Posted by Brian Berg Google+
Nationwide, newspapers continue to better understand their subscriber customers, how they compare with their non-subscribers, and why they continue to renew their subscription year after year. What was once a major investment in time and money, data mining of the subscription list has become more affordable and a more easily adapted process.
Data Mining
Database mining is a process of sorting through and looking for patterns within a given database. It sometimes involves just looking at the names and addresses and drawing conclusions on where people live in relation to a given geographic store location.
More often it involves enhancing a database of with demographic, psychographic, or firmographic (in the case of a list of businesses) data elements to draw more robust conclusions about the customers, albeit people and/or businesses. Within your newspaper subscription file lies a mountain of untapped information about what not only what these subscribers have in common, but also who your best advertisers are and how to market for future newspaper subscriptions.
Further, in your given market territory, you have the capability of targeting the exact non-subscriber prospects that mirror your best subscribers.
Newspapers can use simple data enhancement processes to increase their knowledge of who their customers are and especially who their customers are not. Let’s say your newspaper market includes 4 surrounding counties and your subscriber readership totals 30% of all households within these 4 counties. By appending simple demographic elements to both your subscribership and non-subscribership files, you are then able to draw conclusions as to the difference between the two populations.
This information can help in describing your subscribers to potential print space advertisers, marketing to the non-subscribers for potential subscription offers, evaluating the editorial inclusions to increaser reader benefit, and how to best offer integrated solo direct mail marketing that reinforces your clients brand building and lead generation.