As we work to reinvent the Emerald, one of our main goals is to enhance the relationship between the publication’s advertisers and its audience.
Inspired by sites such as Groupon and Living Social, we thought, what better way to accomplish this than to design a product that’s locally focused and community-driven.
The Daily Emerald’s “Daily Deals” will differ from the coupon sites mentioned above because its focus will be on restaurants and businesses specifically on the University of Oregon campus and in the surrounding area.
Our hope is to produce a simple and user-friendly site that will tailor to student interests and generate greater appeal to our advertisers.
Recognizing the advertiser-audience relationship role in this organization is important for two reasons.
First, advertising dollars guarantee successful operation of a news organization. The ODE’s current advertising staff is made up of six sales representatives (myself included) who work under the supervision of one ad director. At times our sales goals seem intimidating and unattainable.
However, the development of this new product will aid in our efforts to reach our goals. Not only will it provide physical proof of the kind of return advertisers are getting from investing in our publication, but it will also increase their presence on the Web.
The second reason is straightforward and self-explanatory. Our audience places value on all of the hard work that goes into this soon-to-be news organization.
We want to preserve the loyalty our readers have to this brand by becoming more interactive and appealing.
Daily Deals’ Web appeal for the advertisers and the audience will support local businesses and allow our readers to reap the benefits of the deals that only the Oregon Daily Emerald can connect them with.