of experience and small to large markets. Their words ring with wisdom born in the trenches. With extreme appreciation and celebration, we introduce E&P’s 2023 Sales Superstars.

2023 will be the year of re-emergence for news media. Why? The tracks have been set for news organizations to reemerge as innovative tech companies delivering personalized and substantive information. Yes, you read that correctly. Your local news company will become a partner with you throughout your day instead of only providing top-line regional and national news, politics and opinions.

The sports-betting pie is increasing at an enormous rate. The American Gaming Association reports that during August 2022, sports betting generated $471.4 million in revenues, a 116.2% increase from August 2021. For the year to date, those revenues were $3.97 billion, a 69.6% increase compared to the first eight months of 2021. The smart people in sports media recognized very quickly that reporting on sports betting was a natural extension of its overall coverage.

Newspapers need to better understand their readers’ lives and consumer behavior so they can get creative, custom and aggressive in delivering the resources readers need. Leading this charge is no easy feat. However, leveraging a strategy of resource and reliability provides a potential future for more advertiser-safe content.

Although sponsored content and its sister format, branded content, are by definition marketing tactics, when they deliver important information, people engage with it gladly. News publishers have traditionally provided the essential part of that information: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Now they have the opportunity to provide the part today’s consumers and readers also want — lifestyle content about home life, fashion, food, pets, travel and thousands of other topics.

Small weekly and rural newspapers were already struggling before the pandemic. Many had to close family-operated, decades-old publications, creating news deserts. Once the pandemic hit, more of these newspapers closed — just when residents needed important information about how local government and community organizations were responding to the pandemic. Addressing this crisis and finding a solution have come from what some might consider an unlikely source — academia.

What’s your subtitle? Job or organizational titles can be ambiguous and broad, but narrowing your focus to candid subtitles is highly beneficial. Subtitles condense, recapitulate and prioritize your focus as a leader, providing unmistakable clarity and purpose behind every question asked, task you complete or initiative you carry out.

As digital advertising spending increases, publications need to set themselves apart from the crowd. One great way to do so is to provide exclusive offerings to marketing partners that are effective and will enable them to set themselves apart from their competitors.

In January 2022, the Reuters Institute published “Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2022.” In the report, author Nic Newman explained, “More publishers plan to push ahead with subscription or membership strategies this year, with the majority of those surveyed (79%) saying this will be one of their most important revenue priorities, ahead of both display and native advertising.”