Despite doom and gloom tales of the end of newspapers, many community newspapers are surviving – and actually thriving.
That’s important news for PR. PR pros who keep small daily and weekly newspapers in their media relations strategy will have an advantage.
“You don’t hear about community papers going out of business. It’s not the doom and gloom that major market papers face,” Chip Hutcheson, president of the National Newspaper Association, which represents over 2,100 community newspaper companies, told Editor & Publisher. “Weekly and small dailies are faring better than our major counterparts.”
Hutcheson said he has met several people who started small newspapers two or three years ago. He started one himself in 2008.
Thrive on Print
What’s more, small newspapers are thriving in print at a time when print publications are supposedly going extinct. “I think if you ask any newspaper, print still remains the lion’s share of revenue,” Inter-Mountain (Elkins, W.Va.) Publisher and General Manager Heather Goodwin Henline told Editor & Publisher.
The importance of digital varies between publications. Some boast cutting-edge websites and take in as much or even more revenue from digital than print. Others still focus mostly on print. Whether in print or on the web, local newspapers provide what readers want but no one else provides: news about their community.
According to a survey by the Reynolds Journalism Institute, about 67 percent of residents in small U.S. communities read local newspapers between one to seven days a week. Four out of ten residents (42%) selected “newspaper” and “newspaper’s website” as their primary source of information; 47% preferred to use “newspaper” and “newspaper’s website” for the information.
Almost all readers (94%) agreed that the newspapers were informative; 80% said they and their families looked forward to reading the newspapers; 78% relied on the newspapers for local news and information; and 72% said the newspapers entertained them.
Small Town Media Relations
A local link. The critical step to winning placements in local newspapers is to find a local connection in your news announcements. Perhaps someone on your staff or client’s staff is involved in the project. Most local papers are willing, even eager, to publish press releases and articles with a local connection, as long as that association is concrete and obvious. To gain the editor’s attention, place the local connection in the headline and lead of the news announcement.
Research. It’s important to understand what geographic areas newspapers cover. Some small city publications may cover outlying areas. Keeping abreast of publications’ editors, deadlines and special seasonal publications is also helpful.
Media relations best practices. As with media pitches to larger publications, its essential to follow media relations best practices and read up on media relations pitching tips from experts. Keep press releases and media pitches clear, succinct and accurate as well as interesting as possible.
Monitor media mentions. A media monitoring service is typically the most cost-efficient method to track all news and social media mentions of the organization. Subscription tools save staff time by automating the search function across all media. An advanced media monitoring tool can also integrate media and social media mentions into a single dashboard that provides easily understandable reports that measure the success of your PR tactics.
Bottom Line: Daily and weekly newspapers in small cities and towns continue to thrive even while newspapers in large metro areas disappear or shrink. Submitting news releases and story ideas to community newspapers can gain vital local exposure and remains a vital PR function.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
