Since 2017, we at the News Journal have been able to partner with the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce to publish a quarterly magazine publication called Strictly Business. We hope that readers have found it interesting to get behind-the-scenes looks at many of our local area businesses. I can honestly say that it has been incredibly rewarding for me personally to get to write many of these stories.
Recently, I had the opportunity to take a tour of Stidham Cabinet and get the full story of their 50-year operation from the founder himself, Mr. James Stidham. The plant is located in Keavy, and while I have been there before, this served as my first opportunity to see all of the inner workings firsthand.
I always find it fascinating to walk through a manufacturing facility and see how raw materials get shaped into finished products via industrial machines that are operated and maintained by trained professionals. The whole process is just really neat, and if you have never had the opportunity to see it for yourself, trust me when I say there is a lot more to it than you might imagine.
More on that later, but for now I wanted to point out something that Mr. Stidham said during the tour of his facility. He was talking about getting to work on several contract jobs for the state’s park system over the years, and how it is generally a good thing for all involved when Kentucky-based businesses can partner with other entities in the Commonwealth in order make something happen.
Stidham brought that down to the local level as well, correctly saying that, in order to achieve economic development within our own cities and counties, it is important to invest in local businesses and spend money locally whenever and wherever possible.
This brings me to the point of this column, which is the fact that we here at the News Journal strive every week to produce a product that is dedicated to covering, to the greatest extent possible, the most important developments in Corbin, Williamsburg, and the immediately surrounding areas. In order to do that, we obviously rely on the support of you, the reader, as well as our fellow members of the local business community.
I have said this before on many occasions, but please know that when business owners choose to spend their advertising dollars with us, that money stays right here in the tri-county area. This is where we are based, this is where we work, and this is where we live. It’s all local. Same goes for every penny that readers spend on subscriptions.
On the flip side, we feel that readers and advertisers alike are still getting a great bang for their buck when they spend their money with us. The cost of a yearly subscription is pretty minimal when compared to many other investments that you could make, and look at all of the information that you receive, both in print and/or online, for your contribution. It’s a no-brainer, I think.
As far as advertising goes, we try to be as reasonable as we can with our rates. We have to pay our employees, keep the lights on, cover the cost of printing, and try to turn a little bit of a profit at the end of the day, but we also understand that budgets are tight pretty much everywhere. For that reason, we always make a strong effort to come up with different options that will be manageable for budgets large and small. This includes a mix of print, web and social media ads, by the way.
If you are currently purchasing advertising from us, thank you. Your investment not only ensures getting the word out to the local community about your goods and services, but it also helps to ensure that reliable local reporting can continue here, in YOUR hometowns.
If you aren’t currently purchasing advertising with us, then we would love to chat with you about what we can do for you. Give us a call at (606) 528-9767.
