Daily Circulation: 100,582
Sunday Circulation: 117,854


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 have created a "readership committee" made up of marketing and editorial staff members to research and suggest content changes based on the ASNE readership study, plus our own MORI research data.

Brand
Within our market studies, we've asked and formulated key marketing terms which appeal to readers and non-readers of our newspaper. Branding efforts are centered around these statements/words throughout advertising and circulation marketing efforts.

Service
The circulation department has implemented a highly successful program to make daily and Sunday service top priority. Ratios have never been better compared to service levels in past years.

Culture
The core management team, directly by the publisher has created a team to uncover ways to more effectively work across departmental lines.

Overall, we have aggressively researched ways to build readership, loyalty and internal culural shifts using data from ASNE and our own market studies. Steven Duke from the Readership Institute also conducted a two-day seminar at our paper on all of the four headings in this question.



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?
The creation of our "readership committee" to uncover Phase 1 changes (without additional newshole/staff) then Phase 2 recommendations that may include new expenses. Within a short time, many of phase 1 suggestions have already been implemented. These are actionable changes that have inspired the staff internally, plus are motivators to help build readership.



What is the most persuasive indication you have that your readership efforts are producing results?
We have not surveyed any changes made from Phase 1, however our editorial study conducted in March, 2003 reflected significant readership increased based on our redesign efforts in October, 2001, plus content improvements made in 2002.



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?
Continue to build readership among the 18-34 segment. Develop sections to appeal to this market, but take lessons learned from Red Eye and other young demo publications.

Getting Traction on Readership

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