Marketing and Audience Engagement

Business

Arlingtonian is proudly financially independent. This means that we receive no money whatsoever from the school district. I assembled a business team of three — all new to staff — to raise the money we needed to go to print (upwards of $2,000 per issue).

Money has been a major concern throughout the year. I want Arlingtonian's work to be accessible to all, so I draw a hard line against a subscription model of the sort that many other student publications similar to us have adopted. Instead, we rely primarily on fundraising, advertisements, and donations. While finances can be tight, we are proud to retain our editorial independence while simultaneously maintaining our commitment to producing a magazine for all of UAHS.

Fundraising

I have worked with the business team to plan and organize a number of fundraisers. We frequently have donut fundraisers and have become known for our one-dollar donuts.

We have experimented with different ways of selling the donuts. Traditionally, we have pushed a cart throughout the school selling the baked goods. Most recently, we sold directly to teachers via presales. We were pleasantly surprised to sell out, receiving orders summing to 45 dozen donuts.

^ Donut presale order form for teachers that business associate Katy Trombold and I created

< ^ Sampling of social media posts I created to promote Arlingtonian fundraisers

Advertising

Advertising is a large chunk of our revenue. The business team is responsible for reaching out to local businesses to sell  advertisements.

Before last school year, I created the Arlingtonian ad contract for use by the business staff. I adjusted this contract for this year as well.

While we encourage businesses to submit their own advertisements, we also are happy to create graphics for them. Over the years, I have created a number of ads for businesses and groups (see the slideshow in the bottom right).

I also created a spreadsheet for the business team to keep track of their business contacts.

^ Business reach-out spreadsheet I created for the business team. Sensitive information is redacted.

^ Arlingtonian ad contract I created

^ Ads I have created for businesses

Donations

Donations comprise a smaller chunk of our revenue, but they are still an important way for us to earn money. I have solicited donations from readers at various parent information nights, outside a graduation, and more. I also went door to door to ask for donations last summer. It was great engaging with the community and hearing people's connections with the publication.

Marketing

In order to successful raise funds and sell ads, Arlingtonian needs to market itself. Below you will find various ways I have aimed to improve Arlingtonian's marketing.

Representing Arlingtonian

I have represented Arlingtonian at a number of community events. By speaking about Arlingtonian before an audience, my hope is to spread knowledge of our publication and establish new connections with members of the community. This ultimately helps us attain advertisers and donations.

Places I have represented Arlingtonian include:

^ Community liaison Matthew Doron (right) and I (left) speak about Arlingtonian before the Upper Arlington Board of Education at the start of the year

MD/JU BOE meeting slides

^ Slideshow Matthew and I spoke from

Building a brand

As I entered the role of Editor in Chief, I have put together brand guidelines to strengthen our identity as a publication. This includes reminding staff members of typefaces (one of which I changed from last year). I also codified our house color, Arlingtonian orange, as #ffb82a.

Audience engagement

Know Your Reader

As Editor in Chief, I closely monitor our demographic reach, as well as the popularity of different stories.

To this end, I have set up Google Analytics on our website, which allows us to see in closer detail who's reading Arlingtonian online. Google Analytics, combined with a Wordpress plugin that provides further information, allows me to see what readers are interested in. Additionally, I check the account analytics offered by Instagram.

I seek to apply what I learn from these tools to improve our coverage and reach. For example, I found that most users accessed our website through their phones, so got to work creating a mobile website (something that remains a work in progress). I also discovered that much of our Instagram audience were parent-aged adults (or, not inconceivably, students who lied about their age). This informs our use of the platform.

Journalists should write for readers, not numbers. But statistics and analytics can help us to better serve the reader.

^ Sample of data gathered from Instagram, Google Analytics, and Wordpress.

Inter-platform promotion

On occasion, I'll find myself with some spare space in an issue -- maybe I had to cut a story at the last minute, maybe we have three ads on a page that will fit four. When I'm in this situation, I often use the space to promote Arlingtonian's presence on other platforms. You can see examples of this on the left.

Seeking community feedback

I am currently in the process of planning a focus group to solicit reader feedback about Arlingtonian. I am inviting students, teachers, parents, and community members to share what they think Arlingtonian can do to improve.