209 Multimedia owns nine papers in Northern California's Central Valley, located in Manteca, Gustine, Newman, and Dos Palos. The business office manager, Saresa Shutes, manages the legal notices for the Turlock and Ceres markets and oversees obituaries and classifieds for all nine papers. "It's a massive amount of work," she said.
Shutes handles 80 to 100 legal notices a day. "Each of our papers does thousands of dollars worth of legal ads monthly. Legals are my main focus."
Problem: Paperwork & Errors
Shutes had to handle legal notices manually. "I had paperwork everywhere," she described. I used to have to cut out the physical ad from the paper to create a proof of publication, then email it back to attorneys or courts with a wet signature.
There was also the problem of human error. "When I manually input an ad, I can make mistakes. If a customer doesn't read the proof and runs with an error, we must re-run it for free."
Solution: Column's Public Notice Platform
When Hank Vander Veen, the President & Publisher at 209 Multimedia, decided to onboard Column's public notice platform for all nine papers, Shutes's workday significantly improved. "It cut down the time I spent on an ad from twenty to five minutes," she recalled.
"Since Column stores everything digitally, I don't have to worry about paperwork," continued Shutes. "Now I can just go into my account and download the affidavit."
Column has also significantly reduced inaccuracies, saving the paper time and money. "Column catches the errors for me, which cuts down on the hardest part of my workload. I no longer have to go back and forth with the customer to ensure the proof is correct."
Problem: Out-of-State Obits & Poor Formatting
209 Multimedia's system for taking obituary orders has traditionally relied on manual intake over the phone and incorrectly formatted orders from Legacy.com. "I've spent a lot of time on the phone instructing people on how to send in an obit in the right format. It's a burden for them and for me," explained Shutes.
Even though this takes a lot of time, Shutes prefers getting orders this way than from Legacy. "We don't refer people to Legacy," she said. Orders from Legacy are never in a format that works for her papers. "Legacy sends in orders with the picture already inserted as if they've run it in another paper. They also put in hard returns, so I must go in and adjust the paragraphs and the spacing. Basically, I have to rewrite the whole thing."
Solution: Column Obits
After testing Column's new product for obituaries, Shutes saw that it was a far better fit for their publication. "I knew immediately that Column's Public Notice Platform would solve many of these problems for us." Three key benefits stood out to hers:
Conclusion
Column's platforms have transformed the workflow at 209 Multimedia, making managing legal notices, obituaries, and classifieds much more efficient. This technology enhances productivity and ensures a smoother experience for everyone involved.
Hank Vander Veen
President & Publisher
209 Multimedia Company,
209-249-3503
hvanderveen@turlockjournal.com
Kevin King
Head of Sales
Schedule demo: column.us/schedule-demo
