Holy Mother of Local Buying Power, Batman!
Did you know when you drive down the street and look at all your neighbors? homes, that nearly three of every four of the families inside make decisions on what goods and services they will purchased based on what they have seen in our papers?
Yep, ’tis true.
Just last week, a national auditing firm released their findings based on a phone survey they completed of Clarkston area residents ? you, the reader. They asked about paper readership and local buying trends for the next 12 months. The findings, I am happy to report, are staggering.
Circulation Verification Council (CVC), an independent, third-party reporting audit company based in St. Louis, MO, audited The Clarkston News and Penny Stretcher circulation numbers ? making sure what we report to the community is what we are delivering. (Hint, we are.)
So, after their audit, what did they find with their simple, Yes and No questions of local residents?
The average net circulation of the Penny Stretcher and Clarkston News is: 18,641 addresses (residential and commercial).
Of the random residents surveyed:
98 percent recognized they received our paper.
74.1 percent said they, or someone in their home regularly reads or ‘looks through? our paper
73.5 percent said they ‘frequently? purchase products or services from local business ads seen in our papers.
Wow! Nearly three quarters of the households in this community use our paper when making buying decisions. Can any other form of local marketing boast those numbers?
For the skeptics out there, hold on a second. Let me tell you about CVC. First, they audit thousands of editions nationwide with a combined circulation over 55 million. Their auditors pour over our US Postal statements, printing statements and any other statement they can find, to come up with their findings. Their audits cover printing, distribution, circulation, websites, digital editions, mobile, email, social media and readership studies to give an accurate picture of a publication’s reach and market penetration.
Oh, and we did not pay for this audit.
According to CVC founder and president, Tim Bingaman, ‘CVC uses a for-profit business model, which allows our company to remain completely objective in its reporting practices. We run our business the same way as financial auditors and auditors of all other media. There’s no power of influence because most publishers do not pay us directly for our services, so we can be totally impartial and just report the facts. Today, CVC is known as the premier source of audit, circulation and readership data, and I’m proud of the work we do.?
Aside from assessing our papers? reach, Bingaman’s company also got the pulse for locals? projected buying trends. Here are some of the answers you provided:
n 17% of your neighbors say they will buy a new automobile. That means 2,344 households will each spend about $25,777 (national average cost) on a new car ? $60,446,549 in new car sales!
n 18% will be in the market for a ‘new? pre-owned vehicle. With the average cost being, $13,145. This represents another $32,637,963 in sales.
n Let’s see . . . oh, 7% of you say you will need a real estate agent (that’s just under a 1,000 transactions). If the average transaction is $240,000, local real estate agents will be inking over $231 million dollars in contracts. Talk about the benefits of fiduciary relationships!
n Over 1,100 of you plan to seek the advice of an attorney this coming year, representing over $1.1 million worth of legal advice. I think local counsel may think about marketing in our pages to get a piece of that pie before all the billboard and TV commercial lawyers take all the action!
Over the course of the next few weeks, I will publish more results ? reinforcing the power of the local buying market. Until then, thank you to the community ? you local residents and businesses ? who continually supports this local paper and for taking the time to respond to the survey. There are naysayers who cry newspapers are dying. Bah! Once again, those who say that do not live in the Clarkston area. Your community papers continue to thrive, insuring readers will be informed and entertained for years to come!