Reach Local Customers While Supporting Local Journalism in Portland

As 2019 comes to a close, I just wanted to take a moment to reach out to potential local advertisers. The Portland Beacon is dependent on a mix of local advertising and reader support. The Beacon needs financial support to cover the costs of operations, and to purchase content moving forward.

Here are four reasons why advertising with the Beacon helps the community while at the same time promoting your business or organization.

Targeted to a dedicated local audience:

The mission of The Portland Beacon is to brief the residents of Portland, Michigan, about the current affairs of this community, by serving as a fair, accurate and transparent information source. Our goal is to serve as a steward of the community by educating citizens so as to encourage a more engaged and vibrant community.

Our focus is on the Portland community. While we do post stories from time to time that may reach beyond the community, our primary focus is right here in Portland. We are a part of this community and are dedicated to local.

Credibility:

In today’s world, the term “fake news” is often thrown around. While many larger news outlets may have a certain agenda that they follow, that is not the case with the Beacon. We are focused on informing the community of the facts, and letting them make their own decisions. While we may be biased in favor of the Raiders or Shamrocks in our sports articles, we are dedicated to presenting the facts and letting the readers make the decisions.

Customers are moving to online:

While there are still printed newspapers in the area, customers are moving more and more to getting their news online. While placing your ad in a printed newspaper does have its benefits, you are also paying for the cost of printing and distribution. In its online only format, including social media and email newsletters, The Portland Beacon is able to efficiently reach its target audience for a much more affordable price.

You will be supporting a true community asset:

The press in America serves many purposes. It supports democracy, promotes quality of life, and ensures local transparency. Protection of the press goes back to 1791 and the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

While at the time this was intended to stop a distant king from suppressing any words that words that were not favorable of him, it still holds high value today.

The Huffington Post said, “there are very important things happening at the local level of government and community life that national newspapers, television news and online news do not—and cannot—cover. Local newspapers tell us what’s going on in our local councils of government, in our schools, on our streets.”

The Huffington Post went on to say, “The basic mission of the media is to serve as a check on the government. That is why the freedom of the press is such an integral part of our First Amendment. Our founders understood the vital importance of the press in maintaining an educated citizenry and a transparent government. However, even freedom of the press will not make much of a difference if there are no local newspapers keeping watch over what’s happening in our own back yards.”

The Beacon was the first to report the unscheduled sewage discharge into the Grand River on July 9th, 2018. We were also the first to tell readers about a local mail thief on January 16th, 2019.

In the two plus years that The Portland Beacon has been serving this community, we have published more than 1,600 pieces and had over 296,000 views on our site. From sewer discharges to criminal activity, and local high schools to hometown charities, we strive to help keep this community informed of the current events happening right here in Portland. We are dedicated to building a more engaged and informed community.

While we have been successful on doing this with very little resources so far, we need your help to survive and grow. If you operate a local business, you can show your current and future customers that your support local journalism by purchasing advertising on our site.

​​To learn more about advertising options, please email jim@theportlandbeacon.com or call 517-526-4696 today.

Disclaimer: Due to the owner of The Portland Beacon working for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, conflict of interest restrictions will apply. We cannot sell advertising space to any business or organization regulated or funded by MDHHS. Management of The Portland Beacon reserves the right to refuse advertising space and sponsored content for any reason.