How newspapers can leverage advertising as a readership tool

When you think of efforts to improve newspaper readership, it's usually news content that jumps to mind. More stories about compelling topics and people, easier-to-navigate pages, more in-paper promotion of upcoming content ? all are getting attention as newspapers strive to grab and keep new readers.

"There's a lot of interest, but advertising is lagging the efforts at improving editorial content, " says Mary Nesbitt, managing director of the Readership Institute, which spearheaded the efforts to improve overall readership through its groundbreaking Impact Study four years ago. "As the economy improves, as it looks like it is now, I hope newspapers will feel more confident in experimenting in this area. "

It was the Impact Study, in fact, that provided that first indication of the readership potential of improved advertising content. "We found that just as all kinds of news content has to a varying degree the potential to grow readership, so does advertising as a class of content, " says Nesbitt.

The study went beyond stating the obvious fact that people buy newspapers to read the ads. It found that when advertising content was more interesting, readers spent more time with the paper overall. In fact, news stories were better read in papers with better ad content.

How can newspapers leverage advertising as a readership tool? In much the same way as they do with news content ? by promoting ad content, for instance, and by aiming ads at targeted audiences. They can also explore ways in which advertising more closely depicts the readers and their lives, in much the same way as readership-savvy journalists are using stories to explore the lives of everyday readers. "We wonder if there isn't something that could be done in terms of showing 'people like me,' by personalizing ads in the same way as we personalize news content, " Nesbitt says.

Then there's the somewhat thorny question of ad placement. Nesbitt notes that readers tend to prefer ads for the same kinds of products and services grouped in the same place. At the Times of Northwest Indiana, for instance, an awareness that readers love their pets has resulted in a page of grouped pet ads, a pet-advertiser directory and pet-related editorial content. It took the same approach with a Saturday household-chores page.

But Nesbitt notes that efforts to group ads can run into opposition. "That may not be what the advertisers want in some cases, " she says. Indeed, Karen Bloom, an advertising manager at the Times, says that some advertisers have requested not to be grouped. "I wouldn't call it resistance, but they thought they would get lost in the group, and we honored that of course, " she said. But those who have gone for the grouping "have had fabulous results, " she said.

Like news, advertising depends on good design to be effective. And it's here that much work remains to be done.

Too much newspaper advertising is driven by the practices of the past: Car dealers whose ads are jumbled and dark. Furniture ads with a cornucopia of fonts and colors. Valentine's Day personals jammed with hearts and flowers and light on readability. Designs that fail to reflect the needs and desires of the intended audience.

To be effective, advertising content must present information clearly and quickly and in a way that reinforces the brand of both the product and the newspaper. And that can be a tall order.

"Advertisers sometimes say 'This is working for me,' even though you can show them a better way, " says Lauren Carroll, an ad designer for the Boston Globe. "A lot of advertisers just don't want it, and that can be frustrating. "

Still, there is a growing movement toward better design. Carroll, for instance, notes that her department is doing more spec ads, especially for advertisers in high-priced territory like the Sunday magazine. But to succeed, such efforts need the full support of the sales staff, which needs to persuade advertisers that a new look is worth the effort.

The Arizona Republic is among the large newspapers that take the ad-design push seriously. Jason Myers, senior marketing editor at the Phoenix newspaper, boils it all down to a "new criteria for customer service."

"Effective advertising begins with a clear definition of the client's target audience, " he told a recent industry gathering. "Think of yourself as a detective in search of the small details that could make a difference in your ad message."

Creative thinking is clearly a plus. The Buffalo News, for instance, created new advertising products that used Post-It notes, geographic zoning and espadias in the Sunday comics section. The Fort Collins Coloradan improved its classified design by adding more entry points, including such non-traditional ad-section features as News of the Weird and Today in History.

Underneath it all is a desire to apply the same principles to advertising design as are increasingly used in the news pages: Ease of navigation, simplicity of expression, and above all a desire to convey useful information fast.

The Idaho Statesman in Boise offers one of the best examples of advertising design as a readership tool. Eighteen months ago the Statesman launched Thrive, a weekly aimed at active young adults that emphasizes coverage of the outdoors, arts and music, dining and culture.

Earlier this year, the Statesman began making efforts to make the section's automotive-related ads more appealing to younger readers. Car ads began using models and colors that were more popular with the youth demographic; flashier colors and headers began appearing; ads for tire retailers emphasized rims and wheels more than tires, again reflecting the wants and needs of the target group. And the recreational vehicle category began emphasizing campers over RVs ? a bid to attract outdoors-oriented younger readers.

"We're trying to target the advertising toward the interests and emotions you find in a young reader, " says Rosa Carnot, the advertising director. The goal is to help reduce the high rate of churn the Statesman has experienced with that demographic, she says, and "one of the ways to do that is to create the kind of ads that will appeal more to them. " While Thrive's auto ads were first, the paper plans to expand into other categories as well.

"Advertising is content, " says Carnot, repeating one of the key themes of the Impact Study, "and obviously if your content isn't directed at your readership you need to change. It's absolutely critical. "