Max Heath, shares 25 tactics that community newspapers from around the country have used to successfully grow their circulation.

1. Top 25 Ways to Grow Circulation
for the Community Newspaper

3. 1. Single Copy is still the
easiest button to push to get
immediate gains at lowest cost

4. Single Copy Sales
Reach the needed
Non-Subscribing/
Occasional Reader

5. Location…
Location…
Location…

6. Inside more Retail Stores

7. (MORI Research for NAA’s 2006 Single Copy Buyers Study)

8. Single Copy
buying is a habit

9. The value of newspaper sales to retailers…
Newspaper buyers
(MORI Research for NAA’s 2006 Single Copy Buyers Study)

10. Create Retail Partnerships

12. BEST
PRACTICES
&
SUCCESS
STORIES

13. +434

15. +237

16. +109

17. +184

18. +107

19. +133

20. +138

22. Single-copy outlet expansion
Manager Dale Bowen of
the Chiefland (FL)Citizen
purchased 25 used racks
and placed 15 at his
4,027 weekly newspaper
Outlet target
• 7 per 1,000 HH
• 1 per every 150 HH

23. Williston FL Manager
Kathy Richardson
deployed 10 more
racks. Added to 24
retail outlets, they
now have 6 per
1,000 HH.

24. George Jacobs,
Cynthiana KY publisher,
purchased 22 racks for
deployment at 4 regional
papers and Cynthiana
Democrat, 5,652 weekly

25. Get Inside Wal-Mart
Alan Place, manager of
Sumter County Times,
5,323 weekly, got 9
check-out rack locations
inside the Bushnell FL
Wal-Mart selling about 130
copies per week
www.thenexxusgroup.com

27. Get on sale
earlier
Ryan Bramlett, New Albany
Gazette manager, got the
paper out earlier and papers
on the street earlier. Single
sales were up 754 at this
4,932 twice-weekly

28. We need to “harvest” more single
copy buyers to the subscriber side

29. 2. Run single
copy inserts
on regular
basis
The Kentucky Standard
in historic Bardstown KY
earned 73 starts from
this Friday the 13th flyer

30. CKNJ’s Crystal Anderson
drew 57 new and 152
renewals from one issue
of the newspaper and two
of the shopper for this
6,735 twice-weekly

31. One-Day Sales

32. Chiefland Citizen’s One
Day Sale brought in 93
new and renewal
subscriptions

33. Galax Gazette One Day
‘After Thanksgiving Sale’
sold 24 new starts for this
8,263 Galax VA tri-weekly

34. Frequency
of inserts…

35. 3. Improve your news product
Williston FL Editor Kathy
Richardson’s news
improvements have been
accompanied by growth

36. Editor Julie Satterly has joined
a circulation growth team
at The Oldham Era,
LaGrange, KY

37. Brunswick Editor Ben
Carlson is promoting news
of interest to summer
residents on page 1
of 17,000 NC weekly

38. Key Steps…

41. Promote SmartSource
and Valassis coupon packages
The Record promotes per-issue
coupon value in the page 1 ear

42. SmartSource Coupons

43. Casey County News,
5,469 Liberty KY weekly,
drew 23 new subs and 9
requested samples from
this full-page promotion
based on ½ the value of
the coupons in that issue

44. Creative Ad Campaign

48. 5. Devote more time to growth
Susan Collins, circulation
manager and general factotum
at The Spencer Magnet,
Taylorsville KY weekly
grew 197 in one year

49. Laura Satterly worked as a
part-time circulation sales
manager for The Kentucky
Standard who gained entry to
Wal-Mart inside single sales
for this 9,380 tri-weekly
Two of Laura’s
promotions…

50. 33 starts from Anniversary 14 starts came from one-
Sale in Sun. single copy and day sale flyer for “National
Wed. non-subscriber shopper Pamper Yourself Day”

51. 6. Offer Targeted
Premiums
Perry County News, Tell City, IN
twice-weekly sold 31new with
this America’s Best Recipes
cookbook premium.

52. 7. Boost Web Starts
(Pop-Up Box)

54. Pop-under box sold 18 month; 10 average in quarter

55. “Must-haves” to generate more
subscription offers from web sites:

56. Web Site Single Sales Promo
Pick up your copy
of The Cynthiana
Democrat at these
racks and dealer
locations:
CITY LOCATIONS
Ken's NewMarket
Ken's Discount
Tobacco Shop
Kentucky Motors
MSP Market (Shell
Food Mart)
Eastside Pharmacy
Thrift Food Mart
Yellow Rose
First Stop
Rite-Aid
Save-A-Lot
Fast Max
Sunstar Entertainment
Speedway

57. 8. E-mail Alerts

58. 9. Promote in other media
Tom McDonald and Amanda Pacheco teamed up on this radio
spot promoting Las Vegas (NM) Optic improvements and
subscriptions with additional 10% discount for citing radio ad.
34 new subscribers cited the spot when subscribing.

59. Judy Underwood, Morgan
County News, Wartburg
TN 5,084 weekly, provides
news briefs on the radio
in return for promotional
copy. Circulation is up
152 copies, 3.3%.

60. Meghan Murphy, Clear
Creek (CO) Courant editor,
records weekly radio spots
on the local station, listing
single copy outlets

61. 10. Direct Mail non-subscribers
Stephanie Hornback,
manager of The Record,
Leitchfield KY, oversaw direct
mail to non-subscribing
households, gaining 734 new
starts this year

62. The Pioneer News,
Shepherdsville KY,
8,200 twice-weekly
mailed this continuous
form outbound/return
envelope and sold 553
new subs at a 4.9%
return on pieces mailed
See www.bwpress.com

63. Chester SC, News &
Reporter, got 65 restarts
(16.5% return) from this
mailing to 393 former
subscribers of the 6,600
twice-weekly

64. ‘We Want You’ Flyer

67. Improve Direct Mail

68. 11. Sample non-subscribers
The Williamson County Sun, Georgetown TX, sold 280 new for
9.3% return from 3,000 samples and multiple contact options

69. House Ad
Mail-back card
Letter from publisher with coupon

70. 12. Friday the 13 th Specials

71. New Albany Gazette

72. The LaRue County
Herald News

73. Roane County News

74. New Year’s
Special

75. 13. Telemarket Past Subscribers
Citrus County Chronicle sales +708 in 2004
2,379 orders, 39% prepaid by credit card

76. 14. New Mover Calls & Mailings

77. Henry County Local
County Guide
Introductory Offer

80. 15. Bulk Subscriptions

81. 16. Requested Sample
Card Program

82. 17. Bill stuffers/calls to retail,
classified ad customers

83. 18. Emphasize Retention

84. 19. Stop-Saver Calls
Alison Hash of the
Galax Gazette

85. 20. Shopper Ads

86. 21. Kiosk Sales

87. Susan Rowell, Publisher of
The Lancaster (SC) News,
authorized funding of a
kiosk program that has
produced 620 new paid
starts in four months

88. The Sentinel-News Valentine’s Day Kiosk

91. 22. Carrier Sales Promotions

92. Chris Lopez sold 171
new starts in 11 months
to win Carrier of the
Month 4 out of 6 months

93. 23. Front
Office Sales
Amy Zetina, new
receptionist at The
News-Enterprise, sold
70 paid starts in 2
months by asking
customers who called
or came into the office

94. 24. Group Fund-raiser Sales

95. 25. Outreach for Literacy
NIE, adult literacy programs use newspapers to teach

96. Bye-Bye
To say goodbye we bring you Newsy, The News-
Enterprise mascot, shown here with their NIE logo