Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, announced an initiative last week to sell online marketing services to local businesses. McClatchy newspapers, the nation’s third-largest publisher, announced a similar program in April.
A company memo quoted by the Gannett Blog says, “GannettLocal is a new business model focused on working with small and medium-sized business to provide them a high-touch marketing consultation and a suite of multiplatform solutions (search engine marketing, e-mail, digital display, website and geo-targeted print/flyers) delivered by a team of dedicated experts over the phone.”
That’s “a high-touch marketing consultation … over the phone.”
GannettLocal is based in Phoenix and already in use by the the website azcentral at Gannett’s Arizona Republic.