Demographics and Market Studies
Most likely, your newspaper has all sorts of statistics to prove that your newspaper is effective. These statistics usually come from two surveys--a market survey and a readership survey. There are several big companies out there whose primary function is to conduct readership and market surveys and compile these statistics for newspapers. Newspapers also use existing surveys about their market to sell advertising. The combination of market and readership studies can give you powerful ammunition for a sales presentation and will be the primary tool for selling the effectiveness of your newspaper.

These studies are usually found in a package called a Media Kit, which is basically a collection of all the promotional pieces your newspaper has. And this is where you have to be careful. You can overload a potential advertiser with information. I'd suggest that you rarely just give these studies to an advertiser to go over later when they have time. Unless they specifically ask for the studies, merely handing the information to them will probably result in it being thrown away shortly after you leave the store. Instead, you should first find out what's important to the advertiser--how far will people drive for the product, how much do their typical customers earn, are they male or female, how old are they, and so on. Then you can share with them only the demographic information they really care about.

Demographics, by the way, will be a term you'll hear a lot. Demographics is a term used to identify consumer markets. For instance, a business might say "I'm looking for the over 55 year old, over $100,000 demographic. Ask your manager if he has a media kit that you could look at. If you have a research department, they could tell you even more things about who lives in the market and reads the newspaper. In fact, many newspapers have their surveys on-line, and many are incredibly detailed, containing more information than appears even in your promotional pieces.

For example, you might find that 82% of your readers have lived in the area for more than 5 years, and have an average income of over $50,000. Then you can narrow down the market further by determining the number of people that have had a child, or bought a major appliance or whatever. This information can prove invaluable when a potential or current advertiser is unsure of whether or not to run an ad or a campaign with you. Imagine that you are working with a place that sells pools and spas for example. Consider what a powerful argument it would be for you to have statistics that prove your newspaper reaches people that earn a higher than average income, and are about to buy a pool or spa. By researching the market for them, the demographic information you present them with will help close the sale.