Daily Circulation: 7,439


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
Began giving readers more news about the community and those who live there

Are more diverse in what we cover

Made stories easier to read, easier to use

Have standing features that give news about the community, such as business news, college news, etc.

Brand
Become more involved in the community

Worked on our customer service throughout the building

Looked at the news from a different perspective

Pushed local, local, local

Changed our style of writing from hard-nosed pyramid style to more feature style

Culture
All departments have developed a team mindset

Avenue to exchange ideas is more open

Service
All employees encouraged to maintain high customer service, regardless of what department he or she works in

Constantly critiquing the overall quality of the newspaper (printing, photos, layout, etc.)

Employees encouraged to go the extra mile

Educated employees about how the other departments work so that they can give complete service to a customer



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?
From an editorial standpoint, the most successful thing we did was revamp the way we covered news. The beats were divided by content (education, government, etc.) but because of the area we cover, it was difficult for one person to cover all the counties for particular area. Now the beats are divided up by county, which gives one person the responsibility to cover all meetings, etc. It also allows the people in that county to know who their contact person is, no matter what, and it allows the reporter to get to know everyone, which can be a plus when dealing with issues that cross lines (government vs. education, for instance).



What is the most persuasive indication you have that your readership efforts are producing results?
Circulation has grown slightly and people who stopped taking the paper years ago have resubscribed because of the change in content, style, etc.



What is the most important lesson you have learned as you have worked on readership in the last few years?
That changing people's perception is hard work, often frustrating but always satisfying when you get that one subscriber back.



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?
Redesign the newspaper -- from a layout standpoint and from a content standpoint – by adding new features and making it more reader friendly. Time has been the major constraint in that.

Getting Traction on Readership

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