The document discusses strategies for building email databases and growing audiences through email marketing. It provides examples from newspapers that have successfully grown their email lists and marketing revenue through contests, deals, and promotions. Specific case studies are presented that show how contests and promotions around things like pizza increased email list sign-ups and engagement substantially. Best practices are outlined around using deals, contests, and leveraging existing online and offline assets to maximize email list growth.

1. Economics of Building Email Databases
New York Press Association Conference
April 2013
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2. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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3. Who We Are
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4. secondstreetlab.com
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5. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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6. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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7. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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8. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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9. Our Partners
2,800 media companies
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10. Why Online Promotions?
In Billions
Source: Borrell Associates
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11. Case Study: GateHouse Media
2012 Contest Calendar
Marketing Revenue Initiative Market Initiative Date Revenue
Cutest Babies January $315,000
Big Game Challenge January-February $115,505
Red Carpet Challenge February $58,674
College Basketball March $300,100
Salute to Nurses April-May $214,000
Mother’s Day April-May $65,000
The Pet Show June $71,547
Football August-October $964,000
Reader’s Choice September-November $635,000
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12. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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13. Case Study: GateHouse Media
Cutest Babies
• Results
– 2012: $300k
– 2,400 submissions
– 3.2 MM votes
– 25k deal opt-ins
– 83K registered users
– 5.7 MM page views
– 20% increase in monthly traffic!
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14. Case Study: GateHouse Media
Pro Football
• Results
– 2011: $350K
• Pro Football Pickem
– 2012: $950K
• Pro, College, High School and
Super Bowl Games
• 170% revenue increase!
• Larger properties generate $50k-
$100k each
• Smaller properties generate $12-
15k each
• Packaged with “Pro Football
Weekly” publication
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15. Quad-City Times’ Get It Today
• Launch of deals was
aha moment of power
of email
• Deals dramatically
moved needle for sales
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16. Agency Contests
• Quad-City Times
– Results:
• Have 7 live advertiser
contests right now
• Range from $5K - $15K
• Building email list and fan
count for local advertisers
(2,000+ fans)
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17. Why Email Marketing?
• Generate New Revenue:
– Track to cross $3MM this year
from email
– $500K directly from contests
– Over $2MM from deals
– Direct marketing email for
advertisers is a six figure
business
– Email sponsorship revenue is
small, but beginning to grow
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18. Why Email Marketing?
Direct
Marketing
Contests Deals
Email
Ads
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19. Why Email Marketing?
• Email Acquisition:
– new way to learn more
about audience & sell
marketing service
– Getting permission to
market to consumers is
critical
• Don’t think of email
marketing as a funnel
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20. WHY NEWSPAPERS?
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21. Why Newspapers?
Affluent &
Trusted Info
Valuable
Source
Audience
Ongoing Ad Key Client
Options Relationships
Multiple
We’re Local Newspaper Media
Promotions
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22. IMPORTANCE OF EMAIL FOR
PROMOTIONS
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23. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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24. Groupon’s Investment in Subscriber Acquisition
Key Stats:
• $179 million spent
online on subscriber
acquisition in Q1 2011
• Signed up over 32.5
million new subscribers
in Q1 2011
• Over $1 million
investment per market
in Q1 2011
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25. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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26. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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27. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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28. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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31. Email List Types: Quality Over Quantity
• Organic List
– Opted-in to get Daily Deal email;
best and most engaged
• Promotional List
– Users who have sign-up for
contests, savings, and Organic Value
promotions
• General or Circulation List
– Key list to market to; a list loyal Promotional
to your company
• Purchased List General
– List acquired from 3rd party;
very low value and low Purchased
engagement
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32. Go Organic!
• Your Organic opt-ins General Email CTR Organic CTR
are more valuable
because they have a
much higher Click-
Through-Rate than a
General opt-in. 8.7%
9.8%
6.6% 6.7%
5.7%
3.5%
2.4% 2.0%
1.6% 1.9%
Email 1 Email 2 Email 3 Email 4 Email 5
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33. Email List Size & Revenue Impact
Stone Bridge Golf Course
40,000 600
35K Emails S
35,000
500 a
L
30,000
l
i
400
e
s 25,000
s
t 513
20,000 Sold 300
15K Emails V
S 15,000 o
i 200
l
z 10,000
205 u
e 100
5,000
Sold m
e
- 0
1st Run 2nd Run
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34. Case Study: Tracking Links
Background
• The Washington Post Top Revenue Generating Links
• Tracks all online efforts
through Tracking Links
93% of Revenue
from Organic
Email List
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35. Case Study: Tracking Links
Top Non-Organic Email
Revenue Generating Links
Background
Google Ad Words
• The Washington Post 8% Twitter
1%
• Tracks all online efforts
through Tracking Links
Affiliate Sites
40%
Internal Email Lists
Highlights 31%
• Affiliate Sites for Regional
travel deals
• Aggregator site Display
5%
• Various types of paid media
• Marketed to internal lists Facebook Ads Deal Aggregator
6% Blog 7%
2%
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36. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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37. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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38. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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39. D R I V I N G R E V E N U E | B U I L D I N G D A T A B A S E | G R O W I N G A U D I E N C E
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40. BEST PRACTICES FOR
GROWING YOUR EMAIL LIST
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41. GREAT DEALS WILL ALWAYS DRIVE
EMAIL GROWTH
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42. Great Deal = More Email Sign-ups
600
500
400
520
300
200
100 135
0
Avg. Daily Sign-ups Avg. Sign-up for Top 10 Deals
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43. Deal Appeal Checklist
 Brand Recognition
 Location
 Audience Appeal
 Deal Uniqueness
 Pricing & Discount
 Restrictions
 Multiple Quantities
 Expiration Date
 Deal Category
 Seasonality
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44. LEVERAGING INTERNAL ASSETS TO
MAXIMIZE LIST GROWTH
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45. Strategies for Growing Your List
“Every touch point with a consumer is
an opportunity to capture an email.”
• Tim D’Avis, Digital Director, Quad-City Times and Director of
Digital Media, Lee Enterprises
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46. Traditional Media
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47. Offline and Online
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48. Widgets
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49. Email Sign-up Opportunities
• Give users as many
ways to sign-up as
possible
– Main site newsletter
registration page
– Email capture form on
Facebook
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50. CONTESTS TO GROW YOUR
ORGANIC LIST
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51. Use Contests to increase your General List
Size
WJW-TV Cleveland
• 95,923 sign-ups
Our Contest “was the single
best way for us to grow our
e-blast database!”
-Jenny Kershaw, Internet Sales
Manager
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52. Case Study: Building Your Deals List Using
Sweepstakes
Herald-Review.com
• Length of campaign:
8 weeks
• Promoted in print &
online
• Key strategy for rest
of year to continue
growth
360% Deals
List Growth
New York Press Association Conference 2013

53. Case Studies: Building Your Deals List
Using Facebook
ABC 15
• Phoenix, AZ
– Facebook Contests
– Like-gate your contest to
grow Likes as well as your
deals email list
– Social and Viral exposure
for your deals program
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54. PIZZA PROMOTION TAKES D.C. BY STORM
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55. The Washington Post
• Promotional giveaways to
drive email sign-ups
– Company: The Washington
Post & The Capitol Deal
– Deal Partner: Papa John’s
– Offer: Free Large One-Topping
Pizza and Delivery
– Contest: Win Pizza for a Year
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56. The Washington Post
• Pizza Promotion Goals
– Increase email subscriber
list for The Capitol Deal
– Raise trial and
awareness of
PapaJohns.com
– Generate Buzz for The
Capital Deal in a crowded
deals market
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57. The Washington Post
• Pizza Promotion Schedule
– The Washington Post used all
internal and external channels to
promote the offer
– Washington Post and Express
Subway papers wrapped first day
of promotion
– 750,000 emails
– FB and Google PPC Buy
– Twitter push
– PR Push
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58. The Washington Post
Pizza Promotion Execution
• Deal ran for three days
• Promotion leveraged both deals and
contests.
• Social Boost was a difference
maker:
– Rewarded users for sharing with bonus
entries
– After submission they are given referral
link
– Configurable where X referrals gets
them X bonus entries
– 1 in 4 entries came via Social Boost
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59. The Washington Post
• Pizza Promotion Results
– 132K pizzas were claimed
– 65% of participants became
NEW Daily Deal subscribers
– 25% of claimed pizzas came
through Social Boost
– Papa John’s trended on
Twitter
– Win-Win-Win
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60. USE INCENTIVES TO
MAXIMIZE YOUR LISTS
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61. User Incentive Options
Credits for Refer-a-Friend:
User gets credit when they refer a friend or family member who is new to the
program and makes their first purchase
Benefits
• Applies to new customers only
• Users with credit 3x more likely to buy
• Reward users for engaging with your brand
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62. Refer-a-Friend: Case Study
Background
• WCHL, Chapel Hill
• Offering $5 Refer-a-Friend
credit
• Launched April 2011
Results
• 207 new buyers
• $1,035 in credits given
• New buyers generated
$10,871
• ROI = $9,836
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63. User Incentive Options
Promotional Codes: A code given to users that offers a discount
on a purchase
Benefits
• Easy way to market to new and current customers
• Codes can be branded for promotional tie-ins
• Gives you the flexibility to define the action you want
them to take
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64. Case Study: Promotional Codes
Background
• KCRG & The Gazette
• Realized only 30% of
subscribers had made a
purchase
• Created code “LUCKY” &
emailed $5 credit to non-
purchasers
• Users had 30 days to use code
Results
• Increased purchasers to
40%
• Converted non-engaged
users into active users
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65. Set Goals for Growth
• Create measurable goals
• Communicate goal with
team and work together
towards it
• Be realistic and base
goals on your market
size
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