Community newspapers produce results

Readers of local community newspapers were asked how often they read advertisements in their newspapers. The questions included grocery stores, department stores, classified ads and public notice ads. The survey was conducted in 2012 by the Reynolds Journalism Institute for the National Newspaper Association. When asked how often they read grocery store ads or advertising inserts in their local newspaper a combined sixty-two percent of readers often or very often read the ads. This finding was consistent with those reported in 2010 and 2011 showing that community newspapers continue to be an effective media for grocery store advertising.

Seventy-six percent of readers agreed that newspaper advertising inserts helped them make better purchasing decisions. An overwhelming majority (eighty percent) of community newspaper readers in small towns and cities prefer inserts in newspapers rather than direct mail. And compared to advertisements on the Internet, local residents preferred ads in the newspapers with eighty-one percent strongly saying that they would rather look through newspaper ads than to view them on the Internet. This preference was consistent with the previous finding of surveys done in 2009, 2010 and 2011. To understand the value of advertising in local community newspapers compared to the Internet, radio and advertising through the mail in purchasing decision making the survey asked respondents to indicate the frequency of their use of these sources.

The survey asked how often readers used the Internet when making purchasing decisions. Between 2009 and 2012 responses to the use of the Internet were consistent. In 2010 forty percent and in 2012 twenty-nine percent said they used it either often or very often while forty percent in 2010 and fifty percent in 2012 either rarely or never used the Internet for purchasing decisions. When asked how influential community newspaper ads are in helping a person make purchasing decisions a combined thirty-five percent of local newspaper readers thought newspaper advertising was very or somewhat influential in helping them make purchasing decisions. This finding was consistent with those reported in previous years. Most of this information came from an article published in the July 2013 edition of Publishers Auxiliary. Most community newspapers are not seeing very many new businesses opening up in their towns. Too many local residents are going out of town to nearby big box chain stores to purchase their desired fashions, building materials or even food items. And to top this off many remaining local businesses in the community do not use their local newspaper enough for their advertising needs. To be sure their community newspaper that reports nothing but local news that you can find nowhere else stays healthy and productive local businesses should use their newspaper more frequently. There is no other media in their communities that can reach more people than their local newspaper.

The future of community newspapers is still a very bright one simply because no other media can deliver the number of readers that your newspaper can. People read local newspapers for local news and every business in a community from funeral homes, to clothing stores, to grocery stores and all others should place their advertising in their local newspaper and let it help them to grow their businesses. Your community newspaper is here for you. If you haven’t already done so give it a try.