Competitive Intelligence

[identity]

While I am working to figure some of this out, I thought this might be a good source as well, potentially, as well as possibly providing useful info for others as well.

What I am hoping to uncover is whether anyone has any inside or learned knowledge in regards to their local paper's pricing. Obviously the general pricing is available, though deciphering it sometimes requires three a small army of PhD's!

Specifically what I am wondering about is the special pricing which I assume they extend to businesses or bulk buyers, such as employment agencies for job postings, real estate brokers for real estate listings, property management firms for rentals, and auto dealerships for auto ads.

Obviously, though actual numbers may vary widely based on the local market, but I am guessing that the differential may be a little more standard... though this is just a guess.

So, if Mr. Joe Public wants to place a 7 day ad to sell his home it might run him $150, or to sell his car might be $50.

But if Ima Broker wants to list her offices property listings, it might be $37.50, 25% of Joe's cost, or perhaps she can run 200 ads for 30 days at $200.

And if A. Dealer wanted to place ads to sell cars from his dealership it might be $5, 10% of what it costs Joe or perhaps he can place 100 ads for $100.

I currently have no idea and was hoping that others here might have already uncovered some of these inside secrets they could share with everyone else. There might be completely different arrangements than this, or perhaps they pay the same, but I highly doubt it.

If commercial listings are only 30% of the listings, then you can safely base pricing off of the known public pricing and probably succeed well as long as you drive the marketing. But if commerical listings are 80% and you are twice as expensive.... you may be posting your own ad on your own site, selling your Geo license!

[losdev]

I have been using our local paper for over 6 months (circulation around 446k per week) and have discovered the following information.

The sales team attack their prospects in two ways;

1 The readership is extensive and therefor max exposure for your venture is assured, if you book with us for 1 month we will reduce your bill by 2.5%. 3 months 5% 6 months 7.5% and 12 months 25%

2 Late offers (which I have taken advantage of), normal banner price is £590+ VAT with under 1 week to fill I got it for £80.00+VAT

The model is somewhat confusing, but if you split it into the two areas you can see that the attack makes good sense, the longer you commit, the more you save.

I am unaware of any 'volume discount' in this publication as it appears to be time orientated rather than numbers.

As for ROI...as an online venture (away from classified/auctions BTW) it was very poor. After six months we had a return figure of less than 4% on our investment. Needless to say, we are reviewing our options and now aiming at a more specific market.

Hope this is useful....
Regards
Daren

[identity]

Thanks for the info.

Certainly makes sense, especially from a print point of view. Just like the airlines... the plane is going to fly whether it is 20% full or 80% full, so sell as much at the end for as much as you can get, but also offer good deals up front so you don't end up having everyone wait until the last minute.

cheers