120 Years - A look back at the Echo Press – Advertising

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For more than 300 years, advertisers have been turning to newspapers to promote their products or services.

One of the first newspaper advertisements ever published was an announcement selling real estate on Oyster Bay, Long Island that ran in the Boston News-Letter on May 8, 1704.

Twenty-five years later (1729) Benjamin Franklin began publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette, which included enough paid advertisements to cover the expense of producing the paper. Newspaper advertising grew quickly from there.

It also opened new doors for women. At the turn of the century there were few career options for women in the business world. Since women were often responsible for much of the purchasing in their household, advertisers recognized the value of their insight during the creative process. Women were hired by companies to help create advertising as well as to sell it in many instances.

From 1900 until present day, companies have relied heavily on newspaper marketing to sell their products. Brand names like Campbell's Soup, Kellogg's, Pepsi and Coca-Cola have maintained advertising in newspapers for more than 100 years.

Today, newspapers are still a preferred venue for many advertisers, especially on a local level.

In 2010, advertising spending was estimated at more than $300 billion in the U.S. Of all the advertising revenue in the country today, the largest share – close to 22 percent – is spent on newspaper advertising. More than 85 percent of that is spent by local advertisers.

The rich and long history of advertising in newspapers is evidence of the proven track record of customers responding to these advertisements in a positive way. Newspaper advertisers get results!

Of course, today’s advertising is much different than that of the early 1900s. Ever-changing technology has brought the black and white line drawing advertisements of a century ago to the full color, intricately designed, unique and complex advertisements of today.

The era of fax machines and later e-mail allowed for quicker turn-around time, giving businesses the opportunity to view their ads and still get them quickly sent to print.

And of course, marketing through the World Wide Web opened new opportunities for advertisers and contributed to the "dot-com" boom of the 1990s.

Newspapers grew along with the changes and began publishing online newspapers as well as print newspapers, giving their advertisers countless new options to reach their targeted audiences and potential customers.

The Echo Press has been helping local businesses communicate with their customers since its inception in 1891.

The newspaper has won numerous advertising awards through the years and most of the current sales representatives on staff have been working in the newspaper industry for 15 years or more.

Publisher Jody Hanson has 37 years in the industry. Greg Eigen has sold newspaper advertising for 35 years, Stacy Haaven for 18, Mimi Seykora for 17, Izzy Rusch for 16, Shelly Beaulieu for 15, and Randy Jansen for nine.

The Echo Press sales representatives are experienced and are committed to helping local businesses grow and be successful through quality advertising.

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See pages A8 and A9 in today’s Echo Press for the March Echo Press 120th Anniversary Extra.

Tags: opinion, column