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Of course, prospective advertisers need to know more than how many papers you distribute and how many people are reading them. It's the specific characteristics of these readers that are many times the key to proving your newspaper is effective.

Most likely, your newspaper has all sorts of statistics to prove that your newspaper is effective. These statistics usually come from two surveys–a market survey and a readership survey. There are several big companies out there whose primary function is to conduct readership and market surveys and compile these statistics for newspapers. Even when they don't conduct their own, newspapers can use existing market surveys to sell advertising.

Whether it's market, readership, or a combination of both, these studies can give you powerful ammunition for a sales presentation and will be the primary tool for selling the effectiveness of your newspaper.

The most important results of these studies are usually turned into more customer-friendly informational pages, often illustrated with maps and charts. These promotional pieces are typically the foundation of a larger package a newspaper assembles for prospective advertisers and ad agencies called a media kit.

Be very careful with these. In almost all cases, they are not a critical piece of the selling process and can often stop the selling process in its tracks. Unless you're dealing with an account you just can't get to (and even then I have my reservations), you should assume that any media kit you hand over to a potential advertiser to "view at their leisure" will never actually be read.

In fact, a typical prospect that wraps up a phone call with "could you send me a media kit" is most likely saying just the opposite–"I don't think you're going to help me and I'm just requesting a media kit to help get off the phone with you. I'll never look at it and probably never take your call again."

Instead, you should first find out what's important to the advertiser–how far people will drive for the product, how much their typical customers earn, are they male or female, how old are they, and so on. Then you can share the relevant information with them, in person (or over the phone), while you know have their attention and then move on to the next stage of the sales call.

The actual consumer-related information about your readers and segments of your readership uncovered in your market and readership studies are called demographics.

For instance, a business might say "I'm looking for the 45- to 55-year-old, $100,000+ demographic." Your media kit will most likely contain breakdowns of that information. Ask your manager if he has a media kit that you could look at, either in hard copy form or online.

Keep in mind that there are often additional questions asked during these surveys that never make it into your promotional pieces. If you have a research department or someone in charge of the surveys, get to know them. Many newspapers can conduct detailed queries on your surveys' databases, uncovering unusual and detailed information that can be very useful to certain prospective advertisers.

For example, you might find that 82% of your readers have lived in the area for more than 5 years, and have an average income of over $50,000. Then you can narrow down the market further by determining the number of people that have had a child and are about to buy a major appliance in the next 30 days.

This information can often prove invaluable when a potential or current advertiser is unsure of whether or not to run with you. For example, imagine you're working with a pool and spa dealer. Consider what a powerful argument it would be for you to have statistics that prove your newspaper reaches people that earn a higher than average income and are about to buy a pool or spa. By researching the market for them, the demographic information you present them with will go a long way in helping close the sale.

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