25 Ways to Grow Your Weekly Newspaper's Circulation
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Transcript of 25 Ways to Grow Your Weekly Newspaper's Circulation
Top 25 Ways to Grow Circulation for the Community Newspaper
1. Single Copy is still the easiest button to push to get
immediate gains at lowest cost
Single Copy Sales Reach the needed Non-Subscribing/ Occasional Reader
Location… Location… Location…
Inside more Retail Stores
(MORI Research for NAA’s 2006 Single Copy Buyers Study)
Single Copy buying is a habit
The value of newspaper sales to retailers…
Newspaper buyers
(MORI Research for NAA’s 2006 Single Copy Buyers Study)
Create Retail Partnerships
BEST PRACTICES
& SUCCESS STORIES
+434
+237
+109
+184
+107
+133
+138
Single-copy outlet expansion Manager Dale Bowen of
the Chiefland (FL)Citizen purchased 25 used racks
and placed 15 at his 4,027 weekly newspaper
Outlet target • 7 per 1,000 HH
• 1 per every 150 HH
Williston FL Manager Kathy Richardson deployed 10 more
racks. Added to 24 retail outlets, they
now have 6 per 1,000 HH.
George Jacobs, Cynthiana KY publisher, purchased 22 racks for deployment at 4 regional papers and Cynthiana Democrat, 5,652 weekly
Get Inside Wal-Mart
Alan Place, manager of Sumter County Times,
5,323 weekly, got 9 check-out rack locations
inside the Bushnell FL Wal-Mart selling about 130
copies per week
www.thenexxusgroup.com
Ryan Bramlett, New Albany Gazette manager, got the paper out earlier and papers on the street earlier. Single sales were up 754 at this 4,932 twice-weekly
Get on sale earlier
We need to “harvest” more single copy buyers to the subscriber side
2. Run single copy inserts
on regular basis
The Kentucky Standard in historic Bardstown KY
earned 73 starts from this Friday the 13th flyer
CKNJ’s Crystal Anderson drew 57 new and 152 renewals from one issue of the newspaper and two of the shopper for this 6,735 twice-weekly
One-Day Sales
Chiefland Citizen’s One Day Sale brought in 93
new and renewal subscriptions
Galax Gazette One Day ‘After Thanksgiving Sale’ sold 24 new starts for this 8,263 Galax VA tri-weekly
Frequency of inserts…
3. Improve your news product
Williston FL Editor Kathy Richardson’s news
improvements have been accompanied by growth
Editor Julie Satterly has joined a circulation growth team
at The Oldham Era, LaGrange, KY
Brunswick Editor Ben Carlson is promoting news
of interest to summer residents on page 1
of 17,000 NC weekly
Key Steps…
Promote SmartSource and Valassis coupon packages
The Record promotes per-issue coupon value in the page 1 ear
SmartSource Coupons
Casey County News, 5,469 Liberty KY weekly, drew 23 new subs and 9 requested samples from this full-page promotion
based on ½ the value of the coupons in that issue
Creative Ad Campaign
5. Devote more time to growth
Susan Collins, circulation manager and general factotum
at The Spencer Magnet, Taylorsville KY weekly grew 197 in one year
Laura Satterly worked as a part-time circulation sales manager for The Kentucky Standard who gained entry to Wal-Mart inside single sales for this 9,380 tri-weekly
Two of Laura’s promotions…
14 starts came from one-day sale flyer for “National
Pamper Yourself Day”
33 starts from Anniversary Sale in Sun. single copy and Wed. non-subscriber shopper
6. Offer Targeted Premiums
Perry County News, Tell City, IN twice-weekly sold 31new with
this America’s Best Recipes cookbook premium.
7. Boost Web Starts
(Pop-Up Box)
Pop-under box sold 18 month; 10 average in quarter
“Must-haves” to generate more subscription offers from web sites:
Web Site Single Sales Promo Pick up your copy of The Cynthiana Democrat at these racks and dealer locations: CITY LOCATIONS Ken's NewMarket Ken's Discount Tobacco Shop Kentucky Motors MSP Market (Shell Food Mart) Eastside Pharmacy Thrift Food Mart Yellow Rose First Stop Rite-Aid Save-A-Lot Fast Max Sunstar Entertainment Speedway
8. E-mail Alerts
9. Promote in other media
Tom McDonald and Amanda Pacheco teamed up on this radio spot promoting Las Vegas (NM) Optic improvements and subscriptions with additional 10% discount for citing radio ad. 34 new subscribers cited the spot when subscribing.
Judy Underwood, Morgan County News, Wartburg
TN 5,084 weekly, provides news briefs on the radio in return for promotional
copy. Circulation is up 152 copies, 3.3%.
Meghan Murphy, Clear Creek (CO) Courant editor, records weekly radio spots on the local station, listing
single copy outlets
10. Direct Mail non-subscribers
Stephanie Hornback, manager of The Record,
Leitchfield KY, oversaw direct mail to non-subscribing
households, gaining 734 new starts this year
The Pioneer News, Shepherdsville KY, 8,200 twice-weekly
mailed this continuous form outbound/return
envelope and sold 553 new subs at a 4.9%
return on pieces mailed
See www.bwpress.com
Chester SC, News & Reporter, got 65 restarts (16.5% return) from this mailing to 393 former subscribers of the 6,600 twice-weekly
‘We Want You’ Flyer
Improve Direct Mail
11. Sample non-subscribers
The Williamson County Sun, Georgetown TX, sold 280 new for 9.3% return from 3,000 samples and multiple contact options
Letter from publisher with coupon
House Ad
Mail-back card
12. Friday the 13th Specials
New Albany Gazette
The LaRue County Herald News
Roane County News
New Year’s Special
13. Telemarket Past Subscribers Citrus County Chronicle sales +708 in 2004
2,379 orders, 39% prepaid by credit card
14. New Mover Calls & Mailings
Henry County Local County Guide Introductory Offer
15. Bulk Subscriptions
16. Requested Sample Card Program
17. Bill stuffers/calls to retail, classified ad customers
18. Emphasize Retention
19. Stop-Saver Calls
Alison Hash of the Galax Gazette
20. Shopper Ads
21. Kiosk Sales
Susan Rowell, Publisher of The Lancaster (SC) News, authorized funding of a kiosk program that has produced 620 new paid starts in four months
The Sentinel-News Valentine’s Day Kiosk
22. Carrier Sales Promotions
Chris Lopez sold 171 new starts in 11 months
to win Carrier of the Month 4 out of 6 months
Amy Zetina, new receptionist at The
News-Enterprise, sold 70 paid starts in 2 months by asking
customers who called or came into the office
23. Front Office Sales
24. Group Fund-raiser Sales
25. Outreach for Literacy
NIE, adult literacy programs use newspapers to teach
To say goodbye we bring you Newsy, The News-Enterprise mascot, shown here with their NIE logo
Bye-Bye