March 3rd, 2008
Fixing Obsolete Newspaper Circulation Marketing: A Challenge To The Washington Post
I received the following “offer” from The Washington Post in the mail today — I’m going to pick on the Post just because I happen to live in the DC metro area, but I’m sure almost every newspaper is sending out circulation marketing pieces like this:
One thing I learned about print circulation marketing during my years in publishing is that direct mailing pieces that convert well are often far from the most creative — there’s actually real science behind circulation marketing, with lot’s of trial and error (e.g. testing different offers, different colors).
But even by those standards, this offer is striking — it assumes that the only barrier to subscribing to the print edition of the Washington Post is price sensitivity. It assumes that the Washington Post is the only big news outlet that I could choose to have delivered to my door, and so if they just offer a good deal — boom, I’ll subscribe.
Newspaper print circulation used to be that way — but no more.
I’m not going to get into the well worn debate about the merits of news in print vs. news online — but it’s undeniable that this offer assumes I’m sold on the merits of news in print. Or, again, that there aren’t any other choices.
Even worse, the focus the on discounts — up to 78% for 7 day delivery — makes me think this isn’t just a sale — it’s a fire sale.
Turn the wayback machine to 1978, and I’ll bet the Post was sending out circ offers that looked very much like this. Perhaps the proper headline is actually:
Same offer for over 30 years!
But the purpose of this post is not another dump on newspapers rant — it’s to suggest a radical idea.
What if the Post actually tried to sell me on the merits of subscribing to the print edition in a way that would actually appeal to me, instead of sending me a glorified coupon for a product I’m not in the market for?
There has been so much written by defenders of news in print — but has any of them actually picked up the phone to call the circ marketing department?
How many newspaper editors have recently seen what their circ marketing department is mailing? I’ll bet not many.
That, needless to say, is the product of decades of monopoly distribution, where couponing was all that was required to grow circulation, and editors never had to concern themselves with ensuring the product they created was one people actually wanted to buy.
OK, so enough evangelism, enough ranting about why this offer didn’t work.
What would work?
There was a great piece in the New York Times about the movement to unplug once a week from a harried, always-on digital life — that certainly resonated with me.
So instead of marketing copy that reads:
Our best offer in over 30 years!
Get the Sunday Post for just 49 cents! (!!!!!)
How about this:
It’s Sunday, time to unplug, shut off the Blackberry, and take a break
Relax, kick back, and catch up with The Washington Post Sunday Edition
Now that’s appealing — I would have actually paused to consider it.
Of course, no amount of marketing enhancement will fix a broken product — The Washington Post and most other newspapers are still largely put together as if no one is getting their news online — and nothing could be further from the truth.
But what if the Post told me that reading the print edition was not only a way to unplug, but also a thoughtful complement to the breaking news I’ve been consuming online round the clock? And what if they actually published a Sunday edition that wasn’t jam packed with information I could more efficiently get online, so that I didn’t have to feel guilty about dumping most of it right into the recycling bin? What if instead they stripped down the Sunday edition and designed it for the type of unplugged relaxation and reflection that I’m seeking?
What if they actually produced TWO editions of the Sunday paper — one for the shrinking demographic who still consumes news the same way they have for decades, and another for a demographic whose news consumption has been fundamentally changed by the web?
What if the Sunday edition actually contained some longer, reflective pieces from around the web? (Not that there are any blogs that write longer, reflective pieces…)
To save this post from being just an another empty piece of evangelism, here’s a challenge for The Washington Post… I know you’re listening.
Send me a subscription offer for the Sunday edition that actually appeals to me (forget changing the product, we can get to that later), and I’ll subscribe — cash on the barrel head — 49 cents a week.
And not only will I subscribe, but I’ll actually commit to reading the Sunday edition every week for at least three months (half the subscription period) — and I’ll provide constructive feedback every week, right here, where any newspaper that hasn’t given up on print might learn a little about readers who have given up on print… any maybe get some ideas for how to reinvent their products in a way that might reverse that trend.
So come one, enough talk, let’s see some action! Our best innovation in circ marketing in over 30 years!
I don’t need to give you my address — it’s already in your circ database.
I’ll be waiting by the mailbox. (Or my inbox, if you prefer.)
As for the everyone else — is there a marketing pitch that would get you to subscribe to your local paper if you don’t currently? Is there a different print product than the one your local paper currently publishes, that you would consider subscribing to? Share below.
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This would be an interesting switch for a daily, and I’m curious how it would play out. From the world of magazines, the New Yorker and Economist are probably the two that deliver most consistently on the promise of in-depth content you make time to read. Monocle recently *tried* to deliver on that promise, but is making a sad botch of it. Turns out it really is difficult to find and retain great writers.
I expect there’s a local news variant of this approach, probably best exemplified by blogs here in my own backyard. The SFGate recently wrote an article (http://icanhaz.com/oakblogs) on Oakland bloggers like A Better Oakland (http://abetteroakland.com/) and how they’re doing a better job of reporting on City affairs that the local Tribune. VSmoothe, the writer behind that site, matches high attention with a personal touch, and I can imagine wanting to actually read the Trib if they published weekly wrap-ups with the same level of quality and depth.
Very good post on how Newspaper executives should be thinking about their business. Of course newspapers and magazines have some features that readers might prefer and selling me on them seems like an obvious good idea. Why they can’t think about new products, features and profit opportunities I don’t know. Could it be cultural? After all they all seem to have remained much the same in the last 20 years with the exception of the USA Today.
I love this post. it comes from the guts and very engaging. It’s a conversation. can’t wait to read the re-action of the WP.
Scott, you became my thinking guru about the web and the media industry. Your posts are the only ones I’m reading as soon as received, printing and keeping some where if ever Internet is destroyed or you bankrupt or yahoo kills my account for any reason.
It’s my first comment since i subscribed months ago. If your blog were printed I still will subscribe and pay for it (how much will you charge?). Figure it, I have all the posts printed to read while riding the metro in Paris.
Print still have some future for people who are not “keyboard punchers”.
Scott,
Really have been enjoying your posts. You’ve nailed a common problem with most newspapers today. Here in Denver we get two dailies and are sad to watch them shrink in size. Like the Post, most papers either don’t get what is happening or are hiding their heads in the sand, hoping this “internet” thing will soon pass. Whereas newspapers used to offer breaking news, by the time they arrive on my driveway — the content is old. I’ve already read the news online yesterday. I agree with you if newspapers today would up the ante on “content” and give us a reason to choose them as our news choice, they would find more readers.
Right on Scott! This is a point I made last year:
http://mturro.bluepear.org/2007/04/27/daily-papers-daily-magazines-daily-print-just-cant-last/
Newspapers need to go digital and print once a week - On Sunday.
Great points Scott, and an age-old marketing problem. Marketing based on price is much easier (not better) than basing your sale on quality, but it puts you in a nasty situation when you aren’t differentiated. As with most things, there is a middle ground and I wonder if you’d subscribe for more than 49 cents a week. But beyond the marketing hype, they need to produce a product or experience that is better than reading your news online for free.
[…] at Publishing2.com, Scott Karp takes the Washington Post to task for using the same old coupon-style discounting offers they’ve used for decades–when in […]
here’s my take:
Great post Scott!
Let me build upon your idea…
Sunday is a great day….but a lot of folks don’t have the luxury of lavishly laying about reading a paper…That’s not to say some folks don’t have the time - it’s just that a lot of us have kids…and Sunday is not that much hectic than the rest of the week. I love the weekends…but most of my reading time is done during the weekday.
I agree that the weekend is the time to target - but give folks a choice - Sunday OR SATURDAY delivery…the guts wouldn’t change from Sat to Sun, but the front page might…
However, you’ve really just tapped into key issue - how can newspapers really deliver something of value? Ok, stand back…here it comes:
Newspapers must combine their collective wealth and energies and focus on getting ELECTRONIC paper to end users ASAP!
Call up Xerox, call up HP, call up Fuji..but make Electronic paper - broadsheet size a reality. For more on this go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_paper
I am not talking something small like an amazon kindle. I am talking a sheet of e-paper that you’d plug into your computer and get instant updates.
Reusable for many months and certainly much cheaper than delivering dead trees every day.
You’d read off this “paper” and if an article grabbed your attention, you’d be able to bookmark it and it would be emailed and/or saved on your computer. Who would pay for this epaper? Why not have it presented by the very advertisers who are in the paper? And drill it down locally… This edition of the NY Times presented by Long Island Honda.
Of course, getting this technology up to where newspapers want it will take a huge amount of investment. BUT, I feel it is necessary.
The electronic paper could be left at home, folded onto the subway, unfolded at work…refreshed before going back home…the possibilities are endless.
And another thing, get me the Electronic Paper and I’d be willing to pay at least 98 cents a week! Probably more.
[…] Fixing Obsolete Newspaper Circulation Marketing: A Challenge To The Washington Post. Scott Karp says he’ll buy a subscription to the WaPo, read it and let the newspaper know how good a job its doing. All they have to do is give them a sales pitch that works. […]
The local weeklies around Washington DC are something that probably should just go away - by the time they arrive, ALL the news and sports are already outdated and dissected by the blogosphere, I’ve already found the items I want on Craigslist and eBay (vs. the Classifieds), the advertisements are horrid, the event listings and letters to the editor are all the same, and the actual editorials could be bundled up together and published under some “local” banner in the Sunday Post.
I would say better content.
We get two newspapers at home: one for my wife in Hindi and one for me in English. Recently the newspaperman (the person who delivers the newspapers in the morning) announced that the newspaper that I read had stopped coming to his stall and I could subscribe to another newspaper just being launched. First of all I knew this was just a trick to get me subscribed to another newspaper, and second, it didn’t make much difference whether I received my usual newspaper in the morning or not because any given day I can go online and read the newspaper.
The point is there is no unique content in the newspapers these days. There was a time I had an ideological preference but these days it is just a statement: there are a few newspapers I would never like to be seen with. So I have opted for the only option I’ve got. I don’t like the quality of the content but at least there columnists don’t shed tears for the terrorists. Other than that I’m not very crazy about receiving it every morning. Whenever there is some news to be read I go to Google news and read many versions of the same news from different newspapers and magazines.
If a newspaper wants to sell me subscriptions it should sell me high-quality, analytical, journalistic content.
The newspaperman resumed delivering the same old newspaper after 4 days; I guess he understood I couldn’t care less whether he delivered it or not.
Great post Scott. Feed from this blog is on my iGoogle’s home page
I added a few notes on my blog
http://ktundwal.blogspot.com/2008/03/what-if-newspapers-were-delivered.html
Sooner or later we will see more newspapers completely abandoning the print circulation. That could happen when more and more people are using computers and mobile phones.
[…] Washington Post didn’t respond to my print circulation marketing challenge, but I just subscribed to The Washington Post Sunday print edition anyway. […]
I know I am late to this party, but I wanted to add something else for consideration. I have never worked in newspaper or print subscription marketing, but it strikes me that from a business perspective these marketing efforts are aimed at converting newsstand purchasers into subscribers. That’s why they focus on the the price benefit. They want you to know that if you buy occasionally at the newsstand, you should really be subscribing to save money.
It’s a powerful argument. And it is easier to convert the occasional reader into a subscriber than it is to convince someone who never reads your publication to start doing so.
This is not to say that the comments about how newspapers should evolve don’t have merit, rather that there’s a sound business reason for the marketing approach being taken here.
I’d like to echo Michael’s idea for an electronic paper. New tech innovations are a dime-a-dozen, but our industry needs a radical act of defibrillation if it is to survive. I’m thinking of the wireless phone model: You sell people a device at a major discount along with a years’s subscription, billed monthly. The device would need to be easy to flip open and read anywhere, but maybe bigger than a smart phone to reduce the squint factor. You could upload from your computer or maybe even make it wireless with some sort of agreement with wireless carriers.
I’m ready to embrace anything that might pay for professional newsgathering, and am perfectly fine with someone trashing my silly idea.
What can say with some level of expertise, however, is that when I moved to my current town two years ago, a week’s worth of my big local paper would completely fill the paper side of my dual recycling bin. No room for junk mail. It was that simple. I work for a newspaper and can’t support the industry because I can’t get rid of all that paper. Not to mention, I can’t see the point in deforestation when we can get all this information electronically.
And in a perverse comparison to wood pulp, content generation is even less unsustainable under the old scheme of newsgathering.
[…] I observed previously with my critique of the Washington Post’s circulation marketing, this marketing piece gives me, an avid reader of NYtimes.com, no explanation whatsoever as to the […]
[…] Scott Karp, one of the founders of Publish2, has a fairly long post on his Publishing 2.0 blog that is very worthwhile reading. It’s entitled Fixing Obsolete Newspaper Circulation Marketing. He talks about newspaper circulation but also has some thoughts on what ought to be in the print edition. The comments on this article are as valuable as the post itself. Newspaper folks may want to publish their own comments, perhaps? Read the article here. […]