Get More Local Customers Faster

Sorry for the delay in sending out my weekly newsletter.
I’ve been deep in thought wresting with some thoughts.

For those of you who don’t already know I publish a monthly Hyperlocal Newpaper in Ashland, Oregon.We direct mail to the entire town once a month and get read far and wide throughout the community. I pride myself on being vehicle and venue through which locals can have a voice in our community.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about:
Who’s the real customer of the newspaper?
…because I think I’ve kinda had it confused.

You see I’ve always looked at the audience, end user as my customer…
Afterall they are the ones who read the paper… right.

The audience most defintely is my customer?

!!!WRONG!!!!!!WRONG!!!!!!WRONG!!!!!!WRONG!!!

Ok, listen up because what I am about to share is a little
bit of a game changer for newspapers, but here it is.

Obvioulsy my ADVERTISERS are my customer.

And what does the advertiser want more than anything in the world?

THEY WANT TO GET MORE LOCAL CUSTOMERS

So why publish a NEWSPAPER about news…when I can publish a GET MORE LOCAL CUSTOMERS PAPER!

Are you following me?

You see it suddenly dawned on me the other day, that my advertisers don’t give a crap about content. What they care about is a paper that helps them get more local customers!

So, how do I position what I’m doing to give them what they want?
First of all I’ve implemented a few new changes.

ONE – No More Free Editorial for Businesses – That’s right. If you want an interview, article or review – you need to pay because if it’s going to drive local business to your door step then you profit.

Secondly, The customer comes first which means, I do what it takes to make the advertiser look great for their local prospects. One way I’ve gone about and done this has been by asking every client of mine to send me their best customer testimonials.

These then get printed monthly through out the paper, because there is nothing better than having your customers say great things about you.
(Why Not Make The Advertisers Look Great)

Finally as a part of this game changer insight, I’ve decided that I’m going to run
the paper more as a membership. Meaning your either in or your out.

The paper takes great care of those who invest and take care of it.
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Those are some of the thoughts and changes I’ve been implementing here.
Tell me if you found this insightful or share any thoughts you might have.

Until Then – Keep it Relevant
Shields Bialasik