Pocono Record
Running Head: POCONO RECORD
The Pocono Record Weblog Plan
Lois Kirkwood, Dennis Regan, Conor Wheatley
Principles of Marketing
Spring 2004
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Pocono Record
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Executive Summary (Lois Kirkwood)
The Pocono Record (2002) mission statement is:
“The Pocono Record strives to be the primary source of news, advertising and market
information for both readers and advertisers. To that end, we work hard every day to
develop, produce, market and deliver the best, most relevant newspaper we possibly can.”
In order to assure compliance with the mission statement, the Pocono Record must reach as
many readers as possible. Every effort is made to give readers “A Reason to Read . . . Every
Day” which is the newspaper’s brand. Many changes have been made to newspaper content in
the past year to increase readership, to create eye-catching advertisements, and to develop inpaper promotion campaigns. Niche publications Dignity and Eastern Pocono Community News
target the over-50 readers and the eastern end of the market area.
The demographic group of young adults age 18 to 35 is a large potential readership market
(Readership Institute, 2001). Newspapers face a challenge in attracting this target group as
readers. Some have successful launched niche publications targeting young adults, but at
substantial cost in both time and money (Woodcock, 2003).
In order to target demographic group, the Pocono Record is considering launching an on-line
web site to attract young adults. A successful campaign and site will generate more traffic at its
on-line edition, increase newspaper readership, and produce more revenue from on-line
advertisers who serve this niche population.
Pocono Record
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Current Marketing Situation (Conor Wheatley)
The Pocono Record is a printed and an online local newspaper targeting residents of
Monroe County and one third each of Pike and Carbon County. It has a Sunday net ABC
subscription base of 26,857 readers (Pocono Record, 2002). The Pocono Record also offers a
number of different supplements including a niche publications Dignity and Eastern Pocono
Community News (Pocono Record, 2004). Each supplement is focused on a different
demographic group and provides additional added value to the customer.
A total market coverage publication, Pocono Record Plus is mailed out every Saturday to
all non-subscribers. This special wrap is sent only to specific, permanently occupied home
addresses.
Total
Households
Households
with Internet
Access
% of
County
Targeted
Targeted
Households
Targeted
Households with
Internet Access
Monroe
52,304
19,870
100%
52,304
19,870
Pike
18,736
7,372
33.3%
6,239
2455
Carbon
23,965
9,417
33.3%
7,980
3136
Total
95,005
36,659
66,523
25,461
County
Table 1: 2002 Population Censuses ("Microsoft MapPoint," 2004)
The online edition of the Pocono Record receives over 250,000 visits per month (The
Pocono Record, 2004). On average, households with internet access visit the online edition of
the Pocono Record 9.8 times a month.
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The Pocono Record is the only local newspaper serving the area and is looking at new
ways to expand its readership, especially to the youth market where it does not have a large
penetration. Currently the paper does little to attract the attention of youth and does not have any
youth focus supplements or online pages.
The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) has identified that connecting with
Digital Teens is key market that will drive Newspaper growth, both printed and online editions.
Current newspapers are doing little to attracted this demographic group, and continuing to ignore
this important group will cause publishers to continue to face difficulties beyond the current
economic climate (Runett, R., 2002)
Pocono Record
SWOT Analysis (Conor Wheatley)
Strengths:

Young knowledgeable writers

Access to large repository of local events, stories, and news

Access to large repository of national and international events, stories, and news

Pocono Record brand name recognition

Low cost of entry

Low level of advertising is need to attain profitability
Weakness:

Site needs to be supported by advertising

Need to build a youth market

New to develop a youth focus website

Need a catchy name

Need full management support
Opportunities:

Growing youth market

New advertising opportunities from youth focus companies

Ability of teens to able to interact with the newspaper

Increase overall readership
Threats:

Nationally focus youth websites

Youth market segment is erratic
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Pocono Record
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Marketing Objectives and Issues (Lois Kirkwood)
In today’s market, few newspapers tap into their web sites to attract young readers or raise
revenue (Runett, 2002). Usually, newspapers’ teen web sites are rarely more than an
afterthought, and that’s a missed opportunity.
Newspapers that put in the effort into their youth-oriented web sites have reaped the rewards
(Runett, 2002). For example, the Topeka (KA) Capital-Journal’s PrepZone.com publishes video
highlights from high school football and basketball games. Readers can download the clips. But
the kicker is that sales reps sold two five-digit annual sponsorships for the site.
Maine Today formed a partnership with Tobacco-Free Maine to sponsor its online-only teen
section, 20 Below, which is for and by teens. The page includes a top and bottom banner and
skyscraper ad on the right. The annual contract is a five-figure deal, one of the newspapers top
ten on-line contracts.
Runett (2002) advises: “A combined print and on-line youth publication can help expand the
newspaper’s reach among this audience. And with the right motivation, sales reps can convince
advertisers to commit the ad dollars so essential to the survival of these projects.”
In order to tap into the market, the Pocono Record will offer young adults a youth-oriented
reading option by developing a WebLog specifically geared to the 18 to 35 population. Our
objectives will be to increase newspaper readership, increase traffic on the newspaper’s web site,
to modernize the content of both the print and on-line versions of the newspaper and to increase
advertising revenue.
Once developed, the site should generate sufficient revenue to cover production costs which
include time and salary for reporting and advertising staff. The Record employs an on-line
Pocono Record
manager as well as a web designer whose costs for developing and maintaining the site are
minimal since they are intricately involved in the on-line version of the newspaper.
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Pocono Record
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Marketing Strategy/Design (Lois Kirkwood)
The Pocono Record will produce a WebLog that is linked to its main web site. A WebLog
(Blog) is a site where an “editor” comments on and provides links about a specific topic. For this
project’s purpose, we’ll change the definition just a bit by including a column-journal component
which will be posted two to three times a week and readers will be able to respond and/or
comment on the subject. At the end of the column, not interspersed with the writing, will be links
that have some relationship to the column content.
Reporters Kevin Amerman, Cheryl Gredlein and Lauren Kurz will complete weekly columns
for the Blog as well as update them throughout the week. Each reporter will also have one
column a month that will run in the print version as a boost to the Blog.
Kevin Amerman will speak to readers who are under 30. As a 26 year old newlywed at the
beginning of his career and adult life, Kevin will be accessible to young professionals, college
students, young married couples, sports fans, and young men. He will focus his writing on life in
general, both serious and entertaining current events, sports, life in the Poconos, and more.
Lauren Kurz will be a converse to Kevin, tough they may be writing about similar issues such
as everyday things in the Poconos, what you can do around here if you are under 30, popular
culture and current events.
Cheryl Gredlein will provide a fresh spin to the Blog because she will offer up a more
politically conservative viewpoint. This will work well as a foil to both Kevin and Lauren, as
both of them are more liberal. Cheryl and Lauren also offer the slightly younger and female
perspectives opposing Kevin.
Various ideas that can be incorporated into the Blog are news and current events discussions,
links-I-like content, happenings at the newspaper, things to do in and out of the area and more.
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A promotion blitz will include ads throughout the print newspaper and on-line, flyers
distributed to youth-oriented area businesses, and banners on area high school web sites linked to
the Blog. The banners will be “purchased” with in-kind trades. There will also be some ad spots
on WSBG’s Gary in the Morning radio show utilizing the in-kind agreement with National
Broadcasting.
Once interest has been generated with the above campaign, we believe that word-ofmouth will generate even more interest among area youths thereby increasing traffic at the site.
Increased traffic will translate to more hits for advertisers and ultimately increase advertising
revenue.
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Action Program (Lois Kirkwood)
Once the site has been active for three months, advertising reps will begin to solicit ads from
vendors whose business specifically targets young adults. The ads created in the Creative
Services department will be reviewed by the three reporters to assure they meet critical
specifications: colorful, fun, quirky, youth-oriented. If an ad does not meet the criteria, it will be
returned for re-working.
Advertising revenue will be tracked and reported on a monthly basis. Reports will be generated
by the advertising director and distributed to the publisher and editor for review.
Pocono Record
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Control and Measurement of Anticipated Results (Dennis Regan)
Year-to-date, the Pocono Record’s www.poconorecord.com records 58,000 visitors a week
and over 250,000 visitors a month. Monitoring and analysis of the website will be critical to
evaluating the level of success for the Record’s Weblog.
The Pocono Record will continue to utilize WebTrends
(http://www.netiq.com/webtrends/white_papers_and_case_studies.asp) software to track and
evaluate the readership and use of www.poconorecord.com. WebTrends allows the Pocono
Record to perform cross tabulation analysis on the web site to monitor patterns of use and traffic
within the site. WebTrends also enables users to evaluate the click-through rates of web
advances from banner ads on partnered websites.
By continuing to track readership on a weekly basis, we will be able to track our progress
towards our target 5% increase in monthly readership and 25% increase in annual readership
from prior year. Also, we will continue evaluate our progress in comparison to this week’s prior
year performance and prior YTD readership.
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Conclusion (Dennis Regan)
Thus far, the Pocono Record has not successfully engaged the teen and young adult market,
those between 13-25 years of age. The Pocono Record will capitalize on this market segment’s
affinity for the internet by creating daily Weblogs on www.poconorecord.com.
Currently the Pocono Record’s print distribution area is home to 144,391 teenagers and
young adults with a combined purchasing power of $373 million. The internet has become an
integral component in the lives of those in the market segment. The daily Weblogs will have
three younger writers responsible for providing these customers with a meeting place to
exchange ideas and views, a social hub and a resource for local information of interest.
The Weblog venture, like the rest of the pages on www.poconorecord.com, will need to be
supported by advertising. The Pocono Record will make efficient use of internal resources and
its relationships with local agencies and business to partner for ad placements. This will help
minimize the expenses related to marketing the daily Weblogs.
At the current readership levels, advertisers are charged a meager $2.29 for every thousand
exposures. The increased readership generated by the daily Weblogs will enable the Pocono
Record to justify an increase in monthly rates for advertisements.
In closing, local businesses are customers of the Pocono Record who have an opportunity to
capture up to $373 million in disposable income from the teen and young adult market. The
Pocono Record will increase its readership from this market by engaging it electronically on
daily Weblogs at www.poconorecord.com. The increase in readership from this market will
allow the Pocono Record to generate additional advertising revenues and secure a market of
readers for the future.
Pocono Record
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References
Pocono Record Contact Us. (2004). Retrieved May 2, 2004, from Pocono Record Web site:
http://www.poconorecord.com/misc/contact/advert.htm
The Pocono Record. (2004). 2004 Media Guide [Brochure]. Stroudsburg, PA: Peter Berry.
The Pocono Record: 2002 Advertising Rates. (2002). Retrieved May 2, 2004, from The Pocono
Record Web site: http://www.poconorecord.com/contact/
Runett, R. (March, 2002). Connecting with Digital Teens. Newspaper Association Of America.
Retrieved May 2, 2004, from Newspaper Association of America Web site: http://
www.naa.org/preview.cfm?AID=4097
Woodcock, S. (Ed.).. (2003). Teen$eekII. Newspaper Association of America: Virginia.