Audience Development Best Practices

1. Audience Development Best Practices Monica Wesolowski

2. Source 2013 Neilson

3. Source 2013 Neilson

4. Source 2013 Neilson

6. Best Practices

7. Winning Direct Mail Creative • OBJECTIVE • Increase response rate • SALES SOURCE • Direct Mail • TARGET AUDIENCE • Formers and targeted prospects • RESULTS • LA Times: .60% • Hartford Courant: .65%

8. Direct Mail Effectiveness • OBJECTIVE • Test self-mailer creative against control letter package to save costs. • SALES SOURCE • Direct Mail • TARGET AUDIENCE • Formers • Targeted Prospects • RESULTS • Control letter package: 1.3%.  CPO $27 • Test self-mailer: 1.3%  CPO $24 • Cost savings of $5,993

9. Themed Campaigns • OBJECTIVE • Test holiday themed sales approach • SALES SOURCE • FSI • TARGET AUDIENCE • Single Copy buyers • RESULTS • .1% response rate, $7.82 CPO • OBJECTIVE • Test March Madness themed sales approach • SALES SOURCE • Email • TARGET AUDIENCE • Former subscribers flagged as sports enthusiasts • RESULTS • 28 new print/digital subscribers

10. Offer Presentation • OBJECTIVE: • Promote home delivery rate per issue for a comparison to single copy. • SALES SOURCE • FSI • TARGET AUDIENCE • Single Copy readers • RESULTS • Increased response rate from .08% to .11% versus percent off or dollar amount

11. Control: Everyday $3.10, Wednesday-Sunday $2.13, Weekend $1.42 Test Revenue Thresholds 1.18% • OBJECTIVE: • Maintain response rate and increase revenue with higher price points. • SALES SOURCE • Direct Mail • TARGET AUDIENCE • Formers and targeted prospects • RESULTS • 1.19% response rate on two test versions with higher pricing. Control version response rate was 1.18%. Test 1: Everyday $3.10, Wednesday-Sunday $2.73, Weekend $1.52 1.19% Test 2: Everyday $3.80, Wednesday-Sunday $3.53, Weekend $2.02

12. PURL – Personalized response URLs Metro PCS Call In Contest Sales Response Testing • OBJECTIVES: • Test new ways to engage with prospects and entice them to respond. • SALES SOURCE • Inbound Telemarketing and Direct Mail • TARGET AUDIENCE • Metro PCS users and Prospects • RESULTS • Metro PCS Call In Contest • generated 800 calls and converted • 70 to subscribers.

13. Telemarketing Opportunities • Verafast “Disconnect” program • New wireless dialing policy • Using Direct Response channel to drive inbound calls • Sweepstakes programs • Rest.com give away • Managing a DNC cleanse program • Dialing strategies • OBJECTIVES: • Expand calling material • Reach more prospects • SALES SOURCE • Telemarketing • TARGET AUDIENCE • Callable households

14. Partnerships • OBJECTIVE: • Reach new single copy audiences by offering the paper over the counter in participating locations. • TARGET AUDIENCE • Single Copy readers • RESULTS • 79 participating locations to date • Improvement in sales compared to previous outside rack program

15. Optimizing for Mobile OBJECTIVE Make emails more mobile friendly recognizing that many emails are read on a mobile device. SALES SOURCE Email TARGET AUDIENCE Former subscribers or prospects RESULTS tbd

16. Lead Generation OBJECTIVE Geo-target offers through OptIntelligence affiliate websites SALES SOURCE Online ads TARGET AUDIENCE Visitors of 100+ websites that require registration RESULTS 2% lead conversion rate: $27 CPO

17. Retarget Ads • OBJECTIVE • Convert unpaid users of the LA Times website to paid digital subscribers • SALES SOURCE • Online ads • TARGET AUDIENCE • 60+ networks with access to 95% of the webs ad inventory, such as: rubicon, appnexus, collective, AOL, yahoo!, Pubmatic, Google and the Facebook Exchange , etc. • RESULTS • 14 total Digital Subscription sales • 2,030,198 Impressions total • .03% CTR

18. Groupon Online Channel Development • OBJECTIVES: • Find additional ways to reach prospects online. • SALES SOURCE: • Partnerships • TARGET AUDIENCE • Online users • RESULTS • Xfinity/Comcast.net: • Local cable company and email provider • Sign in screen takeover • CPO of $32. • Groupon • Thousands of orders per campaign • Revenue share cost structure Comcast.net Sign In Takeover

19. Targeted Stop Save and Winback • OBJECTIVE • Save and renew high revenue, high risk subscribers with last rate pricing. • SALES SOURCE • Direct Mail • TARGET AUDIENCE • Stops from previous week • Expired subs in grace • RESULTS • Stops: 1.86% • Expired subs in grace: 3.7%

20. Digital Only Winback Tier Pricing • OBJECTIVE • Test pricing thresholds based on last rate • SALES SOURCE • Email • TARGET AUDIENCE • Formers digital only subscribers • RESULTS • Went from single digit to double digit response rates at higher revenue price points

21. Digital Email Strategy

22. Sample Web Ads

23. Daily Press Extra E-Edition • OBJECTIVE • Upgrade 7-day print subscribers with • E-Edition product • SALES SOURCE • Spadeas, in-paper ads, email • TARGET AUDIENCE • 7-day print subscribers • RESULTS • Up 24% in print subscriber upgrades • Up 41% in Digital Lite sign ups among non-print subscribers sampling the product • Up 24% in Digital only sign ups

24. Digital Copy Campaign • OBJECTIVE • Create awareness and drive trial of digital copy, especially among segments with some to high print affinity. • SALES SOURCE • Email • Outdoor/transit advertising • Digital kiosk & Free trial cards • In-paper ads • TARGET AUDIENCE • Current and former newspaper readers • Suburban commuters • Event and festival attendees • RESULTS • 3,584 total conversions for 2 week free trial • Increases in usage and time spent with product

26. Engage Non-Subscribers • New and Revamped Products

27. Engage Non-Subscribers • Reinforce value and capture user information • Tie into paid product promotion

28. Q & A Monica Wesolowski