Newspaper marketing is a task that is currently pretty up in the air. People don't seem to be able to decide how best to adjust to the rapid shift to digital media and social media. That's the direction the world is going, but that doesn't mean you have to abandon printed newspapers altogether. Printed newspapers are well established in society, it's more a matter of making them enticing to a crowd who wants news quickly and conveniently. There are a great many ways to do this, from offering an online paper behind a paywall, to running contests and so on, but for the purposes of this article, let's assume that you don't want to abandon your print paper. The concepts that are to come can be applied to online papers as well.
Setting up a mailing list on your web page is essential. Full stop. Your mailing list will be the key to keeping your paper alive, no matter how you deliver it nor how many products you develop to entice subscriptions. In the end, if your customers don't know what you're doing there's no point in spending a ton of money on cool contests and extra merchandise. Your monthly newsletter is how you can get customers engaged and invested in the people that produce and deliver their papers, while emails about contests, prizes, and games held only in your printed paper will encourage people to buy. In addition, if you start taking the direction some papers have, where they found news cafes, digital papers and more, you can announce those new products to your customers.
It's not hard to see why the mailing list is so important, but how can you keep it up? People don't think that they need a newspaper anymore. They can just look it up on social media. And, in part, this is true. However you can provide an experience and a moment of solace from the bustle of the day. You can provide them with stories, details and human experiences. And you can advertise that, as well. What impact have you had on your community? How have you helped one another in the past? Have you published guest articles written in the community or used pictures sent to you? All these things and more can be put into communications that can be shared via social media, email, SMS and more. And we can help you accomplish that. For more information, check out our newspaper marketing page for additional content, ideas and support, or have a look at our marketing automation page to see our features and pricing, so that you can build the best package for your newspaper to thrive and grow.