quality sells

Quality is the most important part of any product; that's why I work hard to make the newspapers I edit be good reflections, voices, watchdogs and forums of the communities they serve.

I've also made it a point from the beginning to solicit columns from local leaders and other residents with a view in order to boost the community involvement in the paper. That's an unending struggle, and it's not one I'm likely to stop until I finally leave the news business and get a job that pays a living wage.

I can't speak for other businesses, but my experience as a weekly newspaper editor has been that the circulation department often has a good sense of what our communities think of our papers, and that's in no small part to the on-staff telemarketers. Readers complain when we neglect their segment of the population, and they also let us know when we've hit the nail on the head -- and again, that's usually done through the telemarketing.

You don't need to convince me that most telemarketing calls are annoying. We've been getting two or three a day ever since Alan Greenspan lowered the interest rates to -5 percent, offering to refinance our mortgage for us.

The problem is that for good or ill -- I would be inclined to say for ill -- telemarketing has become an important and relatively affordable way for small businesses to boost their visibility over a prolonged period. With no-call registries growing in popularity, I'm hopeful business will find less noxious ways to promote themselves, which of course, was the entire point of starting this thread.

The question, of course, is whether quality will be enough for a small business like The Quakertown Eagle in a landscape dominated by The Newark Star-Ledger and The Home News and Tribune, or for a Jazams toy store in an industry overrun by Wal-Marts and Toys "R" Us box stores.