Dear Black Ink readers:

Pretend you are a reader who is sitting at a table at a local McDonald's with a Big Mac in your right hand and a copy of your newspaper in your left hand.

"This is pretty good local news," you think. "You know - I should subscribe to this paper."

Now look through your paper. How hard is it to find information as to how to subscribe?

All too typically, the information is buried in eight point type somewhere in the masthead. It's doubtful that Joe Reader will ever have the time and patience to find it.

This is why you should always - always - did I say always? - run a visible standing ad in your newspaper with information about how to send in or call in a subscription. I recommend a minimum 2 column by six or eight inch ad in every 12 broadsheet pages (or 24 tab pages) you run.

Watch out! - because I know from experience what happens. The ad is viewed as filler, and it is left out of an issue to be forgotten for months on end. Don't let this happen. Get the ad(s) on the lineup as a "must." Treat it with the reverence you would any paid ad because it is, in, fact, an ad that will pay off in cash and subscriptions. (And change the make-up of the ad every month or two.)

It's not a filler. It's a necessity.

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More slogans:

"The community newspaper, the glue that helps hold a community together and the spur that helps keep it moving forward" - The Merrick (NY) Life.

"We care about the same things you do" - Unionville (MO) Republican

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With kind regards,

Ken



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For all the details, just drop me an e-mail to .

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