Vickie Sue Vigil, Arkansas Publishing Co.’s advertising director, is a featured Sales Superstar in the January 2023 issue of Editor & Publisher, or E&P, magazine, saluting the best of the industry’s sales professionals.
A 45-year veteran of The Mountain Mail’s advertising sales staff, Vigil said, “I was very pleased and honored to learn that our publisher, Merle Baranczyk, thought to nominate me. I was really surprised when I received an email from Robin Blinder, editor-in-chief of Editor & Publisher, saying I had received the award.”
She began her career in media advertising sales in July 1977 with no previous sales experience other than waiting tables in college.
“I’ve always been an outgoing, positive person, and I think that is what led Merle to hire me to work in classifieds,” she said.
As Arkansas Publishing Co. grew, Baranczyk bought three more community papers, The Fairplay Flume, Leadville Herald Democrat and the Chaffee County Times, and she directed the salespeople in those offices as well as at The Mountain Mail.
“Merle has always been my mentor. He knew the importance of honesty and loyalty with the advertiser and forming a relationship with the business owner,” Vigil said. “He sold advertising himself before moving to Salida to manage and eventually purchase The Mountain Mail.”
A lot of things have changed over the years since she first began selling advertising. In the beginning she and Laurie James had 35 retail businesses on F Street and visited them personally, running regular ads in newsprint editions. Today digital marketing has become the main challenge, and she still struggles to find the best way to do sales in the digital market.
“We’ve always believed that the words ‘community newspaper’ go hand in hand,” she said. “We are a community newspaper and we are old-school. Readers like to see births, obits, sports, opinions and local news in our print product, so making the transition is hard.”
Other changes came in the community itself, from the closing of the Climax Mine to becoming a tourist and artist based community.
In addition to directing the advertising for four newspapers, she has been active in the community itself, serving as president of the Salida Business Alliance and volunteering at Salida Community Center.
She was named Woman of the Year in 2003 and won the Cornerstone Award from Heart of the Rockies Chamber of Commerce in 2019.
Future plans include her pending retirement in April when her first goal is to redo her flower beds and expand her garden.
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