Ingram's November 2022

two, a billboard or two, and we had a couple of options.” Modern buyers, he said, are con fronted with incredible fragmentation of messaging platforms. “We went from 15 stations to 200,” he says. “Audiences went from mass audiences to concentrated areas … where options have multiplied exponentially.” The result? Marketing has evolved from brand awareness and affinity or sales positioning to a setting where success metrics involve online views, likes, shares, or share-of-voice. His own company has moved from a print focus to embracing digital marketing functions. The experience has shown that digital platforms can leverage and enhance the reach of print and other traditional methods. “There is still an audience there,” Bettis said. “The task, then, is finding the right niches, the right hyper local content to surround your brand and find the right affinity, the right activation, and the right results.” It’s not that print is dead, he said; “what I think people are longing for from a content standpoint is, ‘I don’t have time to deal with all the other crap.’ When media split into a million pieces, it just got hard.” But within that disruption, oppor

Niche Matters | Mitch Bettis of Arkansas Business Publishing Group offered examples of how hyper-local print content can still generate powerful advertiser interest by reaching the right consumer markets.

tunities arose for savvy marketers trying to reach the right eyeballs. Example: Arkansas is the nation’s largest producer of rice. Rice in the field attracts ducks. A lot of high level executives are avid duck hunters. Boom: Instant niche audience for mar keters paying attention.

In response, Bettis’ group launched Greenhead : The Arkansas Duck Hunt ing Magazine. That immediately cre ated a platform for makers of duck boats, duck blinds, hunting clothing, guns and ammo, and much more, appealing to advertisers trying to reach an elite—and affluent—audience. Another publication in his stable is Meeting Planner , and almost by def- inition, it’s about as hyper-local in focus as a magazine can be. “It’s pro- duced once a year for people in Arkansas, whose single job is to produce corporate events. That’s it,” Bettis said. The publication is full of relevant data, updates on trends in audio-visual tech, guidance on effective story-telling, food and beverage hints—anything that can help planners produce effective and engaging corporate gatherings and other large meetings. That created not only a print publication but a digital platform as well. “When newspapers fell apart, and television audiences fractured, and radio audiences fractured, these niche audiences thrived,” he said. Borrell followed that up with a data driven presentation that validated local print’s role in leveraging ad messaging and brand building. He dissected his firm’s research into the $370 billion

Assessing the Challenge | A score of advertising and marketing professionals watched presentations that addressed the need for true multi-channel marketing efforts that include traditional platforms.

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Kansas City’s Business Media

November 2022