Merrill Corporation buys a dozen ads at far below the going market rate in JCR Court Reporting Listings

[Bill Parsons]

Just thought it might be of interest to forum readers that Merrill Corporation bought a dozen new JCR Court Reporting Listing ads in the May issue of JCR.

Those dozen new ads were as follows:

1. Alabama
2. California
3. District of Columbia
4. Georgia
5. Illinois
6. Massachusetts
7. Mississippi
8. New York
9. Pennsylvania
10. Texas
11. Washington
12. Asia

The NCRA board of directors has said those JCR Court Reporter Listing ads must be sold at below their market value or else the advertisers would cancel their ads, and that, after all, the NCRA board of directors giving low ad rates is merely helping NCRA members who are freelance agency owners.

I said I wish average non-freelance agency owner members could get some preferential treatment and such a wonderful benefit as is given freelance agency owners, a benefit worth far more than any dues those freelance agency owners pay.

I have always said what about the poor average NCRA members who must have their dues raised to cover revenue shortfalls while the NCRA board is discounting ad prices as a special favor to freelance agencies, some of whose owners are NCRA members and some of whose owners are not NCRA members.

Anybody check? Is Merrill Corporation a member of NCRA to benefit from ads sold below their market value?

Bill Parsons

[C Cipolla]

"pay through the nose" LOL!

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Haha!
Well, Cipolla... They will have to pay through the nose, they get a bunch from you guys and they dont seem to be doing much with it.
I dont think NCRA will ever ever call us.

Monti

[C Cipolla]

Hmm... the Internet is the great equalizer... if everyone shares this website with all their friends, when this place gets bigger, NCRA might want to place an ad here... (calls for speculation) ;)

[Bill Parsons]

Hi Monti,

Checked my data. I paid $253 to publish the non-profit Blessing for Court Reporters since it was banned from publication in JCR Magazine.

My $253 ad was smaller than the space taken up by profit-making freelance agencies buying 1/12 page display ads in the Journal of Court Reporting.

Also, the responses from the JCR classified ads have never justified their costs.

The JCR classified ad section is a very, very poor way to market anything to the court reporting profession, but the officials at NCRA consider those worth as much as gold.

NCRA board and staff know nothing, but that doesn't stop them from setting policies that are totally against the best interests of the membership.

Why isn't there a Market Place ad section in JCR Magazine with small reasonably priced ads?

The reason there will never be a Market Place ad section with reasonably priced ads is because the NCRA board and staff could care less.

Their attitude is always "Take it or leave it. We offer you 1/6 page display ads. Be happy."

Best Regards, Bill

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Thanks Bill, I have no idea how the NCRA functions and frankly I am not sure if advertising there would have benefited us much anyway, google works fine.
I was also told (even checked it myself) that the NCRA launched their own "social network" for reporters.
I shouldn't mention it here, but there you go :P

The great thing about not getting paid is that you have no competition.

[Bill Parsons]

Hi Monti,

NCRA blew you off because it is more of the same old story, extreme poor customer service for those who aren't considered important.

You, Monti, cannot buy a 1/12 display ad in the Journal of Court Reporting. Only freelance agencies are allowed that bonus feature.

Monti, the smallest sized ad you would be allowed to purchase in JCR Magazine would be a 1/6 page ad costing $415.

Monti, for you to buy a classified ad NCRA would charge you more for the same space taken up than it charges to freelance agencies purchasing 1/12 page ads in the JCR Court Reporter Directory.

As I recall, I paid $230 to publish the Blessing for Court Reporters in the JCR classified ad section while profit making freelance agencies were paying $100 for 1/12 page ads.

If you don't have power and political connections in NCRA, you can absolutely forget getting a fair deal on the ad prices.

Best Regards, Bill

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

Hello Bill,
I just like to say that I don't think its Merrills fault if they managed to get a good deal, its simply business.

Kelli and I literally begged the NCRA to let us advertise on their site and they completely blew us of.
in fact, kelli was so offended... well, lets just say we never called them back again and went with good ol google.