Out of the Box

Branding Through a Niche Ethnic Newspaper

By Menachem Lubinsky on June 01 2009

There are all kinds of measuring yardsticks to determine the cost effectiveness of advertising in a newspaper. Marketers look at circulation, readership, demographics such as age and income, and the cost of effectively reaching their potential customers. While advertisers are still using those measures when it comes to newspaper advertising, they are also likely to use many new marketing trends that essentially measure what people are saying about their brand. For what the buzz is about a brand is essentially its lifeline.

One of the newest forms of marketing is called “social marketing,” which of late is being increasingly used by even some of the largest Fortune-500 companies. In an age of a down economy, even they have discovered that measuring the buzz may not be as costly as conventional advertising in print and electronic media. Products are now routinely branded through social marketing whereas the same product may have resorted exclusively the conventional methods of advertising.

There is the general feeling amongst many that the future for newspapers in general is not bright. In full page ads, the Newspaper Association of America, based in Arlington VA takes issue with that notion. Said the Association: “Make no mistake about this: newspaper media - print and digital - remains strong and will emerge from the current environment an even stronger multi-platform force.” To prove its point, the NAA says that more than 104 million adults read a newspaper everyday and 115 million on Sundays. 61 percent of 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds read a newspaper in an average week. It also deals with the myth that newspaper advertising doesn’t work. Says the NAA: “Google’s own research shows that 56 percent of consumers researched or purchased products they saw in a newspaper.” So much for the notion that people no longer respond to newspaper advertising.

I have always maintained that advertising in an ethnic newspaper like this one has the combined benefit of conventional advertising and social marketing. The number of people that read an ethnic newspaper is far greater than the circulation numbers. Typically a regular daily newspaper is read by one or two people in a household (according to many surveys) but the chances are that an ethnic or community paper is read by many more people in a family. Second, much of the content is likely to be the topic of conversation in a tightly-knit community.

The broader reach of the ethnic publication is good news for advertisers looking to reach a more demographically diverse audience. Examples of such advertisers are food, communications and travel. Somewhere in the family mix will be a decision maker and someone who influences the decision. It is also much more geographically concise offering local and regional advertisers the best bang for the buck.

The fact that a niche newspaper addresses many issues of concern to the reader is also a good omen for advertisers looking to keep the reader focused on a given page that may contain their ads. An ethnic newspaper typically includes many more such focused articles than a general newspaper.

The NAA correctly points out that newspapers invest more into journalism than other media. The fact remains that most often other media quote from newspapers that are most often the source of information. This investment also leads to greater reader trust since the reader knows that the information is likely to be more accurate. Newspapers have the luxury of diversifying their content into news, information, and special sections. Newspapers can take on the appearance of a magazine simply by the way they present the material but magazines very rarely can look like a newspaper.

Newspapers, particularly niche publications, offer advertisers the best branding opportunity. With the target customer clearly identified, the advertiser pretty much knows that his ads will be hitting the target. To the extent that frequency is a crucial element in the branding mix, newspapers reach the target customer with regularity. Advertisers can further pinpoint their targeting by placing their ads in their field of endeavors. For example, a travel agency can place its ad in the Travel section.

Despite the decline in advertising during a recession, like the one we are in now, readership does not decline. Marketers say that irrespective of their economic condition, people still buy newspapers, not only to keep up with the news but to find discounts and other ways of coping with the economic downturn.

Ethnic newspapers also offer the distinct advantages of a more direct link to the end user. A good example would be a customer in a store that advertises in a paper like this one. The advertiser can converse directly with the customer about their response to the ads. In the branding game, the repeat advertising to the target consumer followed by a good experience is worth its weight in gold.

A local bank that advertised in several ethnic newspapers says that it really did not have much more to offer potential customers than competitors just down the street. They say that the repeat advertising in a local paper read by many in the community drove business to the bank. In other words, the ethnic paper can position a company as an “insider,” a coveted position for any advertising.

If the NAA is trying to make a case that the newspaper industry is strong and that it is still a key advertising media, the future is even brighter for the ethnic newspaper, particularly when its readers look to it as the major source of information. The reader of an ethnic paper has far more limited choices than the reader of a mainstream secular newspaper.

Out of the Box is a collection of strategic marketing articles that Lubicom has published on various topics, trends and ideas in the marketing world. The articles have been published in the Hamodia weekly newspaper circulated on three continents to a readership of well over 100,000.

The name, "Out of the Box" is a term used frequently in business nowadays to describe creative thinking that is not the norm. It is meant to help a business pull away from the pack or separate oneself from the competition. It is to some extent fraught with risk, simply because it is not the run of the mill thinking, but it is at the same time the key to reaching the next opportunity.