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May 2002
NOW is the Time!
There are a few this newsletter is distributed to who will remember the Steve Martin routine in which he
boasts how one can pay NO taxes on a million dollars. First, he knowingly tells the audience, "Get a million dollars!"
Then, when the IRS audits you later, sheepishly reply, "I f-or-g-o-t!"
The message behind this memory lane meandering is that now that there’s a glimmer of positive news out there
let’s NOT forget how to make money and what will serve the newspaper industry best.
Taking care of the customer!
No more elaborate message than that.
Except that now, the newspaper customer might be surfing the Internet, a recently converted non-reader who is
occasionally buying a single copy or a time starved single soccer Mom who only reads one of the seven copies
of her daily paper now stacking up in the recycle bin.
The challenge is in knowing what EACH of these differing types of customers wants, then finding a way to deliver.
Audience measures – from secondary to proprietary to asking someone standing in a grocery store check out line –
are more important than ever. Since such investment in market knowledge was one of the first budgetary items to
be slashed during these under performing times, NOW would be an excellent time to again make the commitment
to understanding customers. Don’t forget their “more choices than ever” fickle ways, and get to know ‘em better.
Consider what has probably happened if you haven’t conducted market research in just the past 2 years:
- Approximately 40% of your audience has moved. Yes, some moved within your market, but has your database kept track
of them? Infants have grown to be children and teenagers gone off to college and Mom and Pop have become empty
nesters…is your advertising reflecting such changes and has content morphed to remain relevant?
- At least 50% of the market is now online! Some 5% (and, in some cases up to 40% of your web site visitors!)
via broadband. About 15% are getting news and information via a handheld device. What in the print product promotes
online and vice-versa? Are you capitalizing on the Internet’s strengths and reaching more readers?
- If you are a typical market, somewhere between 15 and 20% has had a disappointing customer service experience
with a newspaper in those two years. Was it you? Were those isolated instances or systemic and continue? How do you know?
Not long ago we argued as passionately as a newspaper partner can, that an investment in primary market research
was inexpensive when compared with other metrics commonly captured. See what you think - subscriber acquisition
averages in the industry routinely run between $20 and $30 per start. Far fewer newspapers are measuring retention costs.
On the other hand, Belden averaged the investment for each project over the last two years and determined the
average investment for each newspaper purchaser (subscriber or single copy) was .85 - for each reader .39 !!
Doesn’t that seem like a small amount to regularly invest in long-term viability and profitability? You’re darned right it is.
To serve as a catalyst, take a look at this sampling of partnerships we’ve started or are starting over the next few months:
- Advertiser Satisfaction: By segmenting the results of advertiser interviews by volume of advertiser, geography,
sales person, type of account, and a host of other variables, very specific refinements and improvements can be
added to a newspaper’s sales mix. Internally, the goal should always be to delight a customer – simple satisfaction
will not always be enough… It is becoming the expectation.
- Classified: We’re looking at this vital revenue source for several partners in just about any way you can imagine.
By vertical (real estate, automotive, employment), by advertiser (HR department and recruitment agency) by passive and
active job seeker, and how different among papers large and small. Far too important a category not to be jumping
through just about any hoop to better understand – AND GET BACK!!
- Online: As Stan Lee says, “’Nuff said!” This is a far bigger deal than even many of the defunct dot.coms once
thought. It is an absolute REQUIREMENT we understand our online audience (what it is and is becoming!) and how it
impacts our print products both pro and con. Belden conducts 4 rounds of the Sales and Site Survey annually, which
profiles newspaper web site visitors and, unlike most syndicated research, even provides the flexibility of specific
questions each round.
- Which also suggests attempting to segment the online audience in ways that really gets to motivation and remains
demographically neutral. Interesting, huh?
- Even though Belden Associates feels the Reader Behavior Score (RBS) needs to go a bit further, any metric
captured regularly and that catalyzes us to action is worthwhile. If section readership and the proper demos
are connected with it – AND, there’s a willingness to act – this can be a valuable tool.
- · Multiple ongoing market and readership studies are in the works – all with the expectation that the
publications generate a minimum of 10x the investment in advertising sold or saved – a very common ratio!
Finally, no matter what type of research is being contemplated, are steps in place to see that it leads to
real action? Is it predictive, not reflective? That’s an important goal – we HATE to see a significant
investment used for paperweights or doorstops. The results must literally cry for action so that it’s
easy to do just that…
…NOW is the time, so let’s all make sure we make the most of it. Most around here believe the glimmer of hope
on the horizon is a SUPERNOVA of good news for newspapers… understanding your audience will make sure!
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