GAZETTE WELCOMES

Sharron Smith has joined the staff of The Alabama Gazette as the Sales and Marketing Director. She comes to us with more than 20 years of newspaper experience in journalism, advertising and management.

Her goal is to help The Gazette staff grow the newspaper into a weekly publication. “This is a newspaper built on Godly principles and I look forward to meeting the people of the River Region.” Smith commented. “We want to share with our readers articles about the interesting people of our area, in addition to helping businesses share their messages to help grow the economy.

Smith began her career in the newspaper business as a news correspondent with The Mobile Press-Register, before joining The Clanton Advertiser, in Chilton County, Alabama, as a staff writer. As with many small community newspapers you learn to wear many hats. When the classified advertising manager left newspaper, there was no one to do her job. “I was asked to help with the classified department,” Smith commented. “Since no one was hired and I was willing to accept the challenge of developing a classified program to increase sales, I had a new title, “Classified Manager.” I continued to tweak the classified program, with great success.”

The word of her sales success at The Clanton Advertiser spread to other publishers within our news organization and soon to other newspapers in other groups. There were so many requests from publishers wanting to know the secret to their success she had to start giving training sessions on Saturdays.

When her husband was transferred to Newnan, Georgia, Smith was hired as the Classified Manager of The Newnan Times-Herald and helped transition the paper from a twice-a-week publication to a daily publication. Again, sales increased following the sales plan.

While in Georgia, Smith conducted several sales seminars for the Georgia Press Association, in addition to continuing sales training for newspapers from across the United States and conducted classified sales seminars for state press associations, including New York and Mississippi.

After several years in Georgia, Smith returned to Alabama to run a classified advertising call center in south central Alabama, before moving back to Montgomery. She spent seven years with Hudson, Ink., a marketing firm, in Montgomery before retiring in 2015.

She is married to Gene Smith, and they have six grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She and her husband are members of St. James United Methodist Church. Her hobbies include reading, gardening and collecting cookbooks.

Smith says, “I am exited to be back in the newspaper business. When you have ink in your blood, the newspaper business is where I enjoy spending my time. I look forward to being out in the River Region communities to meet with the business people and meeting the interesting residents in the coming weeks.”

Now Hiring

Advertising Sales Consultant

The Alabama Gazette, a locally owned bi-monthly community newspaper, headquartered in beautiful downtown Montgomery, is seeking an experienced advertising sales consultant.

As a member of our sales team, you will have the responsibility of selling and growing areas of print and digital sales for our publications. You will serve advertisers in an assigned geographic territory of the River Region. Your primary focus is to introduce multi-media solutions to business owners and store managers and show them how advertising and networking through The Alabama Gazette products can help grow their business.

What we’re looking for: A smart and creative person who understands marketing and can put together advertising packages to benefit our advertisers and help their business grow. If you have computer experience, and some knowledge of social media and smartphones...that’s a start and we would like to meet with you. You should also understand the language of advertising, marketing and online advertising.

Schedule and Compensation: Our work schedule will be flexible, however structured. The more you sell the more you make. Compensation is based on your sales. You decide how much you want to make every month.

Outside sales experience, preferably in advertising is helpful. Must have a valid drivers license and automobile insurance.

If you meet our requirements and want to work, we would like to meet with you. Please send your cover letter and resume via email to alabamagazette@gmail.com or mail to:

Alabama Gazette • 12 E. Jefferson Street • Montgomery, AL 36104 • 334-356-6700

Explore A New Career! Training Available. Great Working Atmosphere. Come Grow With us!