Don’t dwell on “democracy,” and other new findings about how to market local news
It turns out that "we're protecting democracy and our industry is dying, please pay us money" is not a great sales pitch.
[Sophie Culpepper in NiemanLab]
Interesting findings about how to market local news:
“Here’s the paradox: 93% of people believe reliable local news is necessary for democracy, yet many of these same people react negatively to explicit “democracy” messaging. This happens because of a disconnect between cognitive and emotional responses. People intellectually understand the connection but emotionally resist being told about it. Years of political messaging have created fatigue around the word “democracy,” and it now triggers partisan defenses regardless of people’s actual beliefs.”
Beyond the effectiveness off using “democracy” messaging, I’ve never found high-level ideology to be a particularly effective way to sell without other pressure. (Ask me about my years trying to sell the idea, “Facebook is a gatekeeper to information and a threat to democracy; we need open social media” to a world that hadn’t yet encountered Cambridge Analytica.)
From a newsroom’s perspective, they’re protecting democracy; from the industry’s perspective, the entire ecosystem is in crisis. But “please pay us money, we’re protecting democracy and our industry is dying” is obviously not a great sales pitch — at least, beyond a core subset of people who are also energetically worried that democracy and journalism are dying. Those people are far more likely to be on one side of the political aisle, and if you’re trying to sell to a whole community, that won’t work.
It seems to me that, like all products, the question is: what do you actually get from it? It’s no surprise to me that the messages that worked were along the lines of “trustworthy local information”.
A sample message from the report itself:
“Coverage of school board decisions, local elections, public safety, or community events won’t come from a national newsroom. These are stories only we tell, and they are essential for people making daily choices that affect their families and neighborhoods.”
That checks out.
[Link]
