Auburnplainsman

Kaylie Sautter 24 January 2014 Best Ad Manager Contest Management Philosophy I believe good management comes from structure, persistence, and a positive attitude that ultimately improves the goal of the company as well as the goals of the employees. A good manager brings out the best in her staff and herself.

Success, to me, is the end of a road that has yet to be mapped. It always changes and is different to everyone. I refuse to be satisfied, that’s why I continue to strive to be the best. I let my account executives define their success to me. They say they want to learn the business, so I teach them. They say they want to make money, so I provide them the tools and help lead them to their own success.

However, sometimes it is hard to keep up with the high expectations of a student Account Executive. My first problem to solve as an Ad Manager was employee turnover.

This had been a notorious problem for The Auburn Plainsman, way before I was employed. Sales reps came and went because they found selling to be too hard or couldn’t handle the stress of working part-time while in school. In my personal experience, this was never an issue. I’ve spent almost every semester with either a job or in a leadership position in an organization. I couldn’t fathom that students didn’t care to work hard in order to gain experience, money, and a good recommendation for future employers. Ad reps would disappear into thin air, never to be heard from again, leaving behind numerous accounts and very confused managers.

This is initially why I wanted to be the Ad Manager. I have a very hard time with sitting back and watching something break when I believe I have what it takes to be fixed.

I wanted to boost the management by providing my own personal experience and leadership as guidance to these students as a boss, but more importantly as a friend. I know what they need in order to stay. I know what they want: money to make up for the number of hours they put in. I started a scheduled, structured training process with my own designed handouts, modeled from my own experience and education as a Marketing major. I take everything I learn and teach my reps all that I know – showing them how to make money and make use of their time in the office.

In every weekly sales and one-on-one meeting, I bring these concepts to the table with motivational videos and always some baked goods as rewards. These tactics proved to work when after five weeks of working at The Auburn Plainsman, one of my ad reps surpassed our general manager and me in sales for our last issue of the semester and told us she was excited to work another semester. This was such a great accomplishment for her and me as well, knowing that I helped her reach her own idea of success. Yet, even with this accomplishment, I still wasn’t satisfied. I wanted more reps to find their success.

I implemented a new office hours system – a management process that guarantees their

time in the office, which is always more productive than work at home. This strategy also proves to get them better acquainted with the real meaning of our sales, the newspaper.

Not only do I want my ad reps to feel successful, I want The Auburn Plainsman to be successful. However, as the way of success goes, this is very hard to achieve, especially for a newspaper in our digital age. This was the second problem I wanted to solve. I focused more sales towards our Special Sections, like Graduation and the GameDay issues. These were always bread-winners for the paper, but I wanted them to produce even more revenue. I also wanted to improve the product that we sold. Our number one objection was “no one reads newspapers anymore.” Nowadays, people read their news online, on mobile apps, and on social media. So I decided to give them something to which they can’t object. We launched The Plainsman’s very first social media advertising outlet on December 12th, 2013 with our Twitter site under the name of Plainsman Promos. Our first ad on the site ran January 20th, a month later. I innovated a completely new concept and successfully sold it after only a month of its launch, with more interest from advertisers in line. Now we handle that objection with a new piece of our ratecard that features information on social media advertising. I added to our traditional advertising in order to keep up with modern trends and the needs of our accounts.

The most challenging part of being an Ad Manager, even after all of the objections, disappointing sales revenues, and turnovers, is the fact that the whole student sales force is on my watch and under my instruction. This can be daunting for some, but a challenge I accept because I know I can help my school newspaper remain in our distribution racks. Our ad department is the sole proprietor of the paper, and in a traditional culture like the Auburn University campus, a physical newspaper should be present. After putting in hard work for this semester, our sales revenues have already improved with only three issues under our belt and a fourth issue with a special section coming up next week - of which we have tripled the sales from last year’s. And as I said before about my perpetual dissatisfaction, I still want to improve our product. We are currently in the process of tweaking the image and brand of the paper to attract more readers – my next exciting challenge!

I will leave you with a quote that is marked on my Ad Team whiteboard and also hangs on my desk. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” This Vince Lombardi quote exemplifies my philosophy of management.

There are some ups and a lot of downs, and the true reward of success is unknown, but we still do our best in order to help our campus newspaper and businesses reach the Auburn University students.

January 24, 2014 CNBAM Advertising Contest Re: Recommendation for Kaylie Sautter / Best Advertising Manager entry Dear judges, It is my pleasure to submit this letter of recommendation for Kaylie Sautter, advertising manager at The Auburn Plainsman at Auburn University.

I am a long-time member of CNBAM and have attended many awards banquets. I always take time at conventions to review award entries, so I am familiar with the high quality and impressive achievements of students who enter the personnel award categories. Many have devoted two or more years to their campus newspaper. By comparison, Kaylie’s tenure has been brief, but her accomplishments are no less remarkable.

Kaylie joined The Plainsman ad staff in May 2013 as a designer. After observing student sales activity, she asked to join the sales staff and became an account executive the following month.

Summer is a tough time to launch a sales career at a campus newspaper, but Kaylie thrived. She put in long hours, assumed responsibility for account lists of reps who left for the summer, generated new accounts of her own, and spearheaded promotions for the Fall Welcome Back edition and fall GameDay football issues.

I worked closely with Kaylie and noted two impressive qualities: • She is very focused on what we do -- the quality of the newspaper and website, and the role advertising plays, specifically generating revenue, providing information to readers, and affording local businesses a means of reaching the campus market. She genuinely cares about The Plainsman and our organization.

• Kaylie is personally ambitious, goal-oriented, and strives for professionalism. She is motivated by commission. She is competitive – with other account reps and with surpassing past sales levels – yet unselfish; she recognizes the benefit of both individual and team success.

Largely because of Kaylie’s personal qualities, I was open to her request to assume the role of Advertising Manager in October.

To understand Kaylie’s accomplishments, it helps to know something about The Plainsman ad department’s recent history. When I was hired at Auburn in Fall 2010, the newspaper was still dealing with turmoil from the previous two years. There had been no full-time professional

manager during that time, so advertising activities were coordinated by a student business manager. During my tenure as general manager, we have experienced extremely high turnover among student account executives. Only once has a student persevered long enough to gain sufficient experience to advance to a manager position. So I had some trepidation when Kaylie asked to be considered for Advertising Manager after only five months on staff.

My concerns have proven to be unfounded. Kaylie’s desire to be manager were driven by her recognition of the need for leadership and her confidence that she could assume that role.

Since October, Kaylie has accomplished the following: • Hired and trained three new account executives • Created a more structured work environment, including weekly staff meetings and oneon-one meetings with sales reps • Created and managed account assignments for sales reps, while still working with some of her own established accounts • Created and implemented social media advertising through Plainsman Promos twitter account • Worked with our design staff to create new sales materials, ratecards and other promotions • Participated in installation, training and transition to use of new advertising software (none existed before – everything was still done on paper) • Established strong working relationships with editor and full-time office manager And, of course, Kaylie works closely with me to set sales goals, explore new revenue opportunities, address problems, and contribute ideas as part of the management team.

If the standard for Best Advertising Manager is the positive impact a student manager has exerted within the organization, Kaylie is an excellent candidate. I urge you to give her full consideration. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or want additional information.

Best wishes as you manage the 2014 awards, and I look forward to seeing all the winners in Austin!

Sincerely,

Judy Riedl General Manager The Auburn Plainsman

K AY L I E S A U T T E R

Katherine Leslie Sautter Phone: 843-709-3493 E-Mail: kls0034@tigermail.auburn.edu / ksautter2121@gmail.com

E D U C AT I O N Auburn University // Harbert College of Business, BA in Marketing Graduating May 2014

R E L E VA N T W O R K E X P E R I E N C E Advertising Account Manager // The Auburn Plainsman

October 2013 - Present ◊ Supervise student account executives and design staff ◊ Lead weekly sales team meetings and regular individual one-on-one meetings with account executives ◊ Create and assign sales territories; prospect and assign advertising leads ◊ Monitor all sales activities; track revenue; set sales goals; devise and lead incentive programs ◊ Work with Office Manager to monitor payroll and accounting services ◊ Work with General Manager to set and meet budget goals, implement policies, manage ad department ◊ Monitor relationships with advertisers; meet with advertisers, as needed

Advertising Account Executive // The Auburn Plainsman

June 2013 - October 2013 ◊ Sold the highest number of sales in comparison to the other four advertising reps ◊ Spent only a week in training, made higher sales than those employed a semester longer than me ◊ Showed management skills in my communication and producing with accounts and production ◊ Prospected for new accounts locally and nationally ◊ Worked closely and built relationships with advertisers, handled multiple businesses every day ◊ Produced promotional advertising campaigns for accounts with contracts and continuously running ads ◊ Maximized the amount of accounts per each issue, particulary special editions

Social Media Coordinator // Student Government Association

September 2012 – February 2013 ◊ Social Media Coordinator for Harrison Mills’ campaign, candidate for SGA President ◊ Led all social media sites to promote his campaign ◊ Directed numerous, small photo shoots of the candidate to use for gimmicks ◊ Harrison Mills won the election

Publicity Director // Greek Week 2012

January 2012 - January 2013 ◊ Spearheaded promotion of the annual Greek Week fundraising event that benefits the Boys and Girls Club ◊ Managed social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook) ◊ Distributed outdoor advertising for event throughout campus and Auburn, AL ◊ Managed a committee of 30 students ◊ Worked closely with restaurants and other businesses to promote and sponsor the event

ACTIVITIES Member of the Auburn University Marketing Association Volunteer 2011-2013 for Big Event »» Served as Team Captain for two years and held a position on the Social Media Committee Member of Alpha Chi Omega 2010-2013 »» Served as T-Shirt Chair 2011-2012 References provided upon request

Fall 2013 Special Sections 2013

Past Special Sections Actual

GameDay 8/29 vs. WSU 9/5 vs. Ark.St. 9/12 vs. Miss. St. 10/3 vs. Ole Miss 10/10 vs. W. Carolina (HC) 10/24 vs. FAU 11/14 vs. Georgia 11/21 vs. Alabama (Iron Bowl)

Goal

Actual 2013

$3,000.00 $2,500.00 $3,500.00 $3,500.00 $3,000.00 $2,500.00 $3,500.00 $6,500.00

$1,757.50 $1,328.50 $1,328.50 $2,921.00 $2,336.00 $2,433.50 $2,180.00 $3,181.00

GameDay 1 GameDay 2 GameDay 3 GameDay 4 GameDay 5 GameDay 6 Iron Bowl (vs. Alabama) Totals

Graduation 12/5 - Graduation Totals

$3,997.50 $28,000.00

$21,463.50

Actual 2012 $3,704.00 $2,899.00 $3,354.00 $2,509.00 $3,012.75

2011 $2,520.00 $3,867.50 $3,070.00

$8,532.50 $15,478.75

$17,990.00

The Auburn Plainsman

Spring 2014 Date/Edition

Goal

Sales

Difference

8-Jan

$6,500.00

$7,138.05

15-Jan

$6,500.00

$1,648.75

22-Jan

$2,800.00

$4,078.80

Goal

Sales

2013 Sales

$638.05

2012 Sales

2011 Sales

$6,350.38

$7,762.98

($4,851.25)

$6,462.75

$6,858.50

$6,937.50

$1,278.80

$2,196.30

$4,569.35

$4,012.95

$1,700.00

$5,270.00

$4,024.75

$2,833.00

$4,741.83

$4,497.90

$0.00

Renters Guide

$3,474.00 BCS

$4,500.00

($4,500.00)

29-Jan

$5,900.00

($5,900.00)

5-Feb

$3,000.00

($3,000.00)

$2,937.30

$6,133.90

$6,624.40

12-Feb

$2,900.00

($2,900.00)

$2,806.60

$2,778.80

$4,901.55

$1,131.00

$2,452.50

$3,259.50

$3,197.33

$4,641.85

$4,358.75

$4,077.45

$6,700.73

$6,993.80

The Food Issue

$0.00

Jan Total:

$26,200.00

$12,865.60

$0.00

19-Feb

$3,200.00

($3,200.00)

26-Feb

$4,100.00

($4,100.00)

5-Mar

$3,600.00

($3,600.00)

$3,513.40

$9,700.05

$5,519.43

The Fashion Issue

Feb Total:

$13,200.00

$0.00

$1,400.00

($1,400.00)

$1,365.00

$1,824.50

$3,221.25

19-Mar

$4,050.00

($4,050.00)

$4,019.05

$6,344.05

$7,431.45

26-Mar

$2,800.00

($2,800.00)

$2,427.15

$6,464.10

$5,141.40

2-Apr

$4,750.00

($4,750.00)

$4,708.00

$4,314.33

$6,216.95

9-Apr

$5,400.00

($5,400.00)

$5,392.40

$8,072.98

$4,745.10

16-Apr

$7,400.00

($7,400.00)

$7,355.50

$9,315.10

$7,799.20

$5,800.00

($5,800.00)

$5,748.50

$5,801.25

$6,285.50

$6,800.00

($6,800.00)

$6,726.28

$7,486.10

$9,247.85

$3,000.00

($3,000.00)

A-day 23-Apr Graduation

$84,400.00 8%

1/13/14

JR

$12,865.60 -88%

2010 Sales

$7,464.00

March Total:

April Total:

$11,850.00

$30,150.00

$0.00

$0.00

$2,951.00

$71,534.40

$77,898.39 Semester Total:

$84,400.00

Goal Needed:

($71,534.40)

$12,865.60

-30%

$111,232.90 -1%

$112,157.23

$8,440.00