Westborough, MA., June 9, 2021 – In less than six months, McClatchy Newspapers converted nearly 40% of public notices to a DIY automated process powered by iPublish Media Solutions.
After launching iPublish Media‘s AdPortal Public Notices, all print notices are now being created and purchased using AdPortal’s self-service workflow. The portal has automated pricing, designing and placing the public notices in print as well as handling the upload for online notices.
In addition to DIY, AdPortal is used by the centralized call centers for multiple verticals in all markets. iPublish enabled McClatchy to convert obituaries, celebrations, public notices, classified private party, recruitment and soon retail SMB in all 28 markets onto one platform. This was done in conjunction with McClatchy’s move to centralize all order intake for both print and digital production.
While some verticals such as obituaries were already at nearly 100% DIY/self-service by funeral directors and private parties, call-center representatives handled the rest of the public notices orders for all 28 markets. Public notices were especially important to automate in order to centralize the process at a single call center that can now manage the rules, regulations, schedules and layout/fonts for each market.
“Now a person in the call center can take any order, for any market, whether for public notices, recruitment, obituaries, real estate, private party, or even retail ads,” said Shannon Hayden, call center director for McClatchy.
“We don’t just offer iPublish AdPortal for self-serve to our community, my entire team—across all markets—is very fluent with the AdPortal platform, and uses it across multiple verticals,” she said.
Using a single front-end order-taking system was critical to providing great service by simplifying a process that is often laden with complexity and confusion.
Hayden continued, “It is so easy to train new reps and deal with turnover…With all the transitions we’re currently going through, it was essential that we are all on a single system. The first application was obituaries, and the installation was fully implemented over a weekend without any major issues.”
“We are pleased to have been selected as the primary public notice solution for McClatchy and to be part of the effort for newspapers to modernize and streamline order processing,” said Brian Gorman, co-founder and chief revenue officer at iPublish Media Solutions.
Continuing Gorman stated, “iPublish has established itself as an essential solution for newspaper groups consolidating operations. Dependable, scalable, integrated self-serve solutions are critical to the future of local media—by enabling them to take high-margin advertising orders and to bring local businesses back with DIY print and digital ad campaigns.”
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About McClatchy
McClatchy operates 30 media companies in 14 states, providing each of its communities with strong independent local journalism in the public interest and advertising services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy publishes iconic local brands including the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento, Calif. #ReadLocal
About iPublish Media Solutions
iPublish Media is the industry leader in self-serve advertising. In fact, we currently work with hundreds of publishers every day to process thousands of jobs. Our self-serve media advertising platform is easy to use and provides the performance and versatility to create and sell any print, digital or social advertising campaign, for any product or platform, 24/7/365. With over 13 years of delivering outstanding return on investment for our partners, we were acquired by Legacy.com, although we operate independently.
