Readership Institute: What Promotion Is, What it Should Be

In-paper content promotion is a three-for-one readership driver:

It is a one of the eight Impact imperatives that the research showed to be a direct driver of reader satisfaction.

It is an element of "easy to read," another of the eight imperatives that drives readership.

It is an element of positive brand perception, also one of the eight imperatives that drives readership.

So improving in-paper content promotion punches several of the buttons that can increase reader satisfaction. It also is one of the easiest factors to improve, true "low hanging fruit."

When discussing in-paper content promotion with editors, the first reaction often is "aren't we preaching to the converted?" Their point being that in-paper promotion only reaches those who already are reading the paper, and they want to promote to those who aren't reading the newspaper.

There are several responses to this reaction. The first is that content promotion increases reader satisfaction. Given two newspapers with equivalent content, readers have higher satisfaction with the paper that has more in-paper content promotion. Satisfaction drives readership. Content promotion also contributes to readers' sense that the newspaper is "easy to read" and helps them find the things they want to read. These two findings alone are a strong argument for doing a better job of content promotion.

There is another point, however. Newspaper readership has declined over recent decades not so much because people aren't reading the paper, but because people are reading the newspaper less frequently. Eight-five percent of adults read a newspaper sometime during the week, but only about 55 percent read a newspaper yesterday. Newspapers no longer enjoy a large audience who read faithfully every day and know where everything is located in the newspaper from habit.

Readership Institute research shows that there are nine types of readers, ranging from heavy readers who read the paper every day, read it thoroughly and spend long amounts of time with it, to nonreaders who don't read a newspaper at all. In between are a variety of types who may pick up the newspaper only occasionally, or only on weekdays, or only on Sundays. Other readers are selective and read only certain sections or certain types of stories.

Newspapers publish content that would be valuable and of interest to these readers, but they will never know about it if it isn't in the day they are reading or in the sections they normally look at. In-paper content promotion, both same-day and upcoming, can help drive these readers to additional days of the week and additional sections of the newspaper, while at the same time increasing their overall satisfaction with the newspaper reading experience.

Defining in-paper promotion
So what do we mean when we talk about in-paper promotion? When the Readership Institute did its content analysis of the 100 Impact newspapers, we counted everything published in the paper designed to promote the paper, its content, its image or its Web site. This included, for example,

Standing brand promotions
- Page 1 Flag
- Standing 'how to subscribe' boxes
Editorial refers
- Skyboxes
- Rails
- Drop-in refers that say, for example, 'See related story on Page 10,' or taglines at the end of a story that sends the reader to the newspaper Web site for more information
House ads
- General brand ("The Eagle brings you more local news"), Web site, content (advising about editorial or advertising)

In-paper promotion falls into three broad categories:

General brand promotion, which is designed to position the newspaper in the market, create or enhance its image, or describe the benefits of readership.

Content promotion, which directs the reader to either editorial or advertising content in that day's newspaper or an upcoming issue.

Web site promotion, which directs the reader to the newspaper's Internet site.

On an average day, most newspapers' promotion effort looks like this chart.

Newspapers publish about 11 items of general brand promotion (including the Page 1 flag), about seven items promoting content in that issue, one item promoting content coming later in the week and four items promoting the newspaper Web site on an average day.

The Impact research shows that the promotion that has the most impact on reader satisfaction is content promotion, with upcoming content promotion having the greatest impact and same-day promotion having the second most impact. To increase readership, newspapers should shift their concentration from general brand promotion to more content promotion, particularly upcoming content. The study also shows that overall frequency and size matter. Newspapers should increase the overall amount of in-paper promotion. Remember, the content audit counted every skybox, refer, house ad and standing "how to subscribe" box, and the grand total on an average day was only 23 elements of promotion.

Additionally, the research shows that in-paper content promotion has the most effect on brand perception for readers under 35 and women readers, two groups newspapers struggle to satisfy.

In-paper content promotion by itself is not a cure-all for ailing readership, but it carries many benefits and is an easy element to improve.