Brookline Post
a newspaper for a small town in NH
Marketing Proposal
Feb. 2006
LYNNE ABT
BUS 580A
Executive Summary
 Brookline, NH has been growing fast
and has no dedicated town newspaper
Brookline Population Every 10 years
5000
4533
4500
4181
4000
3500
Population
3000
2410
2500
2000
1766
1500
1167
1000
500
293
338
454
627 652
538 592
795
718 756 741 698
548 505 501 546 511 561
671
0
1767 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2003
Years
History of newspapers in Brookline
 Hollis Times/Brookline Reporter 1888-1916
 Was amazing in it’s coverage of state, national and
international news.
 Was printed weekly with many photos
 Contains some of the first reporting of local history .
Publisher- Hildreth
 Brookline News 1953-1962 printed at 11
Milford st
 Brookline News-Brookliner 1962-1998
publisher: H.Burgess
Publisher Marsha Farwell
 Brookliner - Townsend Messenger 1998-2001
Publisher. Debbie T.
Hollis Times
 Gov Lynch
 Sue Hildreth
Executive Summary
 Biweekly newspaper for print and web
 Website - the town has a lot of computer
people
 Not many merchants but there are many
small service businesses
 Would be a small operation - can still
think big with future and compete with a
weekly, and even daily paper
SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
 Support of townspeople
 One even willing to finance
 Much local photographic help
 Some writers
 Familiar with community network
 One person could do it
 Done from home, saves overhead
 If PDF available on web can save print
costs if doing lower distribution
SWOT ANALYSIS
Weakness
 Relying on one person
 Time vs. $$ for printing costs
 Small number of advertisers
 Inexperience
 Distribution size if not mailed (500)
 Interruptions while working at home
 Won’t have money to pay for help
SWOT ANALYSIS
Opportunities
 No dedicated competition
 Local businesses, town public
officials, non-profit orgs need
voice
 Historical need for local paper
 Gain a lot of skills
 Could use bartering
 Design opportunities web & print
 Could be non profit consortium
 Partner with High School paper
SWOT ANALYSIS
Threats
 Competitors that have merged
have much larger distribution
 Conflict of interest - webcommittee
 Mailing costs & printing costs
 If computer or printer fail - backup
systems are costly
 I need a someone to back me up if I get
sick or can actually go on vacation!
Competitor Analysis
How is news delivered to Brookline now?
Newspapers
Television and Local Cable Access
Internet sites
Radio
Word of mouth
Newspapers
Daily distributions of >30,000
Nashua Telegraph,Manchester Union Leader,
Concord Monitor
Weekly
multiple town shared advertising (some with above distributions)
The Cabinet, Neighborhood news
Mailed distribution covers many towns
Broadcaster - weekly produced by Lowel Sun Jomarc - monthly
probably for advertising too
Free at local sites only entertainment and advertising
Coffee News, Mirror, HIPPO, 157
Internet sites
Many people use a variety of news sites for
international, local and regional news
Direct from daily papers
Weekly papers
Events - NewHampshire.com, NH.com,
NHEVENTS.com, Mirror.com, Parenting NH,
hippopress.com
Local news
Nashuatelegraph.com
sources
NH.com, NHEVENTS.com, NHBusinessReview.com,
ParentingNH.com, NHMagazine
unionleader.com
Yourneighborhoodnews.com, newhampshire.com
 Bedford, Bow, Goffstown, Hookset,
Manchester, Salem, Mirror
Concordmonitor.com
Cabinet.com
Bedford,merrimack,hollis/brookline - journals
OTHER
Hippopress.com (nashua & manchester)
NHBroadcaster.com
Television & Cable access
Brookline Channel 13
WMUR channel 9 and wmur.com
Other NH cable channels (wzid 51?)
Boston stations
Radio , ipod, phones
Local radio stations - forget AM
Get list of all local regional stations
Could download news to ipods?
Could work with phone companies
to send local news
Target Population
Primarily adult residents in Brookline
Some appeal to high school students
Small section for kids
Possible distribution to towns
surrounding Brookline
Promotion Mix
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Use local business associations
Mass mailing to all local addresses
Sponsorship of local teams, activities
Internet searches - how would this
help a newspaper?
Use radio advertising
Use WMUR and wmur.com
Use web advertising -where?
Determine where else to advertise in
print, web, tv? Cable? Radio?
Promotion Mix
For advertisers:
 Special business issues
 Web and print exposure
 Biweekly with occasional themes
 Hiking & recreation issue, political,
town services issue, historical
Plan for Implementation
Purchase computer, software
Get business name and register in NH
Work with investor - how much willing to
spend and for how long
get training
 Working on town web site gives insite into web
posting issues
 Goodbrain.com - web and graphic design
Plan for Implementation
Determine distribution (mailed to 1900 vs.
300-500 sold in stores)
Determine what web portal will be
Determine exact costs for;
 print, web and mail
setup advertising fees- publicize and get
advertisers
Get printer, paper, ink
Control
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Periodically analyze print and internet costs
Keep on top of customer relations with
advertisers
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What do readers want to read about?
and advertisers -business need to sell?
Determine if there are any grants for ;
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New business
Women
Newspapers
History - archiving- webpublishing
Financial Forecast
 Print costs
leasing or buying still could be $400 month *12 months = $4800.
 Printer, ink, maintenance
 Paper
 Mail expense would be approximately $350 per mailing * 26 mailings = $9100
 Postage, Permit fee, annual fee
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Legal fees
Taxes & accounting
Web - could be a source of income too
Backup expenses
Software & computer
Service Life Cycle
• Newspaper printed every 2 weeks
• Internet site updates at least this often
• Breaking news may be available online
prior to printing
Brookline Post
Very difficult to make any money!! I
work for free enough already!
Most likely will not happen unless it is a
non profit consortium
Could expand town website to include
local news
Original township of Dunstable
1674
200 sq.
miles
Territory
 A interesting way to define a current territory is to
cover all towns that existed originally as a part of Old
Dunstable. Includes:
 NH: Nashua, Brookline, Hollis, Mason, Milford, Londondary,
Amherst, Merrimack, Litchfield, Wilton, Mont Vernon,
Hudson, Lyndeborough
 Mass: Lowell, Dracut, Tyngsboro, Townsend, Groton,
Dunstable
 Possible: Derry, Windham, Pelham, there could be others
Additional Territory
Concord for state news, Wash.,DC - NH
is so full of politics
Boston - aren’t we a suburb?
Other New England coverage, possibly
their capitals