The Lansing Journal is the only newspaper serving Lansing, Illinois, a diverse town of about 29,000 people. We keep our community informed and connected by reporting, publishing, and delivering local news every day. Hiring team members who are committed to that purpose — no matter what position they hold — is important to us.
We are also interested in hiring local because we build relationships with the people we serve, and those relationships make us distinct from larger media.
Before applying with The Lansing Journal, learn more about us:
Now hiring: Local Sales Creative
Job description posted 10/14/23
Location: Lansing, Illinois
Commitment: Part-time (at least for now), 10–12 hours per week and you’ll need to be available during business hours
Wage: Baseline salary of $1,000/month plus 20% commission
Are you good at listening to potential customers and then matching solutions to their needs? Could you create new products or messaging to serve customers even better? That’s the kind of person The Lansing Journal is looking for.
We didn’t post this as a “Salesperson” or “Sales Associate” job because we don’t want the stereotypical salesman that people try to avoid at Chamber of Commerce gatherings. We want someone who can develop B-to-B and B-to-C relationships that are pleasant — maybe even joyful — as well as mutually profitable.
The main responsibility: Ad sales
As a Sales Creative, you’ll be familiar with the wide variety of digital ad formats available to our local businesses, and you’ll have the freedom to manage the digital ad zones on our website so they (1) serve our advertisers well, (2) inform our readers without being intrusive, and (3) generate the revenue this newspaper needs in order to continue delivering daily news to our community.
- We’ll teach you how to use Broadstreet Ad Manager to create, position, and schedule ads
- We’ll encourage you to try your hand at designing banner ads if you want
- We’ll depend on you to set up a calendar of which ads are in which zones on which days, so you don’t oversell zones or miss revenue opportunities
- We’ll introduce you to current advertisers and also encourage you to develop new contacts and prospects who need The Lansing Journal’s help in getting their message in front of people
Most of your ad sales will be digital, but occasionally we publish a print edition of The Lansing Journal, and you’ll have the opportunity to sell print ads for that.
A growing opportunity: Merch sales
The Lansing Journal has been developing merchandise as a new source of revenue — t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, and other low-cost items that celebrate life in Lansing. We’d love it if our Sales Creative could develop the market for these items and increase sales. And this is another opportunity to suggest new products and new designs that attract new customers and align with The Lansing Journal brand.
In addition we have a few higher-end products — News Keepsakes — that require a more hands-on approach in order to generate the sale and in some cases walk the customer through the order process. We’ll help you with those, but eventually you’ll be confident enough to manage those product relationships on your own.
Expectations for this role
The way our digital ads are priced, and the number of zones currently available on our website makes it possible to sell up to $7,000 in ads each month. We’d love to see you hit that mark consistently.
Merch sales are a new venture for us, and without a dedicated sales person we’ve managed to see $500/month in profit for the past two months. Could you double or triple that consistently? We’d love that.
Curious about the Sales Creative role? Introduce yourself!
Send an email to [email protected] and let us know how you can help The Lansing Journal grow. If you have references, share them. If you don’t have previous sales experience, let us know what other work or life experience you have that might be even better preparation for success.
Always hiring: Local reporters
Do you have the skills and interest to report local news that impacts Lansing, Illinois? Are you interested in full-time or freelance opportunities? Contact [email protected] to begin the conversation, or complete the form below:
We have a particular need for coverage of these beats:
- Local government (mainly Village Board and Thornton Township Board)
- Education, including Thornton Fractional High School District 215, Elementary School District 158, and/or Sunnybrook School District 171