The Talkeetna Times is a semi-monthly newspaper that serves the Talkeetna, Alaska area. Scott Anderson from the paper answered Mediabids' questions. 

(MB): Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you? 
(TT): We are a community newspaper based near Talkeetna, Alaska. In addition to serving the communities of Talkeetna and nearby Trapper Creek, our distribution area includes the communities of Willow, Houston and Big Lake and Caswell, as well as the rural areas between, primarily along the Parks Highway corridor. We also have a sizable secondary distribution in Wasilla, which has been the fastest-growing area of Alaska for several consecutive years due to its proximity to Anchorage and the lower cost of living (mainly housing) compared to Anchorage.
From the Talkeetna area, we are approximately a two to two and a half hour drive from Anchorage, depending on traffic and road conditions. Our area also is growing, though not quite as fast as Wasilla. Many people from Anchorage have cabins in this area -- we're just about at the limit of the distance many people want to drive for short weekend getaways, etc. Our area's first full-service grocery just opened in December. Prior to that, we had to drive to Wasilla -- usually about an hour and a half each way -- to get many of the grocery items we needed. There are still many other goods and services that are not available here that require a trip to Wasilla, and sometimes to Anchorage. This includes medical appointments that require seeing a specialist, dentists, eye care, etc. We can get prescriptions delivered here, but it often costs less to drive to Wasilla to pick them up -- we try to plan such trips so we're doing other necessary things as well.

People here depend on the newspaper, and our one local public radio station, for their news. With the grocery just opening, the outlook is bright. It will draw other needed businesses to the area as the population continues to grow. Many retirees are choosing to live here year-round due to the lower cost of living compared to many other parts of the country.
We have made numerous improvements to the paper in the year and a half that we have been here, and more are in store. We have changed from once a month publication to every other week (26 issues per year), and are looking at the possibility of going to some form of weekly publication. We also currently publish two annual publications -- an annual visitors guide each spring, and a Talkeetna area phone book that includes all communities from Big Lake and Houston to Nenana, pretty much along the entire Parks Highway outside of the larger communities.

 We completely revamped our web site in spring 2008 and are continuing to make improvements to it, as well as to add new features. The Anchorage Daily News recently made several staff cutbacks and reductions in its print edition, and the Frontiersman, based in Wasilla and published thrice weekly, recently pulled all of its news stands from all communities north of Houston. These changes can only help to strengthen our position as the leading print source for news of our communities.

(MB): What sort of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or boost revenue?
(TT):  In addition to the things outlined in question one, we are looking at adding a couple of other publications when the timing is right. These are niche market publications that currently have no comparable publications in our immediate area. As with all publications, regardless of publication schedule, we have to keep an eye on costs to be sure they don't get out of hand. We staff only to the level that budget allows, which often means doing more of the work ourselves when we would like to hire someone else to do the work. We're also constantly on the lookout for outstanding sales people, a difficult position to fill in our market. But as long as we keep looking, eventually we will find the right staff and, we hope, be able to structure the compensation for sales staff in a way that benefits both them and us.

(MB): Do you have any significant changes in store this year?
(TT):    I believe most were outlined in question #1. Of course, we will continue to look at other ways of doing business; at some point, we plan to start publishing catalogs for others. First, however, we need to acquire some additional software that allows us to do so efficiently.

(MB): What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months?
(TT) : By far our most successful advertising "initiative" is our annual phone book. It's small, but it is far and away the most popular phone book in our area (even staff MTA, our local phone cooperative say so). Our second most successful advertising approach is to convince advertisers in Wasilla and Anchorage of the need to advertise in our area because they have a product or service that is not available here.

(MB): Do you have tips for other publications about the best way to integrate print and web sales?
(TT) : We're still trying to figure this out ourselves. We do offer package deals to advertisers who advertise in all of our print publications, or some combination of them, as well as on the web. The packages vary, depending on how many publications and how often the ad runs, but the best deals go to those who advertise in all of them.

(MB): How does your publication hire and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?
(TT) : A tough job in our market, and we're still trying to figure out what works best. Our situation here in rural Alaska is different than most other areas, where there is usually a larger city, not necessarily metropolitan, nearby.

Mito Magazine is a monthly magazine for the Latino entertainment community  that offers  valuable business advice, health and beauty advice, as well as important motivating information for personal growth.Co-owner and Marketing Director Gionvanni Higareda  responded to Mediabids' questions.

(MB) Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you?
(MM)  No, we will have a strong presence in the web but we want to keep the printing format.

(MB) What sort of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or boost revenue?
(MM) Work with vendors to reduce costs by reducing the paper waste and go with 65 percent of post-consumer paper. 

(MB) Looking forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the new year?
(MM) Yes, we will expand our distribution area to San Joaquin County and the bay area.

(MB) What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months?
(MM) We redesigned the concept of the publication, now our main goail is to present the new face of the Latino generation for the general market.

(MB) How does your publication hire and, even more important, retain top sales personnel?
(MM) By an excellent environment, commission, motivation and empowerment in the main decision-making in  the company.

To view Mito Magazine's offers, click here.

Birmingham Parent is a monthly magazine that is Birmingham's best resource for parents. The free publication is distributed at more than 500 locations across Jefferson, Shelby and St. Clair Counties. Publisher  Carol Muse Evans  responded to Mediabids' inquiries

(MB)Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications, do you?
(BP) I believe there will always be people who want to read print - it may become digital, sent personally to a handheld device, like a Blackberry, etc.., but i think people will always want print for the  whole story instead of just snippets like they get on television and radio news.

(MB)What sort of measures has your publication put in place to either conserve costs or boost revenue?
(BP) More value-added and newsletter freebies for advertisers - things that really boost advertisers' presence int he market, but are not expensive to us to provide. We could be charging for a lot of it - but during trying times, to remain competitive, we find offering more keeps business coming our way. 

(MB)What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months?
(BP) Our education guide in November.

(MB)How does your publication hire and , even more important, retain tops sales personnel?
(BP) They are the best paid people in our company - but they do work on commission, so it's up to them to decide what they will make each month. We treat them like family - as best we can - and offer as many perks as possible, flex time, work from home, etc...

Positively Entertainment & Dining is a 32-year old regional monthly tabloid serving the Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA metro areas, distributed free to over 300 entertainment-oriented establishments, mostly restaurants, hotels, bars & lounges. We cover all types of music, restaurants, theater, sports, recordings, books, comedy, cabaret & special events. Positively Entertainment appears online also at www.positivelyentertainment.com

, a bimontly magazine, covers stories that are dedicated to notable professionals and industry which affect well lifestyles

(MB) Five years from now what role will publications like yours serve? For example, some people predict a complete migration to the web for many types of publications. Do you?
(CWM) My prediction would be that there will still be print media, not as much, but still in existence for publishers who work hard to provide quality and original content. Recycled news, newswire dumps and lack of creativity will define who survives and who does not, in addition to broadcast and web symmetry.

(MB) Looking forward to 2009, do you have any significant changes in store for the new year?
(CWM) Yes, added value for readership.

(MB) What was your most successful advertising initiative in the past 12 months? 
(CWM) Taking what I call, a Marketorial Approach© - serving my advertisers across multiple platforms, including them in any outside marketing opportunities and events we are involved in and more. Our job should be to serve our readership and our advertisers in the best way possible - always!

(MB) Do you have tips for other publications about the best way to integrate print and web sales?
(CWM) Ask yourself, what do my readers really want? And then implement it across as many platforms as possible.