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Top 25 Ways to Grow Circulation for the Community Newspaper

25 Ways to Grow Your Weekly Newspaper's Circulation

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Max Heath, shares 25 tactics that community newspapers from around the country have used to successfully grow their circulation.

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Page 1: 25 Ways to Grow Your Weekly Newspaper's Circulation

Top 25 Ways to Grow Circulation for the Community Newspaper

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1. Single Copy is still the easiest button to push to get

immediate gains at lowest cost

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Single Copy Sales Reach the needed Non-Subscribing/ Occasional Reader

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Location… Location… Location…

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Inside more Retail Stores

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(MORI Research for NAA’s 2006 Single Copy Buyers Study)

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Single Copy buying is a habit

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The value of newspaper sales to retailers…

Newspaper buyers

(MORI Research for NAA’s 2006 Single Copy Buyers Study)

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Create Retail Partnerships

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BEST PRACTICES

& SUCCESS STORIES

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+434

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+237

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+109

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+184

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+107

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+133

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+138

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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

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Williston FL Manager Kathy Richardson deployed 10 more

racks. Added to 24 retail outlets, they

now have 6 per 1,000 HH.

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George Jacobs, Cynthiana KY publisher, purchased 22 racks for deployment at 4 regional papers and Cynthiana Democrat, 5,652 weekly

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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

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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

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We need to “harvest” more single copy buyers to the subscriber side

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2. Run single copy inserts

on regular basis

The Kentucky Standard in historic Bardstown KY

earned 73 starts from this Friday the 13th flyer

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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

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One-Day Sales

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Chiefland Citizen’s One Day Sale brought in 93

new and renewal subscriptions

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Galax Gazette One Day ‘After Thanksgiving Sale’ sold 24 new starts for this 8,263 Galax VA tri-weekly

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Frequency of inserts…

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3. Improve your news product

Williston FL Editor Kathy Richardson’s news

improvements have been accompanied by growth

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Editor Julie Satterly has joined a circulation growth team

at The Oldham Era, LaGrange, KY

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Brunswick Editor Ben Carlson is promoting news

of interest to summer residents on page 1

of 17,000 NC weekly

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Key Steps…

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Promote SmartSource and Valassis coupon packages

The Record promotes per-issue coupon value in the page 1 ear

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SmartSource Coupons

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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

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Creative Ad Campaign

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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

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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…

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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

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6. Offer Targeted Premiums

Perry County News, Tell City, IN twice-weekly sold 31new with

this America’s Best Recipes cookbook premium.

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7. Boost Web Starts

(Pop-Up Box)

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Pop-under box sold 18 month; 10 average in quarter

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“Must-haves” to generate more subscription offers from web sites:

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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

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8. E-mail Alerts

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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.

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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%.

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Meghan Murphy, Clear Creek (CO) Courant editor, records weekly radio spots on the local station, listing

single copy outlets

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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

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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

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Chester SC, News & Reporter, got 65 restarts (16.5% return) from this mailing to 393 former subscribers of the 6,600 twice-weekly

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‘We Want You’ Flyer

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Improve Direct Mail

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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

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Letter from publisher with coupon

House Ad

Mail-back card

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12. Friday the 13th Specials

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New Albany Gazette

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The LaRue County Herald News

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Roane County News

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New Year’s Special

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13. Telemarket Past Subscribers Citrus County Chronicle sales +708 in 2004

2,379 orders, 39% prepaid by credit card

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14. New Mover Calls & Mailings

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Henry County Local County Guide Introductory Offer

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15. Bulk Subscriptions

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16. Requested Sample Card Program

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17. Bill stuffers/calls to retail, classified ad customers

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18. Emphasize Retention

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19. Stop-Saver Calls

Alison Hash of the Galax Gazette

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20. Shopper Ads

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21. Kiosk Sales

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Susan Rowell, Publisher of The Lancaster (SC) News, authorized funding of a kiosk program that has produced 620 new paid starts in four months

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The Sentinel-News Valentine’s Day Kiosk

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22. Carrier Sales Promotions

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Chris Lopez sold 171 new starts in 11 months

to win Carrier of the Month 4 out of 6 months

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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

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24. Group Fund-raiser Sales

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25. Outreach for Literacy

NIE, adult literacy programs use newspapers to teach

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To say goodbye we bring you Newsy, The News-Enterprise mascot, shown here with their NIE logo

Bye-Bye