Pretend you're a local locksmith in a town of 10k, or an auto mechanic, or hair dresser. You're been paying the Yellow Pages $199/mo for 20 years but less and less people are coming in from that ad. Now, you have two options: one, do you go with Google or Facebook, or YP.com, or some other company probably from "California" that you just don't trust; or two, go with your local newspaper who has a very similar product and who you've done business with your entire life?
These people are our customers. I've actually heard folks say "I don't trust those California people"--wrap your mind around that and get back to me.
The truth is that by partnering with newspapers Seeing Interactive has a potential sales force of 30,000 trusted-local reps. Even if the newspaper industry is dying--which is a ridiculous claim--we still have the feet on the street and technology today to sell markets that Yelp or Google will never reach.
I like that angle. I too figured that there's one thing that web SaaS can't really effectively replace well: feet on the street, and people interacting with other people they trust in 'meatspace'.
These people are our customers. I've actually heard folks say "I don't trust those California people"--wrap your mind around that and get back to me.
The truth is that by partnering with newspapers Seeing Interactive has a potential sales force of 30,000 trusted-local reps. Even if the newspaper industry is dying--which is a ridiculous claim--we still have the feet on the street and technology today to sell markets that Yelp or Google will never reach.