Generate income from non-traditional sources

Chip Hutcheson

Jul 1, 2024

Maybe it’s the unrelenting deadlines that newspaper folks face that make our work seem so urgent. That sense of urgency week in and week out can result in addressing the immediate challenges and putting planning on the backburner.

That might be your immediate reaction to the focus in this Pub Aux on “Selling for the Holidays.” So often, it’s easy to be consumed with ad sales for the next issue rather than months ahead.

Maybe the counsel of author Charles E. Hummel is worth considering. He writes, “A competent general always draws up his battle plan before engaging the enemy; he doesn’t postpone basic decisions until the firing starts. But he is also prepared to change his plans if necessary to cope with an unexpected turn of events.”

Perhaps that mindset could be adapted to help newspaper staff in planning for their best-ever holiday ad sales at the end of the year. Think now about ad efforts that can be developed before the holiday season. Having a game plan early will be vital because you don’t know what unexpected situations you will face when the fourth quarter arrives. Planning early will pay handsome rewards.

Let’s start with a couple of ideas we’ve mentioned in prior articles.

• People love kids’ pictures. Take advantage of that with a promotion where parents and grandparents submit photos for the paper to publish. Promote that opportunity in local schools, including preschools. Charge $15 to $25 and require payment in advance. Run those photos along with the names of the parents or grandparents or both.

Set a target of at least 50 photos for the first year. Consider local businesses that would benefit by an ad on the facing page. A photography business, insurance agencies, hospitals, banks and churches would be top candidates.

• Not only are kids attention-getters, but so are pets. Ask readers to submit a photo of their pet, listing the name and owner(s) name. Require payment when the photo is submitted. Place ad flyers in grocery and convenience stores, and alert veterinarian offices. Those vet offices would be prime ad candidates to appear when the pets are featured. If your community has an animal shelter, connect with people there and ask how they can partner with you in that effort. If your local government funds the shelter, ask that entity to run an ad on behalf of the shelter.

These two ideas generate income from non-traditional sources. But there’s another source of non-traditional revenue that is often overlooked — the churches in your community.

Christmas is a time when most churches have activities to attract visitors (and perhaps truant church members). Waiting until a week or two before those activities are scheduled is too late. Contact churches in November and encourage them to advertise every activity during December. An early contact is necessary because getting approval for the ad expense might involve a church business meeting.

Many churches have a special service that is a musical; others have a drama presentation; others have a kids’ program; others offer a special Christmas Eve service. Encourage churches to get the word out in the most effective way possible — by advertising in your newspaper. Experience tells me that the decision makers in churches often don’t think about advertising in secular media, but contacting them and expressing interest in helping them with their activities is usually well received. It results in revenue as well as excellent public relations. People in those churches will be talking positively about your newspaper, which is a win-win!

It might be worth offering a special ad bundle. For instance, run three ads; get the fourth (of same size) free. Then think about traditional advertisers who might want to be featured near those church ads.

Think of local entities that might not be churches, but could be affiliated or closely aligned with churches. Typically, those are non-traditional advertisers and provide revenue that you would not get in any other way.

The benefit of all these opportunities is not just ad revenue, but it could reap new subscribers. Your paper will be providing unique content through ads that cannot be found anywhere else.

Contests can provide ad revenue, as well as increase readership. Contests can focus on “best Christmas ever” or “my best Christmas memory” or “my favorite Christmas recipe.” Offer a year’s free subscription to the winner and enlist some of your top advertisers to provide a gift card/certificate to the winner. Banks, grocery stores and restaurants are prime candidates to provide gifts to the contest winners. Explain the good will and publicity that the business will receive by offering a gift to the winner. If there is still reluctance, offer an advertising credit in the amount of the gift provided.

A key to the success of any contest is promotion and follow-up. Publish not only what the winner submitted, but also the entries of other people — making sure you announce up front that the entries will be printed in the paper. Those submissions will be unique content and will give people who might not ever be in the paper their “five minutes of fame.”

Generating revenue from non-traditional sources can result in a very merry Christmas for your newspaper. Of course, this not an exhaustive list of ideas, so try to find time to brainstorm what unique opportunities are in your community. Ask your staff for ideas. Ask your family and friends. More heads are better than one, and every idea is worth pondering.

Chip Hutcheson is the retired publisher of The Times Leader in Princeton, Kentucky. He was NNA president in 2015. He currently serves as a content strategist for Kentucky Today, the online news website of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. chiphutcheson@yahoo.com