Why do you give so much away?

Last night after the Barrie & District Big Brothers Bowling Event I was asked how I could give away so much advertising with the paper and still make money. The question came up because of an offer I had made to the members of the Barrie Construction and Greater Barrie Home Builders Associations, the offer was to match their sponsorship amounts. The person was also surprised that I had ran a free ad in the paper to promote the event.

My answer was simply, the more you give the more you get. I told the person it made sense to promote the events the associations are involved with as well as publish photos since people enjoy seeing their photos and people they know. I told her that the advertising credits would amount to $100 to $200 for each person meaning that if they wanted to run an ad this year they would see a savings of between 30-40% with the credit. I said the more ads promoting local events and generated from advertising credits lead to more regular priced ads being placed.

I explained further that my sales technique was not about high pressure and cold calling, it was about building relationships and connections with the local construction community. I also explained that recently I sat down with a potentially advertising that was going through the paper with me and decided to advertise based on the coverage of the local association & community events, association ads and other members placing an ad.

The person was impressed with how I worked. I told her the biggest difference between the Construction News and Report Group and other construction/trade publications was our involvement with the local constructions. Be a member and do business with a member!

Niacon Construction Niagara Falls Hilton Project

One of the added value initiatives we have started for 2009 is posting of construction photos from the different projects we feature in our group of papers. This extra provides us to post more photos then we woudl use in our articles in some cases and shows many more aspects of the project.

If you would like to have your photos posted on our sites for a project which just broke ground or is nearing completion send me an email at chase@cnrgp.com

Resolving Ontario’s Infrastructure Crisis:Road Building and Heavy Construction

Ontario’s roads, bridges, sewers and infrastructure need attention: Existing structures and services are reaching the end of their useable life-span; as population growth and tougher environmental standards demand new construction for the province’s infrastructure.

In Ontario Construction Report’s May issue, you will learn about the options and issues affecting the heavy construction sector. We’ll distribute 10,000 copies of this special report to the construction industry and policymakers/owners throughout the province. If your business works in heavy construction/infrastructure, or you wish to reach readers who care about these issues, you will want to participate in the special theme coverage.

Special editorial round-table:
As an advertiser, you will be invited to participate in the editorial coverage (along with industry leaders and association representatives) by sharing your thoughts about infrastructure issues and priorities and how you can help resolve these challenges. We’ll send you a simple questionnaire; and your answers will be incorporated in our final story. (Note: Of course, you don’t need to participate in the editorial round table to be an advertiser.)

Full editorial coverage
If you wish, and you advertise ½ page or more, we’ll publish a special editorial article for you. We can also work with you and your suppliers to create this special section.

About the Ontario Construction Report
Ontario Construction Report is the only Ontario construction publication that serves the entire province. It is a supplement to Ottawa Construction News, The GTA Construction Report, and Northern Ontario Construction News.

For more information
Chase, Director of Client Services
Construction News and Report Group
Office: (905) 228-1151 Cell: (905) 341-8686 Fax: 1-888-370-8745
email: chase@cnrgp.com
website:www.cnrgp.com

Deadline
General advertising deadline is April 24th, 2009. To guarantee editorial mention, please respond to the questionnaire sent when you complete your advertising request by April 17th, 2009

Ontario Construction Report Readers Choice Awards in the news

Barrie Construction Association 2009 Directory

We just got the final sign off of the Barrie Construction Association Directory today and will be starting the printing early next week. My goal is to get a few hundred copies in time to take up for the March 26 Dinner Meeting and send the remaining 500 copies out by April 1st.

Is your association looking to generate a directory to promote your members and the services you provide? We can work with you to create one with several options to meet your budget requirements.

If interested in reviewing what model would work best for you send me an email at chase@cnrgp.com

Privacy Policy

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March 2009 GTA Construction Report

March 2009 Issue of Ontario Construction Report

All Set up at the National Heavy Construction Trade Show

Just finished setting up the booth at the International Centre in Hall 5 at booth 5008. I will be there for Thursday and Friday and invite you to come by.

From Quebec to Barrie and Toronto in 48 hours: March Publishers View Point

I just got back from Quebec City and I am trying to reflect back on everything that happened the past few days here at the Canadian Home Builder Association National Conference. Where do I start?

The event ran from Friday February 27th to Sunday March 1st and showcased the leading builders and renovators from across Canada with Ontario represented very nicely. This was the first national event that we have attended and the fact that it was relatively close to our head office in Ottawa it made sense to attend. I hope I can sell the idea of attending the event in Victoria British Columbia to Mark Buckshon the publisher for next year.

The event was a great chance to reconnect and network with members from Barrie such as Sheila Hissa who won the National Executive Office Award, Mark Basciano past OHBA president from Niagara as well as Mark Martin and John Herbert from Ottawa. I also had a chance to meet some other companies such as Pioneer Craftsman and New Horizon Homes who each won awards. As I spoke with Conni Robinson the Director of Marketing for New Horizon Homes, I commented on how funny it was I had to travel over travel hours to meet with her when we are only 40 minutes apart in Ontario. The event allowed everyone a relaxed environment to simply speak.

The conference speakers all delivered interesting takes on the current status of the economy and the home building industry in Canada. My personal impressions from all the people I have spoken with are that the great companies are still busy. By great I mean they have a good reputation and have delivered exceptional quality in the past. Now with the “Great Recession” the companies who took care of their customers are still thriving while those who did not are failing. The next two quarters will effectively see a thinning of the home building industry with the strong and reputable companies remaining.

No sooner did I get off the train did I have to pack up my stuff to head over to the National Heavy Equipment Show at the International Centre in Toronto which ran March 4th to the 5th. As I am submitting this report I am about to head out, so I will report in April my impressions of attending this event for the first time. First quarter is wrapping up and it is only getting busier!

Chase is the Director of Marketing and Client Relations for the Construction News and Report Group as well as the Associate Publisher for the GTA Construction Report and Ontario Construction Report. If you have any recommendations or suggestions on changes you would like to make for the papers please contact him toll free at 1-888-432-3555 ext 211 or email him mailto:chasemarketing@sympatico.ca or visit us online at http://www.cnrgp.com/

twitter

Today at the 66th Annual Canadian Home Builders Association Conference in Quebec City, Tod Mathison from CBC discussed several free online tools that could be used to help brand your companies image.

Tod spoke about Facebook and setting up groups or pages like I have done for the Ontario Construction Report . He also spoke about using You Tube for posting videos of renovation projects or demonstrations of the type of work you do as a builder/renovator.

The last web based solution he discussed was twitter. twitter allows a user to post updates of things they are doing and follow other people in their daily lives. My purpose will be for professional uses only. Things I have started to use it for are posting what industry events I am at and posting current issues of our papers.

I have been playing with twitter for a while today and discovered that there are groups you can join also. My next step will be setting up a new group. As twitter and its potential evolves I will share updates on the uses I have found for my work.