Daily Circulation: 39,984
Sunday Circulation: 51,067


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
Increased database reporting featured in front-page enterprise presentations such as an analysis of local restaurant and school cafeteria inspections that drew readers' attention.

Improved our Friday (Enjoy!) entertainment guide. It offers more content, including features on local nightspots, more film and restaurant reviews, an improved calendar and Broadway and Off-Broadway theater reviews.

Developed content geared to our growing commuter and suburban audience, such as Family Weekend Planner, a page that tells parents what they can do with their kids on the weekend; Day Trips, a feature about places to go within a day's drive; commuter columns offering advice for those who travel by car or train; a commuter Web site offering travel information such as updates on bridge traffic across the Hudson.

Created theme pages in Sports five days a week, including a Players section focusing on recreational sports and outdoors activities, a "Without Limits" page focusing on extreme sports like rock climbing, a high school sports feature page, a NY pro sports feature enterprise page and an auto racing page.

Developed a page-one summary box makes it easier for commuters to see a daily line-up of what's in the paper.

Created Crime Beat, a weekly series that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the criminal justice system. The aim was to beef up Monday's circulation.

Revamped our Friday "Homes" real estate section featuring new content and columns, including a monthly profile of a local home or garden, plus Martha Stewart's column and "Small Spaces," a feature on decorating small areas.

Redesigned our Web site and added depth (such as an extensive high school sports site) and more online cross-promotions to the newspaper.

To spread our name and build revenue, we published two high-quality hardcover books based on content we had previously published in special sections in the newspaper (see more information under "Brand.")

Increased the use of graphics with stories.

Improved design to make the paper more compelling visually.

Created "Verge," a page written by and for teenagers.

Created a feature called "Tales of the Hudson Valley" that appears every other week in the Sunday Life section. It focuses on local history, of strong interest to both newcomers and long-time residents.

Brand
We've used market studies in 1999 and 2002 to help us determine brand identity. The slogan "Your Community. Your Newspaper" was developed and touted through the newspaper, television, radio and the Web.

We promoted our "Busy Cook" page geared to working parents with little time to cook on Cable television's Food Network as sponsor of a local visit by famous chef, author and host of "Taste," David Rosengarten .

We've tried to target newcomers by mailing them a welcoming letter from the publisher, a free "Fact Book," our annual guide to the Hudson Valley, and an offer to sample the Journal for free for a month.

We've sponsored the local minor league baseball team.

We've offered our Sunday paper, normally $1.50, for 99 cents at convenience stores to boost single-copy sales.

A new Online campaign with new logo and slogan called "It all Connects", was created to reinforce the connection between our print and online products. 10 second radio ads called, "Headlines of the day" promoted daily editorial content to the public and helped brand us as the premiere and complete local news source

Created a new Health Fair Event in 2000 which supported and promoted our new Health section. Attendance was outstanding.

A 7-Eleven "coffee and a paper" promotion netted Circulation an extra 200 per day in single copy sales for a total of over 6,000 additional copies. After the promotion single copy sales showed a retention rate of 18% over pre-promotion levels.

Headlines of Tomorrow were touted by RNN Regional Television and the Weather Channel Crawl was used to promote events and Editorial products and special sections

A variety of Online contests, called "e-sweepstakes," have been conducted to acquire e-mail addresses to seed an e-mail database. Demographic notes are appended to the e-mail address, as well as which event or contest they responded to which gives us an initial parameter of personal interests. This database will be the basis for a new E-marketing campaign to send out 'Headlines of the day' teasers, mirroring our :10 Headlines of the Day radio messages.

The Journal has published two books which have successfully reinforced our branding position by marketing their quality and our abilities. The books: one of regional interest- "The Hudson Valley, Our Heritage, Our Future" - and one of national interest - "West Point: Legend on the Hudson.'' are sold in bookstores, including Barnes & Noble, and at historic sites and other venues up and down the Hudson Valley. They have helped us reach potential new readers and establish that we are the source for information on the region's history.

We retain a premium billboard location at Stewart International airport to promote our Web site and our tourism site. This regional airport welcomes travelers from all over the world to the Hudson Valley region. Worked with the New York State Lottery to offer gift awards for the Poughkeepsie Journal EZ-Pay credit card promotion. This new proposal not only generated a lot of excitement and almost instant acceptance by the NYS Lottery, but provided the Poughkeepsie Journal with $20,000 in Lottery scratch-offs at no charge, to be used as incentive for subscribers converting to EZ-Pay or to new subscribers starting their subscription with the EZ-Pay plan. This unique approach turned out to be an excellent incentive with a 64% increase in EZPAY conversions plus 224 new starts.

In January 1999 a reader survey was created for brand identity research and was completed and evaluated to create a brand marketing mission. A new brand identity positioning the Poughkeepsie Journal as the community newspaper of choice was created and "Your Community. Your Newspaper." was born. In 1999 we produced twelve print testimonial ads, six television commercials and three radio commercials for branding. The new logo treatment with our slogan was incorporated into every aspect of our marketing communication efforts, including banners, premiums, and POP.

In 1999, Our new Busy Cook page was heavily promoted May 3 - 24 on Cable television's Food Network as sponsor of a local visit by famous chef, author and host of "Taste", David Rosengarten

In 1999 the marketing committee met regularly to develop and support branding issues, as well as further discussion on other strategic issues. Meetings have included review of new Prizm information on Household growth and income for tri-county area as well as multiple meetings to decide contents of readership study and review questions and goals. Other meetings have included discussion of strategies to reach newcomers and commuters in Southern Dutchess as well as ideas for a customer service initiative. The campaign "Sunday is.." was launched in May and was the brainchild of our Marketing Committee through a series of meetings.

In August 1999 a mailing was created to target newcomers which contained a free Fact Book & a letter from the publisher with a four-week free sample offer.

The Journal was represented at Renegades Opening Nite as sponsor. The Journal's superior Renegades coverage was promoted by handing out 2,500 of our Renegades special sections and 1,000 "Your Community. Your Newspaper." Pencils. Journal Newshound Brian Dwyer threw out the first pitch. The Journal foul poles were promoted, if hit, all attendees receive 99 cent value coupons from Wendy's.

Our brand image along with 99 cent Sundays was promoted for six weeks in June on 27" monitors at Cumberland Farms & 7-11's in Dutchess & Ulster. Single copy sales showed a 4.5% increase during this time

Successfully reinforced our branding position by marketing the quality of our Millennium Book based on the Journal series. Multi-media campaign used.

A new Online campaign with new logo and slogan called "It all Connects", was created to reinforce the connection between our print and online products. :10 second radio ads called, "Headlines of the day" promoted daily editorial content to the public and helped brand us as the premiere and complete local news source

The execution of a multi-media, multi-layered, 2001 Heart KIA RIO Sweepstakes was well-received and considered highly successful by our classified advertiser and our readers

The Journal's award-winning photographs and new readership data was integrated into sales presentations, rate cards, extended market brochure and readership panels. A special sales brochure program devised for each individual sales rep was started. The "It's a fact" ad and sales flyer campaign was recreated using the new data.

Created a new Health Fair Event in 2000 which supported and promoted our new Health section. Attendance was outstanding.

Participate annually as a sponsor in numerous targeted events including: Cooking Show distributing "Busy Cook" recipe and meal planner pads, "Kids Expo" promoting the Families, For Kids, Weekend Family Planner and Verge pages with a sampler and distribution of Newshound Writing Kits to kids. Sponsor the Hispanic Festivals and numerous other community ventures

In 2002 a 7-Eleven Coffee Promotion netted Circulation an extra 200 per day in single copy sales from March 17 - April 13 for a total of over 6,000 additional copies. After the promotion single copy sales showed a retention rate of 18% over pre-promotion levels.

In 2002 a new online branding campaign and contests were instigated and supported the significant increases in online traffic. Targeted strategies included the conception of a new slogan, "It all connects", logo treatment and ad campaign

In-paper promotions of the Editorial products and the "Headlines of the Day" radio campaign supported Circulation goals in reducing in churn and increasing in retention. - The Headlines of the Day radio campaign was strategically coordinated with rack cards and 2A ad placement. Late-breaking stories are also promoted in the tight 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. time slot on morning radio to reach the commuters before they leave the market during their 1-2 hour journeys to work

Headlines of Tomorrow were touted by RNN Regional Television and the Weather Channel Crawl was used to promote events and Editorial products and special sections

An ONLINE E-SWEEPSTAKES SERIES was created called 'E-sweepstakes'. A variety of Online contests have been conducted to acquire e-mail addresses to seed an e-mail database. Demographic notes are appended to the e-mail address, as well as which event or contest they responded to which gives us an initial parameter of personal interests. This database will be the basis for a new E-marketing campaign to send out 'Headlines of the day' teasers, mirroring our :10 Headlines of the Day radio messages. At the present time 8 contests have been conducted for a total of over 11,000 entries. A variety of entertainment venues were selected to ensure the greatest diversity of entrants as possible. The venues were: Goo Goo Dolls concert, Kenny Chesney concert, Rockettes performance, Nutcracker ballet, Oklahoma Broadway play, Rent Broadway play, Kenny Rogers concert, Royal Christmas with Julie Andrews.

Successfully reinforced our branding position by marketing the quality of our books based on our award-winning newspaper series. Multi-media campaign used. The Journal has published two books which have successfully reinforced our branding position by marketing their quality and our abilities. The books: one of regional interest - "The Hudson Valley, Our Heritage, Our Future" - and one of national interest - "West Point: Legend on the Hudson" - are sold in bookstores, including Barnes & Noble, and at historic sites and other venues up and down the Hudson Valley They have helped us reach potential new readers and establish that we are the source for information on the region's history.

We retain a premium billboard location at Stewart International airport to promote our Web site and specifically our tourism site. This regional airport welcomes travelers from all over the world to the Hudson Valley region.

In conjunction with Cars.com advertised our site in the New York State Auto Dealers Association magazine and convention issue. Advertised our sites with full-color ads in both the Poughkeepsie and Southern Dutchess Chamber of commerce and on the new Poughkeepsie map project. The maps are mailed to potential visitors and relocators around the world.

In 2000 the Surview program was incorporated into our research toolbox and included onsite training in . With the data from the new readership study over 200 new presentations panels were created and numerous charts and graphs produced. Through strategic planning Market Development evolved four NEWCOMER profiles with separate interests, demographics and lifestyles using Surview, PSYTE Lifestyle Segmentation, MapInfo and ImMEDIAte. These profiles were used to target reader interests and identify sampling program geography

The 2001 revision of the market book added an additional 12 pages of information, including an extensive Online product wrap-up as well as new photos and updated research. An award-winning advertiser gift promotion consisting of a four-pack of full-color mugs, each illustrating a different research point and photograph taken from the printed companion pieces was also created.

In 2002 a concept and proposal was created to approach the New York State Lottery with the request that they fund the gift awards for the Poughkeepsie Journal EZ-Pay promotion. This new proposal not only generated a lot of excitement and almost instant acceptance by the NYS Lottery, but provided the Poughkeepsie Journal with $20,000 in Lottery scratch-offs at no charge, to be used as incentive for subscribers converting to EZ-Pay or to new subscribers starting their subscription with the EZ-Pay plan. This unique approach turned out to be an excellent incentive with a 64% increase in EZPAY conversions plus 224 new starts. Requests for the proposal have come in from newspapers from all over the country and this concept may help solidify partnerships between lotteries and newspapers across the nation.

Service
Based on market research we determined that home delivery times needed to be earlier and we made necessary changes to bring delivery time to 5:30 for the majority of the market. Alpha numeric pagers were installed in the field to improve response times on delivery issues. District manager incentives were changed to be more service focused. Reorganization of runs in the transportation area and better on-time performance in the press room resulted in more timely and consistent delivery to our news dealers.

In 2000 a newly developed Customer Service Committee devised a "Perfect Catch" program to reduce ad errors

Culture
We developed building-wide committees focusing on issues like New Product Development, Sunday circulation, Web site Development and Home Delivery Growth. Committees usually include members from the Newsroom, Advertising, Circulation, Production and Marketing. They focus on finding solutions to specific problems. For instance, one committee developed a new tourism guide. Another improved the content promotion on the Sunday front page to help draw more readers.



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 building-wide committees we created to address readership issues (see "Culture" in Question 1).



What is the most persuasive indication you have that your readership efforts are producing results?
One of the best indicators is our circulation volume. Volumes are trending above last year and through the first six months of the year, daily volume is nearly 1% higher than last year. More importantly, our base of readers is growing as indicated in our home delivery volume which is above last year by 2.8% daily and 5% on Sunday through June. We are receiving significantly more hits on our Web site from regional visitors. Cross-promotion we do on the Web seems to help sell the print product.



What is the most important lesson you have learned as you have worked on readership in the last few years?
It takes all departments at the newspaper - News, Circulation, Marketing and Advertising - working together to build readership. That means developing long-term plans together, building teams to create new products and keeping in constant communication.



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?
The toughest nut to crack is how to get the attention of our growing commuter audience who have little time to read. They spend two to five hours a day commuting to work, mostly by car, and 39 percent of them read no daily publication at all, let alone ours.

Use frequently rotating billboards or sponsor signs at key commuter crossroads to promote columnists, articles of commuter interest and special sections, as well as local news. This will require a larger budget for billboards.

Expand Headlines of the Day radio to include a radio station with broader commuter reach like WFAN or WABC. This will require careful negotiation and a larger budget for broadcast.

Address Circulation Growth in Northwestern Dutchess and Ulster. Target current readers who are migrating to these areas for more affordable housing These current readers may now become commuters and we risk losing their readership so we must be proactive to retain them. The Editorial content changes and Online Commuter information will be valuable to these vested readers with new lifestyles. Ongoing evaluations of our penetration will be necessary to ensure we are following them with our communications.



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 be able to do more series and personalizing of routine or regular events. Staff limitations have prevented us from doing that to the degree we would like.

Getting Traction on Readership

Survey Responses by Topic & Newspaper