There is an old saying that you can't get something for nothing. Well newspapers have disregarded that over the last few years by putting much of their content on the Web for free then watching their print circulation die.
Online advertising never became the draw newspaper ad execs thought it would, and as a result many are bleeding money.
But The Newport Daily News (Rhode Island's wealthy boating enclave daily) took a bold marketing step recently, according to an article on Newsweek's online version. It started charging for online content in an effort to strengthen its print market.
What happened? Readers started buying the newspaper again. Since NDN started charging for its online reading, the 13,000 circulation publication has seen daily print sales jump by 200 per day.
Can a publication devoted to yachting and the high life get the attention of an industry stuck in a time warp? It is starting too.
Since the experiment worked - other newspapers are looking into copying the marketing strategy. And well they should, it's about time somebody in that business got smarter about marketing that will save print.
Read the full story at http://www.newsweek.com/id/214607
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