For most local newspapers, small and mid-sized businesses are the foundation of advertising revenue. Yet many publishers still face the challenge of limited sales bandwidth, legacy processes and clients who are hesitant to make the leap from print to digital. The result: too much opportunity left on the table.
As part of the roundtable discussions at the Senior Leadership Conference, Smartico will showcase how its platform helps publishers unlock that potential by turning their SMB advertising operations into an immediate profit center. With Smartico, sales teams can better monetize existing advertisers, upsell digital campaigns quickly and continuously bring in new leads — all without adding staff.
“Smartico gives publishers a revenue engine that works immediately: Smart Ads turns print customers into digital buyers, and Leadbuster keeps your pipeline full of fresh opportunities,” said Farris Robinson, director of U.S. sales. “It accelerates sales teams and delivers growth without adding headcount.”
At the core of the solution is Smart Ads, which takes any piece of creative — from a print ad to a social post — and instantly transforms it into a ready-to-run digital campaign complete with a landing page and an “attention dashboard” to track performance. This makes upselling frictionless, while giving publishers the chance to generate incremental, high-margin revenue from day one.
To keep the pipeline full, Smartico’s Leadbuster tool uses AI to crawl local markets and deliver a steady stream of fresh, qualified SMB prospects. The combination ensures every rep, regardless of digital expertise, has the tools to drive growth. Publishers using Smartico have reported boosting SMB revenue by 50–100% within just a few months.
Christian Scherbel, founder and CEO of Smartico, added: “We’re coming to SLC to help publishers build new advertising profit centers that deliver from day one — and to exchange ideas with fellow industry leaders who are passionate about growing local media. It’s a chance to share insights, build relationships and explore how AI and smarter sales strategies can keep local publishing strong and sustainable.”
For publishers looking to transform SMB advertising into scalable, high-margin growth, Smartico’s roundtable offers a practical roadmap to get started.
To register for the Senior Leadership Conference and explore this and many more solutions, visit member.newspapers.org/slc25.html or contact Patty Slusher at pslusher@newspapers.org.
