Will share sales and marketing expertise
Russ Martineau, vice president of sales and marketing for Willamette Week until he was asked to resign last week, announces today the formation of a new sales and marketing consulting company, Ad Director.com.
The new venture will specialize in wor king with alternative weeklies, suburban weeklies and with major market, niche programming, radio stations. Martineau says these kinds of media companies share a common customer base: small to medium-sized independent retail and service companies.
“Mo st people end up in management positions without much formal training,” Martineau says in a news release. “It’s the old sink-or-swim management training program. Running the day-to-day sales operation is a big job that o ften leaves little time for the dev elopment of bold new revenue opportunities and thoughtful, consistent sales training.”
Ad Director.com will provide personal sales management coaching and sales staff development, as well as a subscripti on-based Web site. In additio n, it will offer advertising and marketing consulting services directly to small and medium-sized retail and service companies in the Portland, Ore., area.
“I have a particular affection and empathy for small independent business owners who battle for survival in today’s big-box retail world, Martineau says. “My experience has shown me that many small business over-spend in one media while fearing to try something new. Other companies spre ad their advertising dollars in too many media and end up with no impact in any media.”
Martineau resigned last week as president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies board of directors. Former Vice President Bill Towler has rep laced him.
Martineau became ad director at Willamette Week in February 1992 and later became a co-owner of City of Roses Newspaper Co., which owns Willamette Week and the Santa Fe Reporter.
Before joining Willamette Week, Martineau was general sal es manager for several radio stations in the Portland and California markets…
