Case study: five publisher insights from end-of-year campaigning (by Christine Holbert)

On January 30, BlueLena hosted a Community Roundtable featuring three BlueLena community members discussing end-of-year reader revenue campaigns, from planning through implementation, plus creative ways they increased revenue and engagement, including through community events. Below are five insights from the publishers on their end-of-year campaign strategies.

The most successful campaign highlights how you showed up for your community

In previous years’ end-of-year campaigns, the Indianola Independent Advocate had not used messaging that referenced specific stories or reporters, opting for a more general approach to their campaigns. This year, they chose to try our new AI-assisted campaigns, which included an option to feature stories from the year.

The Independent Advocate’s AI-assisted campaigns included details about local events and topics the newsroom covered last year, like the National Hot Air Balloon Museum catching on fire and contentious school board meetings. Said Publisher Amy Duncan,

“I went through and looked at the stories that got our top number of page views throughout the year and referred back to those in the messaging because it kind of gave people a trigger of, ‘Oh yeah, I remember that story. I read that story and it was important to me.’”

Highlighting those specific details from across the year resonated with readers and reminded them of the publication’s impact on the community. The Ithaca Voice’s best-performing campaign focused on community engagement, while Montclair Local hosted an event celebrating local heroes. Noted Publisher Liz George,

“When we are there to spotlight the community and to put them first, often it does also respond in increased sustainability to us.”

Subscription-based newsrooms can do end-of-year campaigning

It’s a common misconception that end-of-year campaigning is just for nonprofits. No matter what your monetization model is, a reader revenue campaign at the end of the year is a smart move. The Independent Advocate, a subscription-based publication, led a successful end-of-year campaign that resulted in an engaged audience and an above-average conversion rate.?

As Amy noted,

“We tell people what’s happening in their neighbors and so the end of the year seems like a really good time to remind people, here’s the stories we covered that you would not have known about if we weren’t there?—?here’s the value that we bring to you.”

End-of-year is a time to focus on what your publication has done for the community, including covering stories, events and people that other publications may have missed. These stories of impact are one way to show readers how their subscription supports local news and its effect on their community.

Use what you know to find matching funds

Many newsrooms use matching funds during their end-of-year reader revenue campaigns, particularly if they participate in NewsMatch. Matching funds are a great way to encourage readers to support your newsroom, because their contributions can be “doubled” or “tripled” by these matching grants.

Newsrooms need to secure matching fund partners before the campaign starts. Ron Van Ormer, Managing Director of The Ithaca Voice emphasizes that the first conversation is key — it’s your chance to make the case for support. His advice? Keep it simple:

“Be yourself. You know your organization, you believe in your organization, and that message will just come out naturally if you listen well and answer questions.” It’s all a matter of connecting with a potential partner.

Don’t be afraid to complement your digital appeals with an off-line approach

Email remains one of the best ways to reach your readers, but there are many options to complement digital outreach. Montclair Local hosted a community event in November, three weeks after they launched their end-of-year campaign. shared that her team had contemplated pros and cons of hosting? a ticketed event during their biggest giving season.

They hosted their celebration of local heroes fundraising event on November 22, featuring a live support appeal on stage at the event, which brought in even more NewsMatch-eligible contributions from those attending.?

Liz emphasized,

“the event didn’t interfere with our end of year fundraising, because that was obviously the concern on both ends: will one cannibalize the other? … I think having the strategies that we had already implemented with campaigns with BlueLena and the segmentation, we knew we could do our end of year campaign and not lose sight of that goal while still producing this event.”

Plan ahead —?and start now

Ron names two main reasons for their campaign’s success: having templates set up ahead of time, with distinct messaging for different audience segments, and having their editor on board. It is crucial to have your editorial team on the same page for fundraising campaigns, knowing that you are highlighting the newsroom’s work and strategically working to appeal to readers for support —?and giving readers the option to opt out if they so choose.

As Ron confirmed, planning ahead is crucial —?and that includes using data from previous campaigns to inform future campaigns. Specifically, consider what new segments you want to reach, or how you can improve or enhance messaging to certain segments, like your lapsed supporters or supporters whose subscriptions or memberships are about to expire. At the Independent Advocate, this means making expiration reminders more personalized.

At The Ithaca Voice, planning ahead also means preparing for campaigns throughout the year. Ron and his team are now plotting a marketing calendar that includes a support appeal every month and a multi-part campaign each season. As long as you’re planning strategically, crafting different messages and segmenting your audience, Ron says, “you can’t ask too much, right?”

About BlueLena

BlueLena was founded by an experienced team of publishers, journalists and newsmedia marketing executives to create a sustainable future for independent local media. We do so by deploying world class technology, and delivering the expertise and professional services to build and support subscription, membership and donation models for long-term success.

Our 250+ member publishing consortium represents a diverse mix of non-profit and for profit newsrooms, pure digital and print plus digital publications, as well as established and new media brands. Our clients represent membership with?Local Media Association?(LMA),?LION Publishers?(LION), the?Institute for Nonprofit News?(INN),?the?Black Press Association?(NNPA),?the?National Association of Hispanic Press?(NAHP) and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia?(AAN).

BlueLena is founder-funded and backed by investment from Automattic (owner of Newspack), Local Media Association and?Old Town Media, a New York-based firm that has supported the American Journalism Project, The Colorado Sun, Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat, among other successful media-related projects. Let’s get to work.