• by Tony Silber , Staff Writer, May 23, 2022

I frequently write about lead generation in the context of B2B media companies, but less so when it comes to newspapers.

Still, no industry got hit harder than newspapers in the paradigm shift from in-print local ads to digital marketing channels with sophisticated targeting techniques. Just go on Newspapers.com and check out any given newspaper from, say, any time before the 1990s. The random daily newspaper you select will be flush with advertising, with weekday editions extending well beyond 100 pages, and Sunday papers exponentially larger.

That all went away with the rise of the commercial internet in 1994-1995 -- slowly at first, and then stunningly fast. Who needs a daily newspaper when you can find products and services through a quick online search for exactly what you need? And what compels small businesses to advertise in a print newspaper when they’ve migrated their marketing efforts to channels with more obvious ROI?

So I was interested to see last week when the McClatchy Company, which operates 29 daily newspapers, including the Miami Herald, TheKansas City Star and TheSacramento Bee, teamed up with a data company to enhance its lead-generation capability.

Working with the B2B data-intelligence firm Bombora, McClatchy gets what Bombora is calling a “first-of-its-kind service” that will align McClatchy’s influential nationwide network with dynamic market intelligence to help marketers connect with business prospects and pull them into the sales funnel.

The service connects marketers with in-market businesses that are demonstrating mid-funnel purchase intent. It allows marketers to optimize targeting, marketing budgets, and tactics.

Using Bombora’s analytics suite, McClatchy can enhance its understanding of the business professionals within its audience who are visiting its sites, and leverage market intelligence to target companies that are actively demonstrating buying intent.

“This is a key differentiator for B2B marketers because they will be able to engage in-market buyers with relevant content as they research and evaluate solutions,” the press release said. “Publishers such as McClatchy can take the guesswork out of B2B marketing by identifying intent and driving active demand into the sales funnel.”

McClatchy CEO Tony Hunter said the partnership with Bombora enables a game-changing lead-sourcing solution for B2B marketers within its served communities. “Our exclusive digital audience, enriched using proprietary Bombora B2B intent data, will deliver 3 times to 5 times greater impact than the market average, creating a competitive advantage for our marketing clients,” Hunter said. “This new offering is another step in our digital transformation.”