Belden DOES have a sense of where market research is headed in the years to come, but what we really hope this issue of In The Know accomplishes is to get reactions and feedback from YOU that communicate us what you want to understand about audiences in the near and longer term.

Last month we touched on the myriad opportunities to be responsive to our advertising clients. The conversation surrounding that notion has been positive. Heck, we're even in discussions with an advertiser or two to capture pieces of that critical information. We'd definitely call that "positive"!

But, what about strategic issues newspapers are or should be thinking about and finding answers to...what are those?

We can start the discussion, but PLEASE, chime back in over the next few days with your thoughts and suggestions regarding what researchers should be researching. These thoughts will certainly guide our thinking and we'll share them next month for all to consider.

Where to begin?

Here's one - as an industry, we're beginning to get a handle on visitors to our web sites (although, we're by no means certain if we're monetizing that understanding satisfactorily) but what about our local audiences who are internet users and DO NOT visit newspaper.com? Who are they? Why don't they come to our site? Are they satisfied with the print edition? Does our registration deter them? What might motivate them to visit...then return again and again and again?

Should this be a focus of research?

And, next, how do you react to these two issues?

1. Branding.
2. Loyalty.

Yeah, yeah, newspapers are a promotional, direct response medium. We hear it all the time too. But, is that all there is to our story? Can we brand? Should we? Is that something we should be researching?

Loyalty - from a reader and advertiser standpoint. Would that bear looking in to? We think so. A few organizations are beginning to experiment with programs rewarding users for more newspaper connectedness. What are we learning from such a connection? What are the drivers? What offers and types of rewards motivate which segments of readers? This could be a very lucrative line of inquiry.

And, the same thinking should apply to determining what would make a more loyal advertiser. When 70% or so of all retail display advertiser's are in our pages 3X or less in a year, why is that? What would keep them in our pages more regularly? Is it a service issue? Do they simply not run the right creative or is there inadequate frequency? Which of the advertiser's who are not in our pages at all should we focus on?

Of course, related to ALL these issues is the mother lode: What should the "newspaper" of the future look like to satisfy as many reader and advertiser interests as possible?

Enough from our end - what do you think? What additional issues warrant all of our considerable collective thinking to attack, then solve? We're eager to hear from anyone with an opinion, idea or notion, with or without attribution. Just sound off soon and often!

This discussion should be of vital interest to everyone. Just as the newspaper industry is grappling with many "next generation" issues, the same can be said about the market research world. If we're not anticipating the next, next thing and trying to quantify or segment or understand it, how will we ever save our customers from themselves? As valuable and insightful as traditional audience metrics have been (especially to those organizations who really execute with and against such research insights) what measures will apply tomorrow?

Somebody simplified it very well: If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always gotten.

We don't know about other industries, but in the newspaper space, we've yet to find a Publisher or client who is even remotely satisfied with what he or she has always gotten. Neither are we!!

Hint: whether you are conjuring up the types of research newspapers should be deploying or products to unveil or marketing platforms to launch, one word which MUST figure in your planning is "utility." The Publisher or researcher who creates and distributes a product or service which customer's find incredibly useful...which creates a slightly positive and healthy addiction...which gets used again and again and again, is the profitable Publisher or researcher of tomorrow. So, make sure "utility" or "usefulness" or "utilitarian" is a part your thinking.