At some larger newspapers, the marketing/research department is a big department. At others it's a one man show. In most cases it's a job responsibility of your ad director, general manager, or you yourself.

Whoever comprises the marketing/research department, it's supposed to work with the circulation and advertising departments to help them market their products better. At most publications, this is the department that was in charge of the market and readership surveys (more on these later). The information from these surveys will be very useful when you're making a case to prospective advertisers that your publication reaches enough of the right people in the right places.

This department (or person) will be invaluable when a potential advertiser tells you they're looking to reach a very specific demographic, such as homeowners over the age of 50.

Chances are, this marketing person can look at a readership survey and tell you exactly how many readers fit that profile, even if it doesn't appear in your more general promotional pieces.

Your newspaper may also have some other valuable research tools that goes beyond standard demographic information. I'd suggest finding and introducing yourself to whoever conducted or oversaw the surveys and see for yourself what resources you have available.

And, again, in many cases there is no marketing department or even readership surveys. In these cases, you simply let your prospective advertisers know how many newspapers you're printing and where you're distributing them. As you'll find, for most local businesses, they aren't interested in too much about all the numbers. They claim they are because they think it's the biggest indicator if whether they'll get a response or not. You've got bigger problems you need to focus on to move the sale forward that have nothing to do with the numbers.

If you know how many people are picking up your publication and a general idea of where they live, you've got plenty to work with in that area, so don't get too hung up on surveys and audits if you don't have them.

Next: Credit/Billing Department