THURSDAY AM BUZZ: Promote coupons, inserts on your front page

If any of you have watched the TLC show, "Extreme Couponing" you know that couponing has caught fire again with consumers, and newspapers can also reap the rewards of this craze.

If your newspaper is not promoting coupons or preprints on the front page of your newspaper is a tease box or with a special teaser, why not?

Nothing will attract a reader's attention more in the newstand or at the store than, "Up to $140 of savings with coupons in today's edition!"

The goal is for people to pick up the paper, and even if it is for the coupons initially, chances are they will read your content as well.

And, you never know, coupons just may be the thing to hook a non-traditional newspaper reader into a regular subscriber.

Last Sunday while visiting a convenience store in the Dallas area, I saw a woman purchase three copies of the Sunday Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Being the nosy newspaper man that I am, I asked why she bought three copies. Her answer, "More copies, more coupons, more savings. I do this every Sunday."

In this photo with this post, you will notice that the Waxahachie (Texas) Daily Light promotes its preprints and coupons on the front page of its Sunday's edition. You can do something as simple as a regular teaser, which is what the Daily Light is doing, or go a step further and add up the total amount of coupon savings in that week's newspapers, or include a list of preprints featured in that specific edition.

Whichever you chose, we think it's a great idea to promote the savings featured in your newspaper.

Let's not miss this opportunity!