Daily Circulation: 38,576
Sunday Circulation: 44,194


List the major steps you have taken in the last four years to increase readership. Please organize your response under four headings: content, brand, service, culture.

Content
Started a Local News section.

Developed a community calendar with an online component.

Started a locally written business column that incorporates investment advice with a humorous slant.

Started a weekly “Fifteen minutes with...” Q&A feature in lifestyle, business and sports that focuses on “ordinary people.”

Started a weekly reader-feedback Sports column.

Launched a reader participation Book Club with monthly discussion groups on specific books led by local facilitators.

Developed a Teen Issues panel that focuses and reports on teen subjects and trends among teens.

Instituted “best practices” in obituaries.

Started “He said, she said” local Q&A feature that incorporates photos and comments on timely issues in “man on the street” style.

Launched “My Health” reader participation health improvement club (with medical community support) that invites readers to participate in a health improvement program that tracks and reports on exercise habits, diet and weight results. The program includes monthly report meetings (weigh-ins) and local speakers on health- related topics.

Added reporter e-mail addresses and telephone numbers to all local news stories.

Brand
Converted wed site URL to IndependentMail.com from andersonsc.com to put more focus on promotion of a single brand for our print and online information.

Put more focus on in-paper content promotion.

Committed to use of only Anderson Independent-Mail or Independent-Mail in all ad sponsorships, house ads, community events, Internet and internal communications.

Added web address to masthead, section fronts and all page folios.

Service
Started a new company-wide Circulation Task Force that focuses on readership growth initiatives.

Started a new telephone service improvement initiative with a focus on improving communications with all customers via telephone.

Reduced lost calls in circulation by combining front desk and circulation call-routing loops, thereby increasing the number of available service representatives.

Improved over-all subscriber delivery service and reduced complaints to an average of 1.2 per 1,000 subscribers.

Reduced carrier down routes to average of fewer than five per day from previously double digits.

Reduced stops for billing errors through a task force of accounting and circulation personnel that focused on and corrected systemic billing issues.

Culture
Maintained a high level of focus on total quality advantage as a company-wide culture — the way we do business.

Expanded employee recognition by adding an employee Hall of Fame that recognizes high achievers and length of service employees.

Capitalized on E. W. Scripps special recognition program by successfully nominating high achieving employees to the President’s Club. The recognition includes stock options.

Planning this year to conduct a company-wide quality principles refresher-training program for all employees and managers. Customer-focused quality is the foundation of our culture.

Received top ratings in all categories related to management culture in recent E. W. Scripps employee opinion survey.



What is the most innovative, successful or noteworthy thing you have done on readership that you think other papers might learn from or want to emulate?
Our most successful effort has been the launch of the daily Local News section, which is zoned with local news in three geographical circulation zones targeted at distinct readership markets.

Our most innovative effort has been the launch of a new feature dubbed “Fifteen Minutes With...” The feature incorporates “ordinary people” in a photo and Q&A format. It has allowed us to bring new faces and short stories about people of color, small business owners, hobbyists, homemakers and other relatively unknown personalities with interesting stories and backgrounds into our readership mix. It balances the day-to-day coverage we provide on other community and business leaders.



What is the most persuasive indication you have that your readership efforts are producing results?
We experienced an immediate increase in net paid circulation following the launch of the Local News section.

Our readership scores in periodic corporate studies have increased.



What is the most important lesson you have learned as you have worked on readership in the last few years?
There is no magic pill. It takes patience, commitment and resources to gain and sustain readership.

A management culture of total involvement is an important ingredient in sustaining readership initiatives.



What would you like to do on readership that you have not been able to do and why haven't you been able to do it?
We would like to add more pages, features and sections oriented toward younger and more mobile (transient) readers.

We would like to greatly increase our branding promotion through in-paper and other mediums.

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