The Lexington Way Every Home, Every Day, Every Way! Aaron J. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
The Lexington Way Every Home, Every Day, Every Way! Aaron J. Kotarek Vice President, Audience Development Herald-Leader Media Lexington, Kentucky New England Association of Circulation Executives Fall Conference Northampton,
Aaron J. Kotarek
Vice President, Audience Development Herald-Leader Media Lexington, Kentucky
New England Association
Fall Conference Northampton, Massachusetts November 6, 2014
Daily Circulation: 84,602 Sunday Circulation: 108,471
Distribute to two-thirds of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (72 counties) 2012: Fastest growing newspaper in Kentucky, print & online, and 13th fastest Nationwide
Lexington, KY Market Facts
Lexington population has grown over 13.5% to over 300,000 since 2000 Scott County is the fastest growing county in KY 2nd largest city in KY and 63rd largest in US 41% of Fayette County residents have earned a Bachelor’s Degree or higher Consistently ranked as one of the top places to live in the United States The Bluegrass Region is a greater than $20 billion economy marked by consistent, sustainable growth
Top website in the State (KY.com) Top Ad buy in the DMA Connect with 500,000 print and online readers per week 3 time Pulitzer prize winning property Strong brand identity within the communities we serve No need to highly discount our products and services
Lexington, KY DMA Map Population: 984,000
– Top website in the State – According to Hitwise we have had the top share of all new sites in KY 16 of last 18 months
week (print/digital)
month
– Over 57,000 main page likes! – 5 Facebook pages
– Over 35 H-L accounts (News) with over 100K followers
– Over 1,000 videos
– Over 50% of our traffic comes through tablet & smartphone
*
Connecting with and influencing today’s modern consumer occurs throughout the
upon – they do not interrupt.
Be CONSISTENT and PERSISTENT
1. Selectively Raise Renewal Pricing
demographics, rate, etc.
2. Focus on Retention of CORE Subs and Customer Engagement: Wiser Investment Than $60 Acquisition CPO’s
3. Raise Sales-Acquisition Expectations: Higher Quality Orders at a Lower Cost 4. Initiate “Activation Fees” for New Starts and Perm Stop Restarts 5. More/Strategic Placement of Local News On A1 and Sports
6. Further Engage/Monetize Customers With E-Mails/Social-Media 7. Actively Market Digital Subscriptions
Contact 8. Develop NEW Print Products to Grow Preprint Revenues
Relevant, and Differentiated CONTENT
1. Remind subscriber that FULL RATE for their particular subscription package is $XX.XX and they are receiving a discount of $XX.XX by paying their current rate of $XX.XX 2. Promote value of the newspaper: 1. www.Kentucky.com 2. The Herald-Leader e-edition (a digital replica of the newspaper) 3. The Herald-Leader Smartphone applications such as iPhone and Android as well as our m.kentucky.com mobile site. 4. The Herald-Leader iPad application 5. Hundreds of dollars in potential savings through the Reader Rewards Club Extra 6. Award winning UK athletics coverage by John Clay, Jerry Tipton, Mark Story & H-L photo staff 7. Three-time Pulitzer prize winning journalism as well as award winning Public Service and Investigative reporting 8. Special sections such as: Uniquely Kentucky, Readers Choice and UK sports previews 9. Over $11,000 in advertising circulars and coupon savings in 2013 3. Offer our Reader Rewards Card, $9.99 value, with 44 offers that are reusable for continuous savings (see attached list). 4. Offer a $10 gift card; choice of gasoline, grocery or movie tickets 1. Shell Gasoline 2. Kroger 3. Regal Theaters 5. Offer both reader rewards card plus $10 gift card 6. Negotiate a “slight” rate concession with the intention of garnering an incremental increase from subscribers previous rate: 1. Locate both rates on your Mather Rate Sheet 2. First offer a rate in between the two rates. This offer is based on a discount the subscriber is eligible for – this will be discussed during training. For example, Customer’s previous rate was $3.00 per week and now is charged $3.40 per week. Offer $3.20 per week 3. If that doesn’t work, Revert to previous weekly rate 4. Last offer is – if possible, drop rate by $0.10--$0.50 cents per week 7. If customer still states they want to stop, offer to downgrade their subscription package to a Weekend, Sunday Only or Digital Only package.
EZ Pay Subs 13 Wk Term 26 Wk Term 52 Wk Term New Subs: Introductory Offers
Accept Incremental Rate Adjustment Stop Negotiate Rate Concession
Open Dialogue Accessibility to Executive ABC “Always Be Closing” No Money Down Offers Admit Shortcomings Fix Problems Don’t Hide Behind Desk
Love Letter—We Miss You Re-Acquisition Campaign Valentines Day, 2014 Return Rate: 2.84% CPO: $24.00
Persistent and Aggressive Re-Acquisition Campaigns Are a Must
3-Pronged Approach: Post Card, followed by Email and Telesales
upcoming content
Press + account (if they have not already done so)
Package
Use your Social Media platforms as acquisition avenues Ardent social media users are low hanging targets for Digital Only packages This offer was placed on
walls of residents of Lexington and surrounding counties for only $200!
Digital Engagement Spadea, March 2014 KHSAA Boys Sweet 16
How do you get over 57,000 likes? Consistent contests enticing your readers!
Journo who gets it!
No Matter Which Department You Reside In
“I thought your big Digital Plus play was just a fancy name for a price increase. I was pissed at you, and in review you appear to be brilliant. I now use my iPad to read your content here in the restaurant and I used a computer from a hotel room during a recent
Wayne Masterman Owner, Portofino Restaurant Lexington, Kentucky
Sacramento Bee Maria Ravera, VP/Audience Dev. mravera@sacbee.com Bee rewards subscribers who activate their Digital account $5.00 gift card
Herald-Leader Day at the Races is Thursday, April 24, 2014! Find a FREE General Admission coupon on the front page of the 4/24 edition of the Herald-Leader and join us at Keeneland!
Push-Out Message Email, Social, ROP Promote Upcoming Content Digital Engagement Monetize “The Moment”
Printed on back of shirt: @HLpublicsafety #LexingtonPoliceScanner
Gift cards are nice but….. HOW ABOUT A CAR!
Entice readers to:
Platforms
program
Groupon More than a sales tool…..helps promote your products and services in places that are hard to reach Examples: Pandora radio,
Need some new Final Four cover art for your personal Facebook page? Use one of the eight images we've made available for download
Post one to your page, and share the link for
Kentucky.com!
Circulation/Audience strategy
but expected to hit a few home runs