Finding Your Worth

Summer is typically quiet at CV Weekly. School is out, leaving it challenging to fill our youth and sports pages. Businesses that we usually rely on for advertising dollars are dealing with skeleton crews when they and/or their employees go on vacation. Getting new customers in the door is not necessarily a priority for them.

During these melancholy days, I can fall into a funk, wondering if indeed CV Weekly is serving a purpose, if we’re serving our community. As a writer at heart, I started this paper with the goal of being the premium provider of unbiased information for my community and giving our readers a voice in local affairs. I also wanted to give our advertisers a forum to show their support for the community, this newspaper and their customers – current and future. Each has an important role: the newspaper that is a reliable and excellent product, the advertisers who support the paper with their advertising dollars and the readers who patronize these businesses and also subscribe to home delivery of the paper.

Thankfully each fulfills their purpose. But if I doubted that Crescenta Valley Weekly served the community in an important way, that nagging voice was quieted recently. Two people came into the office to drop off letters to the editor and while here each made a point to say, “Thank you for doing what you do.” Each wanted my staff and me to know that CV Weekly is a valuable resource for which they’re thankful.

Praise like that is equally valuable to me.

When I have the chance to talk to current and potential advertisers, I share with them that CV Weekly is a resource that people eagerly seek out every week. And their ads are part of that sought-after product. Think about it: when an ad comes on the television, you can switch channels or leave the room. When something pops up online, you can hit the little ‘x’ in the corner to bypass it. And how quickly do you think those globs of mailers get relegated to the “round file?”

I am proud of what we – my staff, our advertisers and precious readers, and I – have built. And I thank everyone who does their part to ensure the ongoing success of this newspaper.

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I mentioned that one of my goals is to give a voice to our readers. One way we do that is with the publication of our annual Finest magazine. The magazine is the result of tallying thousands of votes that our readers have submitted expressing their choices of the best, the Finest, of an array of services, products and people. After the counting is done, the winners are notified and we give them – only the winners – the opportunity to advertise their services and/or products in the Finest magazine. For the next year, these magazines are used as a go-to guide when choosing a plumber, mechanic or other provider or when deciding on a restaurant or pharmacy. There are plenty of choices out there – wouldn’t you like to know who or what the Finests are?

Coming in September – keep your eyes open to see who are chosen as the Finest 2017.

  robin goldsworthy