Making the world better one ad at a time

Ellen Felker has managed Yodeler advertising for over 12 years

Solar paneling, organic florists, vacation resorts, publishing companies, realty offices, accountants, natural-food companies, outdoor-gear and -clothing stores, adventure travel, wine cellars, mechanics, kayaking outfitters - all these are among the advertisers in the Yodeler. Advertising is an important source of funding for the Yodeler, and it helps connect businesses and customers who share similar values.

The person who makes this connection is the Yodeler's advertising manager, Ellen Felker.

Working with a small publication means that Ellen oversees the process of placing an ad in the paper from start to finish. One of her main responsibilities is soliciting new advertisers. Knowing that businesspeople have little time to deliberate, she enjoys the challenge of putting her point across quickly. "Just because a company has a lot of money doesn't mean they are going to spend it in your publication. You have to be able to explain why they should," she says.

Ellen tries to help advertisers get their money's worth and to serve readers also; sometimes this requires her to help craft an effective ad. ("Some businesses are more savvy about this than others," she notes). Once in a while she even needs to remind a business to include its phone number. She advises businesses to include just one or two important points in an ad and one or two ways to be reached.

Ellen finds that being an effective ad manager is more about good community relations than about cutthroat competition. Her strong community spirit can be traced throughout her career and extensive volunteer work.

Soon after graduating from college in 1973, Ellen was hired at the San Francisco office of the New Yorker to place ads and do administrative work. Working for such a high-profile magazine was fun, but, as she puts it, she's "not good at schmoozing", and gradually she "migrated from the for-profit world to the nonprofit world." She moved on to jobs as an ad rep for the Berkeley Monthly, and then for a publication called New Connections, targeted at people who had just moved to the area. She took some time off to raise two children (a daughter and a son, now 20 and 14) but re-entered the work world as a freelance editor and ad manager for the bimonthly Children's Advocate. Soon the Berkeley Repertory Theater took her on to place ads in its performance programs; 12 years ago, she added on the Yodeler. Now she divides her busy work schedule among the Berkeley Rep, Cal Performances, the Yodeler, and a few other clients.

This career as an independent contractor for various publications with different schedules and demands has allowed her the flexibility to do an impressive amount of volunteering. She has primarily focused on education, an interest that began when her daughter was in pre-school and Ellen was president of the pre-school cooperative. She then edited the elementary-school newsletter for nine years. She has also served on innumerable committees, been an active member of the PTA, and gone on countless school field trips.

Five years ago she got involved in the WriterCoach Connection, a program that trains volunteers to coach middle- and high-school students on writing assignments that teachers would not otherwise have time to assign. The program works with students of all levels of ability, so that everyone in the class gets a writing coach. "That's why it works," says Ellen, who now serves on the board of directors. They plan to expand the enormously successful program but need funding, and so Ellen is seeking revenue, possibly corporate sponsorship.

Ellen feels as passionately about environmental issues as she does about education, and sees advertising in the Yodeler as a small but important piece of the Sierra Club mission. "We're working to save the environment; why do we have advertising?" she reflects. "Well, our whole world is based on commerce. To have a newspaper, you have to pay to print it. It costs money to do good deeds, and how are you going to pay for them? One way is advertising; if you have appropriate advertisers reaching an appropriate audience, you're doing both of them a service."

If you happen to have a business and are reading this Yodeler, you know that other people like you are reading it too. Placing an ad in the Yodeler could be the best way to reach like-minded customers. To find out more about display ads in the Yodeler, call Ellen at (510)548-0725. (Ellen does not handle classified ads. For classifed advertising call 510 848 0800 or email yodeler-at-sfbaysc.org)

Wendy Becktold