Circulation: Three issues weekly: Tues: 19,000; Wed: 8,500; Fri: 8,500


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
We actively solicit story and feature ideas.

We semi-redesigned our look, eliminating info box at the bottom of page 1, installing a rail where readers know they can find very important announcements and meeting notices that affect their lives. This is the new home for those small but important tidbits.

We uncluttered our sky boxes, reducing the number to four, one of which lists all the names of the persons in the obituaries for that issue. A second box is our "Good Day" person which is popular and a conversation piece amongst our readers. Good Day persons find out first hand just how many of their neighbors read the Chronicle and saw their picture.

One sky box features a pic and three line subhead referring to the sports pages.

One sky box features a pic and a three line subhead referring to an inside feature or story found inside.

Started using info or go to boxes sunk inside body copy giving a who, what, where and when capsule for those who don't want to read the entire story.

Seeking out more stories about human nature, the frailties of humanity and plain old fashioned people stories.

Added survey items that are list of such things as top Video rentals, top music hits, top movies for the week, etc., and added a Hollywood based column for those wanting more entertainment.

In short, we give people what they need to know but we want to give them what the want to know as well, and leave them feeling good about the time they spent reading the Chronicle

Brand
We have reemphasized the fact that the Chronicle is THE source of in depth news coverage in our county. We not only write using cold hard facts but we constantly try to add the human element to our stories, thus giving not only the stories, but the Chronicle, a heart.

We have not turned our back on the mom and pop submissions or contributions, but we have found ways to better organize and present this news.

We now charge for obituaries, but instead of having a basic form or style, we let folks say what they want about their departed loved one. The logic is two-fold: they are paying for the obit, and the death is not only of interest to family but to hosts of friends and acquaintances who attended church, school, work, recreational activities with the deceased.

We re-categorized our briefly feature (meeting notices, who, what, where when and how paragraphs of clubs, groups and organizations), and now have three easy to read categories instead of one: one features family reunions; one features regular meetings of groups and organizations; and the third features church revival and singing notices. If a reader is looking for starting time of a revival, he no longer has to wade through 120 inches of meeting and group announcements.

Service
Reinstalled the fear of deadlines so that all departments understand the importance of consistency in getting our papers in the newsstands and stores. Readers need to know that if it is 4 p.m. on Wednesday, the Chronicle is in the news stand. This might seem elementary, but it is hard for our small staff to do but we are doing it.

Better response to reader complaints AND requests. Following up on suggested news stories.

Very active Readership in Newspapers program which includes providing newspapers (paid for by sponsors) to 891 number of elementary schools in the county. This exposes young readers once a week to the newspaper with teachers using the papers as teaching tools.

Partnered with the high school journalism class to periodically speak on selected topics and to introduce students to our high school intern program.

Culture
Members of the advertising and editorial departments worked in the mailroom inserting papers during the holiday season to assist in getting papers ready for sale. This offers those departments an insight into what it take getting the newspaper to the post office once it is printed. Lesson: The job doesn't stop when the press is turned on.

We had a building-wide cookout last year on Labor Day weekend with the editorial department providing hamburgers and hotdogs and other department personnel bringing a covered dish. Many workers outside editorial and advertising staffs expressed thanks for being included.

We have taken an extra step in dialogue with mail and press department employees to provide for the news department news tips and feature ideas for the news room.

News and advertising work together on features for the business page. We offer a free story to all new businesses when they purchase an ad. This has stopped the freeloading from businesses, who wanted the newspaper to promote them, and then turned around and spent their advertising budget with the radio stations. This has worked well, with advertising letting news know when they have secured an ad from a new business.



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?
During the war in Iraq, we featured a service man or woman in each issue on the front page entitled "Proudly Serving." It was a good move because families with loved ones received community response when it became widely known that their loved one was in harm's way. More than one family told the editor that they appreciated the recognition; they received cards from the community and their loved ones were added to prayer lists which made them feel good.



What is the most persuasive indication you have that your readership efforts are producing results?
Despite a very sour economy, rack sales are consistent and show increases for some issues; circulation is growing even though we are a retirement community with the oldest average age per capita in the state. Folks die at record rates but we are either maintaining, or growing in circulation. Also, our classifieds, a good indicator of readership, continue their healthy upward trend. We also won first place in the state for best layout and makeup — first time ever for this award, which means not only do we see the changes, our readers do as well.



What is the most important lesson you have learned as you have worked on readership in the last few years?
That many things demanded through the readership survey we were already doing, but our presentation was lacking; our packaging needed to be retooled so that our readers could more easily recognize all that we do offer them in each issue of the Chronicle.



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?
Features. Features. Features. We have such a busy operation with our paper and two sister papers being published in our office that sometimes projects have to be put on the back burner. We have been snowed under with special sections to the point that something had to be left undone. Of course, features were chosen by default. We also suffered a cut in one fulltime editorial slot. We need more people and heart stories.

Getting Traction on Readership

Survey Responses by Topic & Newspaper