Readership Institute: Why Don't Newspapers Promote More?

When we work with editors around the country, we often ask them why, if in-paper content promotion is such a powerful driver of readership, newspapers don't do more of it. The answers will sound familiar:

We don't have time.

We aren't good at planning ahead.

Our news holes are shrinking and we don't want to "waste" space.

It's not our job.

We don't want to alert our competition.

Then we ask, are these real reasons not to do it, or excuses? And the answer almost always is: "Excuses. We could do it if we wanted to."

So what solutions do editors have for overcoming the common excuses?

We don't have time
Editors consistently agree that taking the time to do better planning actually creates more time to do the critical parts of the job, because they aren't scrambling to overcome their lack of planning. As the managing editor of one major metro is fond of saying, "Planning is our friend."

An editor at one mid-size paper who already had a good planning process in place neatly turned it into a tool for better promotion. As a matter of long-time practice, immediately after the morning planning meeting he sent an email to everyone at the paper outlining the contents planned for the next day's paper. Once a week, after the weekly planning meeting, he sent a similar email with the plan for the week ahead. These regular "News Message" emails became the foundation for creating same-day and upcoming content promotion. Ad designers in the prepress department take the details in the emails and turn them into a dozen house ads every day.

The ad designers at this paper also created blank templates for house ads in a variety of standard sizes into which the copy desk can insert live copy on deadline for late-developing stories or to fill unexpected holes.

We aren't good at planning ahead
Big papers tend to be better planners than smaller papers. Often the editors and staff at small papers believe planning is less necessary for them precisely because they are small. Employees work in close proximity facilitating conversation about coverage. Those conversations, however, cannot substitute for more structured planning and brainstorming for the next edition and those that will follow.

A simple tool that many newsrooms use to facilitate planning is a "coverage matrix." This is a simple grid that lists the days of the week across the top and beats or story topics that the newspaper wants to assure it covers (such as health, education, ordinary people, etc.) down the side. Stories and photos about the coverage areas are plugged into the grid under the days they are scheduled to run. At a glance everyone can see what stories are planned, and where coverage holes exist.

Better planning not only makes promotion easier "it sharpens our paper," one editor said. When it comes time for the daily discussion of what to promote, none of his subordinates wants to say they don't have content worthy of promoting. So everyone plans ahead to have strong, promotable content.

We can't waste space on promotion in a shrinking news hole
Three decades of declining readership have proven that the value of the news report doesn't speak for itself. It is clear that readers won't automatically find their way to the great content in the newspaper. It has to be marketed, and who should care more about marketing the journalism than journalists?

Readership isn't declining because people aren't reading newspapers. Eight-five percent of adults read a newspaper sometime during the week, according to Readership Institute research. However, many people are reading less frequently. They don't have the seven-day habit, so upcoming content promotion is essential to alert the less-frequent reader to interesting content in upcoming issues. There are also many "selective" readers who only look at certain sections or certain topics. Same-day promotion can be used to move readers from section to section.

Before talking about "wasted" space, do a simple audit of your current promotions. Count up all the house ads, skyboxes and other in-paper promotion you do in one week, and analyze what is in them. Can you use the space better? We've got an example from a newspaper that used the very same house ad in three different sizes on the same page. This example is not unique. Using current space more effectively is a first step.

Most editors also agree that promotion space can be found easily by crisper editing of some of the stories in each day's paper.

It's not our job
Many editors say content promotion is best done by the editorial department. The newsroom understands the nuances of stories that a marketer might miss. Newsrooms are designed and staffed to produce content quickly, so are already equipped to quickly create content promotion. Copy editors who write eye-catching headlines are acting as marketers. Their talents can be used in the creation of content promotion. And newsrooms are staffed during the hours when the work needs to be done, which many marketing departments aren't. And as noted above, who cares more about promoting journalism content than journalists?

While all of the foregoing is true, it's worth noting that the "not our job" excuse is reflective of the "silo" mentality common in defensive cultures, the type of culture that predominates at newspapers. The Impact study makes it clear that if newspapers are to reverse the readership trends, they will have to develop a constructive culture that encourages working across departments and with a focus on the external customer, rather than internal processes.

Content promotion sometimes offers an opportunity to begin breaking down silo walls and developing a constructive culture. The editor cited above who got the cooperation of the prepress department to create house ads is an example of this. Bigger newspapers with marketing departments have worked to make creating promotions a collaborative exercise among editorial, marketing and advertising that overcomes departmental silos.

We don't want to alert our competition
Scoop sensitivity hasn't been a reasonable excuse in most markets for decades. Few newspapers have daily print competition. Radio and TV don't provide the same kind of packaged, in-depth, scannable, portable, preservable product that newspapers do. And most broadcasters aren't interested in re-reporting today the story they can wait to rip-and-read tomorrow.

The 'must-do' elements of better promotion
What it takes to do more promotion, more consistently is a commitment from the publisher on down. These elements are a must:

The organization must make it a high priority.

There must be a champion who believes in the concept and can get things done (and to a high standard).

There must be accountability for it happening and a system of review and rewards.

The editorial department should either drive the initiative or be a full partner with another department (such as marketing).