Newspaper advertising serves Boone-area businesses by enabling them to communicate with the readers of the student newspaper at Appalachian State University about products and services of interest to students, faculty, and staff. Advertising also serves readers by informing them of available products and services, building good will between the business community and its customers, and providing a source of income for the newspaper. Therefore, the life’s blood of The Appalachian is its business and advertising department.

The Appalachian business/advertising department is charged with generating the revenue necessary to produce a quality newspaper. Advertising sales for The Appalachian are important because the student newspaper must operate within the parameters established by the Division of Student Development which mandate that the newspaper’s expenses must not exceed revenues.

The business office of the student newspaper must also devise special advertising promotions (including, if appropriate, special rates) for the start of school, homecoming, Family Weekend, holidays, fall and spring breaks, the ski season, camping and hiking, etc. These special advertising promotions must be approved by the editor-in-chief and the Director of Student Publications prior to the commencement of sales.

Advertising sales are important to the smooth functioning of the student newspaper. Each year, it is the goal of the newspaper staff to produce the student newspaper in a revenue/expense neutral manner. Although the newspaper is not self-supporting, in that the newspaper uses facilities provided by the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership and enjoys support services provided by the Center, the goal is to generate revenues which cover expenses for the year. These expenses include payments to a commercial printer and supplies for the computer system, laser printers, and offices. In addition, revenues generated by advertising sales must provide the funding necessary to pay student workers (editors, reporters, photographers, typesetters, designers, etc.).

Revenue for the student newspaper comes from advertising sales. The Appalachian sells advertising in display and classified formats. For display advertising, three rates are used: campus, local, and national. Display advertising charged at the campus rate is allowed for any department of Appalachian State University and for student organizations under the auspices of these University departments (which can provide a budget code from which the student newspaper can receive direct budget transfer through the University bookkeeping system). Clubs and organizations recognized by the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership within the division of Student Development are also allowed to advertise at a rate slightly higher than the campus rate.

The campus rate is the lowest of the three offered by The Appalachian and is structured to allow campus groups and organizations an affordable means of placing information before the students, faculty, and staff of Appalachian State University.

Display advertising charged at the local rate is more expensive than the campus rate. This rate is charged all local, off-campus businesses, groups, and organizations desiring to place advertising in the student newspaper.

Display advertising charged at the national rate is the most expensive of the three rates. All non-local, off-campus businesses, groups, and organizations (principally the major advertising agencies handling national accounts desiring to reach campus readers) will be instructed as to what our fixed net national rate is.

The fixed net national rate is that rate which The Appalachian will be paid for all national advertising. The national advertising agencies will adjust their rates charged to their clients to set their gross national rate. The student newspaper has adopted the fixed net national rate as a means to simplify its bookkeeping, billing, and collections procedures.

The Appalachian also offers classified advertising to clients. ALL CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING IS ACCEPTED CASH IN ADVANCE. NO OUT-OF-TOWN PERSONAL CHECKS CAN BE ACCEPTED FOR ADVANCED PAYMENT OF CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING, AND ALL CHECKS MUST CLEAR THE BANK UPON WHICH IT WAS DRAWN BEFORE ADVERTISING WILL BE PLACED.

CREDIT
Unless an advertiser (campus, local, or national) has approved credit with The Appalachian, all advertising must be prepaid. The Director of Student Publications is solely responsible for approving credit, and no new accounts will be billed for advertising unless approved by the Director. Neither the business manager of The Appalachian, nor any sales representative for the student newspaper has authority to grant credit to any potential advertiser. Failure to obtain credit approval from the Director for Student Publications for any account prior to running advertising for credit is grounds for dismissal from the staff of the student newspaper.

Sales representatives will provide all potential advertisers desiring credit with an application form, which when completed will be placed on file with the Director of Student Publications until a check of the applicant’s credit history is obtained. To establish credit, all new accounts must have been in business in Boone/Watauga County for at least one year and have prepaid at least three advertisements. Prepayments must total at least $200. 00. The credit application must be completed and approved by the Director of Student Publications before prepayments are no longer required. There is no waiver of the one-year in business rule, unless the account is with a regional or national franchise or other company which will handle billing from corporate headquarters outside Boone/Watauga County .

Once a decision on credit has been made, the Director of Student Publications will notify the business manager for the student newspaper, who will then notify the advertiser, in writing, of the decision (positive or negative) and instruct the appropriate sales representative. The business manager will also inform the office of Student Development of the decision and provide that office with the correct company name, a contact person responsible for authorizing payments for advertising, a correct mailing address, telephone number, and any limits placed on the account as to how much credit will be available.

The business manager will determine, in consultation with the Director of Student Publications, an appropriate level of credit for each applicant. This should be an amount equal to but not exceeding one month of advertising in The Appalachian based on previous advertising history. All credit accounts have 30 days from billing to pay in full for the advertising they have purchased. NO ACCOUNT WILL BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE ADVERTISING IN THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER WITH AN OUTSTANDING BALANCE MORE THAN 30 DAYS BEYOND PUBLICATION OR TO EXCEED THE ESTABLISHED CREDIT LIMIT WITHOUT THE WRITTEN APPROVAL OF THE DIRECTOR OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS.

All credit accounts will be reviewed prior to the start of each new publication year. Credit status will be renewed, provided the credit customer did not fail to pay an outstanding balance within the credit guidelines during the previous year. Renewal of credit status is solely at the discretion of the Director of Student Publications.
PLEASE NOTE: NO CLUB, FRATERNITY, SORORITY OR OTHER CAMPUS ORGANIZATION WILL BE APPROVED FOR CREDIT FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES. ALL ADVERTISING SOLD TO SUCH ORGANIZATIONS WILL BE CASH-IN-ADVANCE AND NO PERSONAL CHECKS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

COLLECTION POLICY
All credit accounts are provided an invoice by the office of Student Development upon the publication of their advertising. The office of Student Development bills each credit account monthly with statements mailed shortly after the first of each month and with monthly reports made to the business manager of The Appalachian, the Director of Student Publications, and the Director for the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership.

All billed accounts are then due by the first business day of the following month. Accounts which exceed this 30-day cycle are identified for collection: first by the sales staff of the student newspaper, then, if that effort fails, by the Director of Student Publications. Accounts which remain unpaid for 90 days are turned over to the office of the University Attorney at the discretion of the Director for Student Publications and the Director for the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership.

Any credit approved account which is paid by bad check will have credit approval revoked by The Appalachian and will only be reinstated upon the approval of the Director of Student Publications. The business manager is required to report all returned checks to the Director and to initiate immediate efforts to collect the amount due and the bad check fee.

BAD CHECK POLICY
Any account paid by check which is returned for insufficient funds, etc., by the bank upon which the check is drawn, will be frozen by The Appalachian until such time as the check is paid in cash, bank draft, or federal money order, and a $20.00 bad check fee is paid. This fee is set to cover the fee charged the University by the bank and additional costs incurred by the University and the Office of Student Publications in collecting the outstanding account. Until such payment is received, all advertising privileges in the student newspaper will be revoked, and credit status with the student newspaper will be terminated.

BUSINESS MANAGER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
The business manager of The Appalachian holds the following responsibilities:
•Assemble a staff of at least five sales representatives, two office assistants, and a circulation manager;
•Conduct training sessions for sales representatives, office assistants, and the circulation manager prior to the first newspaper of the publication year; to hold a weekly training session for sales representatives to cover such topics as how to make cold calls, how to close a sale, etc.; and to work with the Director of Student Publications in arranging for speakers to address the ad sales team at least twice each semester.
•Oversee the daily business activity of The Appalachian;

The business manager, upon appointment by the Director of Student Publications, should initiate a recruiting drive (utilizing the College of Business and the Department of Communication, as well as other campus sources like University jobs boards, the newspaper, and video text) to attract a pool of student applicants wishing to become sales representatives for the student newspaper. From this pool of applicants, the business manager, upon consultation with the Director of Student Publications, will, after all applicants have been interviewed by the business manager, the editor-in-chief, and Student Publications Production manager, select and hire the five most qualified students. The business manager will also hire two office assistants, following the same procedure for interviewing student applicants. The business manager is also required to develop a list of potential sales representatives (students who have expressed an interest in the student newspaper sales staff and who can be hired quickly should a vacancy occur).

Upon selecting the sales and office staff, the business manger, in cooperation with the Director of Student Publications, will design and set in motion a continuing program of training for the student sales representatives and office assistants. The training should introduce all sales representatives and office assistants to the procedures to be followed in their careers with the Office of Student Publications and the student newspaper. Sales territories will be assigned and each representative will be introduced to the major advertisers from the previous year to insure that a smooth transition from a departing sales representative to a new representative will occur. Office assistants will receive instruction in office/telephone procedures as established by the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, and in the procedures to be followed to keep the business office of The Appalachian in compliance with standard business practices as required by Appalachian State University and the State of North Carolina.
The business manager, ultimately, is responsible for the daily flow of activity in the business office. The business office is responsible for the collection of payments for all advertising and each day must provide a detailed accounting to the Director of Student Publications. All receipts (cash or checks) must be properly receipted and deposited with the Cashier’s Office by 4 p.m. each business day. Any cash or checks received after 4 p.m. must be receipted and placed under lock until the start of business the next business day, at which time it will be deposited with the Cashier’s Office. AT NO TIME WILL CASH OR CHECKS COLLECTED PRIOR TO 4 P.M. BE ALLOWED TO REMAIN UNDEPOSITED AT THE CASHIER’S OFFICE, NOR ARE STUDENTS ALLOWED TO TAKE CHECKS OR CASH FROM THE OFFICE TO KEEP OVERNIGHT BEFORE DEPOSITING SAID CHECKS OR CASH WITH THE CASHIER’S OFFICE. SUCH ACTION IS GROUNDS FOR DISMISSAL.

Deposits to be made at the Cashier’s Office require the appropriately completed receipts for each transaction (using the receipt book provided the student newspaper by the Cashier’s Office) and two adding machine tapes for the total checks and cash in the deposit. All checks to be deposited must be stamped in the appropriate spot with the legend: FOR DEPOSIT/THE APPALACHIAN. The receipt book, the two adding machine tapes, and the cash and checks will be taken to the Cashier’s Office, where a University receipt for the deposit will be stapled into the receipt book. IT IS A VIOLATION OF STATE AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES FOR THE RECEIPT BOOK TO CONTAIN COMPLETED RECEIPTS FOR CASH OR CHECKS WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN DEPOSITED ON THE DATE OF THE RECEIPT.

When all receipts in the University provided receipt book have been used, the book and all University deposit receipts will be retained by the Cashier’s Office and a new book issued to The Appalachian. In the event a receipt must be voided, the white, yellow and pink copies of the receipt must remain attached in the deposit book with the word VOID clearly written across each copy. It is the responsiblity of the business manager to make copies of each page in the receipt book and to keep these copies on file for the student newspaper’s business records. When a receipt is written, the white copy may be given to the advertiser. The yellow copy remains in the book until the deposit is made with the Cashier’s Office at which time it is taken from the book and retained by the University. The pink copy remains with the book. Payments received through the mail have receipts written, except the white copy is retained by the business office until provided to the Office of Student Development. The Office of Student Development will use either the white copy of the receipt or a photostat copy of the receipt to reconcile credit accounts prior to the next billing cycle. It is the responsibility of the business manager to insure that as each deposit is made with the Cashier’s Office, appropriate receipts or copies of receipts are turned into the Office of Student Development for posting.

The business manager also is responsible for provision of a copy of the advertising registers for each edition of The Appalachian to the Office of Student Development, copies of all receipts for credit payments and the company name, address, contact person and telephone number for all new approved credit accounts. These registers include all display advertising in that particular edition, all classified advertising for that particular edition, and provide details such as whether the account is credit or paid and at what rate it will be charged. The business manager keeps on file a copy of each advertising register (and provides another copy to the Director of Student Publications).

The advertising/business manager for the student newspaper is also responsible for providing all advertisers with tear sheets of their advertising in the pages of The Appalachian. This task is extremely important as it is required for all credit accounts and is a courtesy for all pre-paid advertising. The business manager and sales representative for each account should ascertain where such tear sheets should be mailed and to whom. After the publication of each edition of the newspaper these tearsheets should be mailed within 24 hours of publication (by noon on Wednesday and noon on Friday).

PAST DUE ACCOUNTS
Accounts are considered past due 30 days after billing by the Division of Student Development. At that time a telephone reminder followed immediately by a written reminder of the past due amount must be made by the business manager to the delinquent customer. A dated copy of that and all other notices must be filed with the records of that account. If, after 10 days no response is heard from the customer, the business manager should send a second letter, notice of payment past due. After the next 10 days, if there is no response, the business manager should contact the customer in person or by telephone and talk with them. A record of the conversation must be placed in the account file. If no payment is received within 10 days of the conversation, a final demand letter should be sent by registered mail to the customer. If this final letter does not induce payment within 10 days, the business manager should inform the Director of Student Publications of the problem and the steps taken to correct it. If the Director and the business manager are in agreement, at that time all efforts for collection will be taken by the Director for Student Publications, following procedures prescribed for Appalachian State University by the State of North Carolina. At the Director’s discretion, the matter may be placed with the Office of the University Attorney for collection. WHEN AN ACCOUNT BECOMES DELINQUENT, NO SALES ARE AUTHORIZED UNTIL THE ACCOUNT IS PAID.

AD PLACEMENT
Placement of advertising in The Appalachian is not guaranteed. The business/advertising manager may, in consultation with the editor-in-chief and the managing editor, honor requests for placement providing such placement does not violate existing policies.

ADVERTISING ACCEPTANCE POLICY
At The Appalachian, as a student publication at a state supported institution, the editor-in-chief and advertising/business manager enjoy the freedom to select and approve advertising consistent with policies established by the Student Media Board. The University, through its representatives, has authority to establish policies concerning acceptable advertising which must be observed by the editor-in-chief and business manager. The Student Media Board reserves the right to question the editor-in-chief and advertising/business manager concerning their decisions and to replace either the editor-in-chief and/or the advertising/business manager should it be deemed appropriate. Guidelines which govern the acceptance of advertising suitable for publication in The Appalachian include, but are not limited to:
1. All political advertising must be paid cash-in-advance (payment either in cash or official bank draft. No personal or business checks are acceptable for payment of political advertising). ALL POLITICAL ADVERTISING MUST COMPLY WITH APPROPRIATE STATE ELECTION LAWS .
2. Appalachian State University does not accept advertising for alcoholic beverages, except in those instances when area distributing companies choose to run advertising promoting University organizations, athletic teams, etc. , or when included in the advertising for restaurants. However, this is limited to the display of brand names or logos and not to specific products. No advertising of specific products will be accepted, and no advertising promoting “Happy Hours” and other events where alcholic beverages are sold at less than the standard daily price for that establishment will be accepted. No advertising for spirituous liquors (bourbon, scotch, etc.) is acceptable. The editor-in-chief and/or advertising/business manager are urged to check with appropriate state agencies before acceptance of any advertising which falls in these guidelines.
3. Advertising from non-recognized student organizations (that is an organization comprised of student members and named in such a way that area residents can assume the group is sponsored by the University), as defined by the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, can be accepted but such advertising must be paid at the local rate and cash-in-advance. The advertising also must bear the legend: NOT A RECOGNIZED APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT ORGANIZATION.
4. Advertising from on- or off-campus sources which would tend to create situations of hostility toward particular racial, religious, ethnic, etc. groups, or which contains slanderous or malicious language is unacceptable. The ultimate decision to accept or reject such advertising is a student decision and should be made after a careful weighing of the merits of the particular advertising. (However, the acceptance of advertising which is libelous and which places the publication at risk of legal action is grounds for dismissal.) STUDENTS SHOULD REMEMBER THAT ADVERTISING IS NOT GUARANTEED TO ALL WHO SEEK IT IN THE PAGES OF THE APPALACHIAN. ADVERTISING CAN BE REJECTED BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OR THE ADVERTISING/BUSINESS MANAGER FOR ANY REASON AND WITHOUT EXPLANATION.
5. Advertising which, in the opinion of the editor-in-chief, advertising/business manager, and/or the editorial board, is found to be beyond acceptable community standards as related to nudity, profanity, etc., is unacceptable in the pages of the student newspaper.

INSERTION ORDERS
A carbonless form called an insertion order must be completed for all ads prior to placement in The Appalachian. Information required on the insertion order includes: the publication date, name of the sales representative, size of the ad, total inches in the ad, the rate at which the ad was charged (campus, local, national), the signature of the sales representative and the client (NO INSERTION ORDER FOR ADVERTISING WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT THE CLIENT’S SIGNATURE), and the method of payment (credit, University budget code, check and check number, cash, or N/C (No Charge).

The sales representative should provide the client with the pink copy of the insertion order. The yellow copy is attached with the material collected for the production of the advertisement (or the finished advertisement if so provided) and delivered to the production department of the student newspaper. The white copy is to be placed in the appropriate client file in the business office (NO CLIENT FILE SHOULD FAIL TO HAVE A COMPLETED WHITE COPY OF ALL INSERTION ORDERS FOR ADVERTISING PLACED DURING THE CURRENT PUBLICATION YEAR).
It is the responsibility of the business office to record all requests for ad placements on the advertising register for the appropriate edition. The business manager must provide copies of the advertising register to the editor-in-chief and Student Publications Production manager, the Director of Student Publications, and the Office of Student Development. The original copy of the advertising register also must be placed on file in the student newspaper business office.

ADVERTISING PROOFS
A copy of the completed ad can be provided by the business office of the student newspaper to a client. Clients desiring a proof copy of the ad must make a request for such a proof at least one week in advance. The business office is not allowed to offer proofs to clients without one week’s notification because of the production schedule of the student newspaper.

DEADLINES
The deadlines for accepting advertising for The Appalachian are Thursday at noon for the next Tuesday’s newspaper and Monday at noon for the following Thursday’s newspaper. NO ADVERTISING MAY BE ACCEPTED BEYOND THIS DEADLINE UNLESS THE ADVERTISING TO NEWS RATIO OF THAT EDITION OF THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER FALLS BELOW 40 PERCENT ADVERTISING FOR A SIX-PAGE PAPER. AN EXTENSION UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES REQUIRES THE PERMISSION OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND THE DIRECTOR OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS. ANY SUCH EXTENSION GRANTED, HOWEVER, CANNOT INTERFERE WITH THE NORMAL DEADLINE IMPOSED BY THE COMMERCIAL PRINTER FOR THE ON-TIME PRODUCTION AND DELIVERY OF THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER. All material necessary for the production of any ad must be submitted no later than noon on production day. At noon, incomplete advertising must be pulled by the advertsing/business manager from that issue of the newspaper. No advertising material will be accepted past noon on production day without the approval of the Director of Student Publications or the Student Publications Production manager.
Sales representatives who violate the deadline schedule must be warned by the business manager. All advertising which appears in the newspaper but which violated the deadline schedule will not be considered in the computation of commission for the sales representative in question. Repeated violations of the deadline constitute grounds for dismissal from the staff of the student newspaper.

SALES REPRESENTATIVES
Sales representatives for the student newspaper are required to keep a current list of all advertising prospects within their territories. The initial list of businesses located in the territory will be provided by the business manager. The sales representative will be required to produce a one-page description of each company in his/her territory to include such information as: type of business; size of business; local, regional, national in scope; products sold; target customer groups; and previous publication history with The Appalachian.

Sales representatives will be expected to establish a daily sales routine, in consultation with the business manager (to include hours to be selling and a specific time to come by the business office to pick up messages or leave advertising materials). Sales representatives who do not adhere to the mutually agreed to sales routine will be counseled by the business manager and, if the routine remains violated, terminated. The business manager will review the prior advertising history of each territory and will establish sales goals for each sales representative. Sales representatives who experience difficulty or declining sales are urged to consult with the business manager about possible strategies to improve sales in the territory. Sales representatives who do not meet their sales goals and who are not actively involved in consulting with the business manager about how to improve can be terminated by the student newspaper.

Sales representatives are required to check with the business office each day, Monday-Friday, at a time mutually agreed upon with the business manager, and to attend a twice weekly sales meeting at a time to be decided upon by the sales staff, office assistants and the business manager. The daily check ins are for messages for the sales representatives or from the representative to the business office. The twice weekly sales meetings are to discuss performance of the sales staff, training, and goal setting. These meetings are mandatory and anyone missing two consecutive meetings is subject to discipline, while missing three consecutive meetings is grounds for dismissal.
The business manager is required to keep weekly logs of sales activity in each sales territory. In addition, a weekly report to the Director of Student Publications must include: accounts called upon, new accounts called upon, sales made, time required, and potential commission on sales.

OFFICE ASSISTANTS
Office assistants are hired to handle the normal secretarial requirements of the business office of the student newspaper. These assistants will perform such duties as assigned by the business manager, including: the twice weekly providing of tear sheets to advertising clients; answering the telephone, taking messages for the business manager and sales representatives, and the timely transmission of such messages to the appropriate parties. Office assistants should familiarize themselves with this policy, the rate card, and credit policies for the business office and be able to answer questions when customers come to the office or telephone. Office assistants should also be familiar with the requirements of each ad prior to publication in order to assist sales representatives and the business manager in proofing of each edition.

CIRCULATION
The circulation manager of The Appalachian is responsible for the timely delivery of the student newspaper each Tuesday and Thursday during the publication cycle. This person must have a valid North Carolina driver’s license, have no convictions involving speeding, reckless driving, DUI, etc. as prohibited by University policy as concerns the operation of University-owned vehicles. Papers are delivered to various drop points on campus, where remaining copies of the previous edition are collected to be returned to the business office of the student newspaper. The circulation manager, working with the business manager, must monitor each drop point for number of copies delivered and picked up, and revise the number to be left when either too many are left the week before or too few. The circulation manager should determine for each drop point an accurate figure for distribution within the first two weeks of each semester and maintain a log of drop points, number of papers left and number of papers picked up for each edition of the newspaper. Such logs are to be returned to the business office of the student newspaper upon completion of each delivery. A copy of the log for each edition is to be provided the Director of Student Publications.