There is a growing trend within the newspaper industry that I believe is very positive.  That trend is to sell their aggregate audience instead of selling product by product.

This strategy will definitely cause a lot of the sales people in the industry today to find new jobs because it is more complicated than selling the traditional way. Newspaper execs need to be prepared for the mass exodus and also understand that it’s a good thing because the majority of sales reps can’t transform into effective multimedia sales champions.

The sales people who actually cut it will quickly move into leadership positions and help continue the transformation.

Like I said, this is a step in the right direction for the industry and if they can figure out a way to go after the non traditional advertiser it will help them get their fair share of the $13.1 billion of local revenue up for grabs in the next few years.