advertising - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T09:45:15Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/advertisingEditor's Note: Become a Coastal Star, help us support local businesseshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-become-a-coastal-star-help-us-support-local-busines2020-04-01T17:30:00.000Z2020-04-01T17:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p class="p1" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;">Donate by <a href="http://archive.thecoastalstar.com/Coastal-Star-Donate-Advertising.pdf" target="_blank">mail</a> | Donate</span> <a href="https://thecoastalstar.com/donations" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:14pt;">online</span></a></strong></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><strong>W</strong>e’re all in this together.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
<p class="p1">In our lifetimes, this adage has never been more true. How we act as individuals can have life or death consequences for us all.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and keep 6 feet away from each other — even while walking the dog, picking up takeout, or standing in line at the grocery store. It could save a life — or many.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Although it’s the health concerns of this pandemic that keep us awake at night (we each have family members with serious health conditions), the economic fallout is casting a dark shadow of its own. Small businesses all over are struggling and many won’t survive. The same holds true for arts venues and nonprofits. When marquees go dark, the community grows dim. When organizations that help those in need aren’t there to respond, the safety net begins to sag. </p>
<p class="p2">At <i>The Coastal Star</i> our advertising revenue for this edition dropped by more than 50%<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> — and April should have been one of our most profitable editions, one that would help <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> us make it through the lean times of summer. We expect<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span> the next few months will be even more severe.</p>
<p class="p3">All local businesses count on the abundance of the season to make it through the off-season. Consider the restaurants, family-run hotels, dry cleaners, salons and personal service providers. We are all searching out the fine print in the recovery act to see if there is a lifeline available to keep us operating. At press time it was too soon to tell.</p>
<p class="p3">In the meantime, we’re asking our coastal neighbors to assist their favorite local businesses (including this newspaper) by purchasing advertising until the pandemic subsides.</p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>Here is how you can help</b></span></p>
<p class="p2">Support the advertisers you see in this edition. They are our neighbors and business partners. Thank them for supporting <i>The Coastal Star</i> through this economic downturn. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Purchase advertising space for your favorite local businesses suffering during this difficult time. Help them keep their messages in front of the coastal community. Support local arts organizations or nonprofits by underwriting advertising that helps relay their messages as they reschedule and adapt to meet the perilous conditions. Purchase advertising space in memory of a loved one or to celebrate some family, club, school or neighborhood event.</p>
<p class="p3">Or simply purchase advertising space to show your support of community journalism. We’ll donate our design time to create these ads, if you’ll underwrite the ad space.</p>
<p class="p3">With your support we can make it through the next few months — together.</p>
<p class="p3">Sincerely,</p>
<p class="p5"><i>Mary Kate Leming, Executive Editor</i></p>
<p class="p5"><i>Jerry Lower, Publisher</i></p>
<p class="p5"><i>Chris Bellard, Advertising Director<a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960940098,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960940098,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960940098?profile=original" /></a></i></p>
<p class="p5"></p></div>Coastal Star: Behind-the-scenes volunteer a melodious match for Symphoniahttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/coastal-star-behind-the-scenes-volunteer-a-melodious-match-for-sy2016-02-04T16:41:25.000Z2016-02-04T16:41:25.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960631072,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="500" class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960631072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="7960631072?profile=original" /></a><em>Marti Kaplan, a volunteer for the Symphonia, lives at The Carlton condominiums in Boca Raton.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Marie Puleo<br /> <br /></strong> Marti Kaplan has found the perfect way to combine her talent for crunching data with her love for classical music. <br /> As a volunteer at the Symphonia chamber orchestra in Boca Raton, she helps internal operations run smoothly by using the skills she garnered during her nearly two-decade advertising career in New York. <br /> “I learned along the way that my talents are in the back room and organization, and dealing with databases and spreadsheets, which is the kind of thing the Symphonia needed when I started with them in 2009,” Kaplan said. <br /> After working in market and media research for major ad agencies such as J. Walter Thompson and McCann Erickson and as director of sales research for ABC television, Kaplan retired in 1988 to Boca Raton with her husband, who also worked in advertising. They were both in their 40s.<br /> Kaplan filled her time doing volunteer work for the Florence Fuller Child Development Centers and serving as treasurer of her condo board, which proved to be labor-intensive. <br /> “Eventually my husband said, ‘If you’re going to work that hard, you might as well go out and get paid for it.’ So I did,” Kaplan said.<br /> She worked for a Realtor for 10 years, handling contracts, multiple-listing databases and bookkeeping. When she finally retired in 2008, this time officially, she needed something to do.<br /> A former member of the Symphonia board who lived in Kaplan’s condo building knew that the Symphonia’s executive director, Annabel Russell, needed help, so she put Kaplan and Russell together. <br /> “It just happened to be a very good match. We were very compatible,” Kaplan said. <br /> “When I was growing up in Wisconsin, my mother worked almost full time as a volunteer for the Milwaukee Arts Center, so I spent a lot of time in grade school and high school stuffing envelopes or doing whatever was needed. Volunteering at the Symphonia was sort of automatic.”<br /> The Symphonia, in its 10th season, aims to keep classical music flourishing in South Florida and features world-renowned guest artists, such as pianist Misha Dichter, who will be performing next month.<br /> Kaplan, 68, is particularly enthusiastic about the Symphonia’s “Meet the Orchestra” program, which allows children to interact with musicians at dress rehearsals and learn about different instruments. “It’s important that they know there’s something out there besides rap and hip-hop,” she said.<br /> Volunteering at the Symphonia three or four days a week, Kaplan has been spending most of her time lately working with a new database that will store information about donors, subscribers, single-ticket purchases and seat assignments in one consolidated place, consistently keeping things up-to-date.<br /> “It’s the kind of database management that I’ve done most of my career in one form or another, and that isn’t necessarily the expertise of other volunteers,” Kaplan said. “It’s not glamorous, but it’s very satisfying when it works.”<br /> And it worked last fall when Kaplan succeeded in putting together a donor list that was included in the programs for the first concert of the season. <br /> “I was practically doing handsprings down the hallway, I was so happy that I got it to Annabel in the form she needed,” Kaplan said.<br /> Making life easier for Russell is what it’s all about, “so she can do the business end of it that only she can do, so the musicians can come and play their music, and everybody’s happy.”<br /> “Marti is amazing,” said Russell. “She has integrity, is reliable and does her work really, really well. She saves me a lot of time, and I’m very grateful to have her.” <br /> Part of why Kaplan volunteers is that she hopes the Symphonia (<a href="http://www.thesymphonia.org">www.thesymphonia.org</a>) will stay in Boca Raton, so that people don’t have to go to Palm Beach or Miami to hear classical music.<br /> “It makes me feel good that I’m doing something for an organization that brings pleasure to people and at the same time keeps my mind going. It gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning,” Kaplan said.</p></div>Editor's Note: Community and peer support inspiringhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-community-and-peer-support-inspiring2012-08-01T20:30:00.000Z2012-08-01T20:30:00.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p>Sometimes in the depths of summer it’s difficult to leave the chilled cocoon of the house and drag myself into the office. But as we began to put together this August edition, I was re-energized by the dedicated, ongoing support of our readers, advertisers and peers. <br /> As you read this month’s issue, please take a moment to notice the 65 or so local businesses that support our publishing efforts over the summer months. <br /> Many of these are your neighbors and friends and they know we don’t all head north during hurricane season (even though we might wish we did!). So, please make a point of frequenting their establishments this summer. They know we’re all in this together.<br /> They also know they are supporting an excellent group of local journalists who work hard to bring you the news of your community. How good are they? Just ask the judges of the Florida Press Association. <br /> At their July 7 convention in Destin, they granted 11 awards to Coastal Star writers, editors, photographers and designers. For the first time, we entered this contest in the over 15,000-circulation category and were thrilled to accept a first place for Community History. Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley’s fine story telling on the 85th anniversary of the Boca Raton Resort & Club was noted by the judges, as was the package’s design by Scott Simmons. Congratulations to them both and to the 10 other Coastal Star winners who placed in seven other categories.<br /> Our summer subscribers have also shown that they care about our local journalism. As our calendar editor spent time cleaning up our outdated subscribers list, she mailed out close to 75 renewal notices. In just three weeks, more than 50 re-upped for another year. Impressive.<br /> We work hard all year to earn the loyalty of our readers and advertisers. Please accept this sincere “thank you” — especially during these long, hot days of summer.<br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960400297,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960400297,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="266" alt="7960400297?profile=original" /></a><em>— Mary Kate Leming, Editor</em></p></div>Editorial: Just the facts ma'amhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editorial-just-the-facts-maam2010-02-04T21:13:03.000Z2010-02-04T21:13:03.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div>We don’t publish advertorials.
You know: the stuff that looks like a news story, but when you begin to read it you recognize it as being purely promotional.
It’s been suggested by other small publishers that we do this as a way to increase revenue and get editorial content for free.
We won’t.
True, we are trying to make a living from <i>The Coastal Star</i>, but we are also attempting to deliver a publication that is trusted by our readers. That’s important to us.
We realize we are hiking into deep woods by starting a community newspaper during economically trying times; and we are trying to keep an open mind when it comes to ideas for generating revenue. But even though we could make money by publishing content written by advertisers, we choose not to. Blurring the line between reporting and advertising could jeopardize the affinity we have built with readers over the past year, and maintaining readers’ confidence is paramount to us.
There is a way to reach readers with a business message, however, by self-publishing on our Web site, <a href="http://www.thecoastalstar.ning.com" target="_blank">www.thecoastalstar.ning.com</a>. Just click on Forums and select either Business Announcements or Classifieds. Both are free. Several local businesses are already using this service to reach our online community.
Similarly, many of our readers have asked us to publish their columns, stories or opinions.
Among them are proven or aspiring writers, whose work we are interested in sharing — particularly those informative and timely topics that resonate with other readers.
In the economics of newspapers, however, story space is created by the sale of advertising. As editor, I am always balancing space needed for news and features with revenues created by ad sales. And there is always more “copy” than there is space in the print edition.
But once again, our Web site provides an alternative for material that does not make it into print. Reader/writers can post their work at <a href="http://www.thecoastalstar.ning.com" target="_blank">www.thecoastalstar.ning.com</a>. Again, select Forums then choose Island Talk to share your writing with our online community.
And don’t forget photos! We love photos: sunrises, surfers, pets or events. Just log in to our Web site and click Photos. Many of our online members do this on a regular basis. It’s always great to see what’s happening in our community.
And community, after all, is what <i>The Coastal Star</i> is all about.
<i>Mary Kate Leming, editor</i></div>