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Feature d Article |
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Scrum? What's that? Doesn't it have something to do with rugby?
"Scrum" is also a term used to describe a way of organizing software development - a wonderfully productive method also sometimes called agile development.
Go here and here for descriptions of both terms.
At SCS we develop applications using scrum. As a result, our speed of development has increased dramatically. That's how we can be making new newspaper applications so quickly.
If we create custom programs or modifications just for you, you'll find out all about scrum because someone from your paper will be effectively a member of the scrum team. You'll know what's going on and help guide the project right from the beginning to a successful installation. Isn't that the way it should be?
If you have questions, call or send email to Richard. |
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Looking for new sources of classified advertising? |
 In a presentation at AmericaEast a few weeks ago, Bill Ostendorf, President of Creative Circle Media Consulting spoke very dramatically about ways to redesign a newspaper to sell more classified ads by making them more relevant to both readers and advertisers.
His suggestion is to, as he put it, "create niche communities of people who want to sell things to each other." Instead of only printing classified ads in the classified section, place niche classified ads in different sections of the paper - food ads in the food section, health services ads in a health lifestyle section, financial advisor ads in the business section, etc. You will attract small advertisers (e.g. specialty cake bakers, financial planners, etc.) who don't advertise now because their ads would be lost in the typical classified section. Give them a way to advertise economically and to attract the readers who are already interested - and they will pay you money!
One of the objections he has heard from classified managers is, "Our front-end system can't handle that." If that is really true, it is a disgrace. If your classified entry, classified pagination and editorial pagination systems can't work smoothly together to make such an innovation easy, come talk to us at SCS.
But how can you do new things at your paper when the staff is constantly shrinking? How do you put MORE salespeople on the street? How do you develop new workflow procedures when you can't purchase new tools? Here's a message for your financial management - also from Bill. "Cost cutting is the worst thing to do in the face of disruptive competition." He has support from experts for this one. See his article in the Nieman Reports from Harvard.
Send me some stories about innovative and revenue producing things YOU are doing at your paper, and I'll share them in future newsletters |
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Do you know where your ads are? Especially your outsourced ones? |
 Are you outsourcing some or all of your display ad production - either off shore or through a US service or at a centralized location for your group of papers? Or maybe it's a bit of all of these plus some production  done inhouse. How do you know where everything is, what's going to be ready on time, and what needs immediate attention?
One solution is an ad tracking and workflow system that can schedule and monitor ad production across any number of remote locations. Scripps Treasure Coast Publishing has been using SCS/Track for several years to monitor ad production workflow at five locations in Florida. Recently they added remote locations both in the U.S. and in India. The majority of their ads are now produced very successfully in India. They use SCS/Track, 2AdPro's JobDirect, and an SCS-supplied XML interface between the two. Read more about how the tracking system has made this "a 'win-win' for both sides. We now know which ads have been completed on both sides, not just the U.S. side." Todd Lentz, Prepress Manager, Scripps Treasure Coast Publishing | |
SCS offers enterprise-wide and modular publishing solutions for advertising order entry and billing, edition design and ad dummying, press configuration, classified pagination, ad production workflow, digital asset management, editorial workflow and archiving. Visit us at our website. Send me email with suggestions for stories or anything else you'd like to say. Call our salespeople at (800)568-8006.
We're moving forward, and you should come with us!
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Sincerely,  Martha Cichelli
Software Consulting Services |
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