Digital media opportunities explored at GLMV breakfast

Mundelein Tuesday 01.17.12. Lance Adeszko, Sun-Times Media Vice President - Digital Advertising, speaks during a GLMV Chamber of Commerce and Sun-Times Media Group joint breakfast event on Tuesday, January 17, 2012, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Mundelein. | Buzz Orr~Sun-Times Media

MUNDELEIN — Digital media is giving local businesses the ability to market themselves in ways never dreamed of 20 years ago.

Officials from Sun-Times Media spoke about “Local Advertising in the Digital Age” at a breakfast meeting of the GLMV Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. About 65 people attended at the Doubletree Hotel in Mundelein.Rick Surkamer, president and chief operating officer of Sun-Times Media, said in addition to the company’s many newspapers throughout the Chicagoland region — including the Chicago Sun-Times, Pioneer Press newspapers and the Lake County News-Sun — the Sun-Times Media network has a large and growing digital audience.

In Lake County, the company’s network boosts a monthly print and on-line readership of 343,690. In the Libertyville, Mundelein and Vernon Hills area, monthly print and on-line readership is estimated at more than 30,000, Surkamer said.

“All of these areas are very important to us,” said Surkamer, who grew up in Libertyville.

Lance Adeszko, vice president of digital advertising for Sun-Times Media, said readers are increasingly getting their information from a variety of media sources, including traditional print media as well as via computers, cellphones, mobile devices and tablets.

In 2011, the amount of time people spent on mobile devices increased by 30 percent, and the time they spent on the Internet was up 7.7 percent, he said. Adeszko said more people are using mobile devices to look up content online and more than 60 percent of mobile content is local.

“Mobile is big every day of the week,” he said.

For advertisers, that means more opportunities to reach customers through a variety of digital sources.

Brian Garrigan, local sales manager for Sun-Times Media, said some of the new marketing options available to businesses are banner display ads that are posted on media Web sites, as well as targeted online banner ads based on demographic, geographic or other factors.

Other digital advertising options include targeted email blasts that are sent out to a list of people with promotional messages from local businesses, and search engine marketing, where paid ads are placed next to Web sites based on keyword searches.

Alese Campbell, executive director of the GLMV Chamber of Commerce, said the meeting was a chance for local businesses to learn about new digital marketing options.

“I thought it was a fantastic opportunity for the Chamber members to get exposure and education on all the different media options that are available,” she said. “I think the seminar got businesses to look at that it may not be feasible anymore to use just one type of advertising for their business.”