There was no evidence this had anything to do with the Morris newspaper.
The newspaper exists precisely to provide this kind of service. So, apparently a
group of Morris businesspeople felt they needed to find an avenue other than the
newspaper.
A quick deduction is that there is dissatisfaction with the paper.
I found it refreshing to see a flyer like this that had bald-faced
allegiance to Morris area businesses. It was a breath of fresh air. What's
disappointing is that a group of Morris businesspeople found it necessary to
take it upon themselves to do this "end run" around the established paper. It's
a distraction for them. It's time-consuming.
And, because it's sort of an insurrection, it's disruptive to the life of a
small community.
The norm is for merchants to turn to the local paper to have print
advertising needs met. Several are showing that this system is no longer
acceptable to them. They are having to scrap to come up with alternative
resources. This is not their specialty. They have their own businesses to run.
It's a big load as it is.
Why might the Morris newspaper be perceived as not sufficient? Is it really
the Morris newspaper? I have noticed a great many ad circulars for non-Morris
businesses, primarily Alexandria, stuffed in with the weekly paper. The poor
Morris businesses can end up lost in the shuffle.
The sheer quantity of circulars is an irritant for many of the people who
still acquire the Morris paper. Several have told me they take the whole stack
and just heave it into a waste receptacle. If there were just a handful of
circulars, primarily for our local merchants, I suspect there would be no
instant turn-off factor.
Does anyone think the Alexandria businesses are paying full price to reach
the specific Morris area audience? Does anyone think this isn't just a "perk" of
sorts for businesses that are advertising with Forum Communications, the big
chain newspaper company that owns the Morris paper?
I resent this "invasion" of Alexandria advertising. It's no secret that
Alex - or is it "Alec?" - is an attractive destination for Morris area
residents. They have the "big box" stores. It's a lakes/tourist area with the
expected amenities.
So, fine and dandy. I see no need to page through an ad circular for an
Alexandria grocery store or drugstore. It's pollution. All this stuff is an
affront to the Morris businesspeople who are trying to get their well-founded ad
material in front of their customers.
The Forum pays lip service to being committed at the local level. How could
they say otherwise? But I suspect they make more money accommodating Alexandria
businesses the way they do now, than if they insisted on the Morris paper being
truly local.
Does that mean a truly local Morris paper couldn't make money? I suspect it
could - maybe not at the levels the Forum can juice up - but at a decent level.
The problem is, our Wall Street-influenced culture no longer thinks "decent" is
enough.
The Forum's approach may be working for them in the short term. But when
your priorities are out of whack, the long-term picture isn't going to work.
There have been signs of crumbling aside from what we're seeing with the new
"rogue" publication ("Morris Area Merchants").
Press run and circulation numbers have been tumbling. As I reported
previously (on my companion website, in my "False Spring" post), the Morris
newspaper has a press run of 2800 copies. This is according to an official
report that came out in late September. We have had several months to see
further erosion.
For years the press run of the Morris paper was about 4000.
The paid circulation figure is 2340. The number used to be about 3500. The
paper appears to discard about 380 copies which seems excessive.
Each fall these numbers come out.
It was a bombshell when the Morris paper went from being twice-weekly to
weekly. Not only was there considerable grumbling about this, there was
grumbling about how the new weekly paper would come out on Saturday.
Now that we're almost into June, it's a time of year when many Morris
residents are gone for the weekend. Yes, there is a push to promote tourism
here, but realistically we know we aren't in a true "lakes" area. We travel a
reasonable distance to the east for this. UMM shuts down, in large part, which
makes for a relatively quiet atmosphere.
I suspect the Morris paper has been hurt by the closing of Coborn's. I used
to personally deliver newspaper bundles around town, and I can tell you the
Coborn's newsstand was the "hottest." The closing of Coborn's makes life in
Morris seem even slower in summer.
It would be healthy for Morris to have a hard-charging, committed print
advertising vehicle to really prop up Morris.
The Morris Sun Tribune should probably get an award from the Alexandria
Chamber of Commerce. We don't need that.
Morris businesses, without my help, are taking a very skeptical look at the
Forum-owned Morris paper. That's why we see this "Morris Area Merchants" flyer.
I hear the flyer is going to continue on a monthly basis.
I hear that a coupon placed in both the flyer and the Morris paper, as a
test, got far greater response in the new, Morris-oriented publication. In fact,
the numbers are staggering. So, all you businesspeople who lazily advertise in
the Morris paper as a knee-jerk sort of thing, pause and take a fresh look
please.
I would like to implore all you Morris businesspeople to quit supporting
those "sig ads" in the Morris paper. That's short for "signature," although many
in the media business whisper that they are "sucker ads."
These are ads with some sort of benevolent message like "Have a happy and
safe Fourth of July," and then you see businesses listed underneath.
Interestingly, this ad appears on the Saturday of July 4 weekend when all the
travelers are gone before they even see the paper.
These ads are like the newspaper using a vacuum cleaner to just vacuum
money out of your pockets. Knock if off. Quit paying through the nose to have
the name of your business in a tiny box on the edge of a Tiger sports schedule
page. Those sports schedules could be attractively displayed on the school
website.
This new "Morris Area Merchants" flyer may be refreshing, but it reflects
dysfunction in that the newspaper really should be handling this. This is a
newspaper's whole reason for being. It's really not about news coverage, or
about sports for heaven's sake, it's about accommodating local businesses. If
the newspaper isn't doing that, it has its priorities hopelessly out of whack.
For the newspaper to pay an employee to regularly attend sports games,
while at the same time leaving businesses so frustrated they feel they have to
go out on their own to advertise, is bizarre and sad.
I even resent the "district court news" in the local paper. It just fuels
the local gossip mill. It's embarrassing to many upstanding citizens who maybe
just commit a minor oversight in their lives now and then. It's public
information if you want to take the trouble to go to the courthouse and ask to
see it. It needn't be published.
Obituaries in the Morris paper lost much of their value when the paper
became weekly. Besides, more and more people are going online to get obituary
info. People are anxious to get the visitation and funeral schedule info.
More and more I see the local paper as just an intrusion on our privacy.
The extensive sports news appeals to a too-narrow slice of the readership. It
should all go online where it could be handled better anyway.
I see nothing wrong, though, with getting a publication like "Morris Area
Merchants."
And let's say kudos also to "Senior Perspective." Please click on the link
below to read a positive post I wrote about "Senior Perspective" on my companion
website, "Morris of Course." I identify three specific things "Perspective" does
well in comparison to many of the town papers.
Will "Morris Area Merchants" be permanent? It probably shouldn't.
The best scenario would be for the Forum to be pressured to sell either to
local interests or to interests that would allow the paper to be run as a local
entity with local loyalties - the way it should be.
Frankly, the sooner the better.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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