Marketing and Audience Engagement
Arlingtonian is proud to be a student-run, limited-public-forum newsmagazine. Its issues are free to all Upper Arlington High School students and staff. The district supports part of our printing costs and fundraisers supplement our budget.
Business
Apart from district funding, Arlingtonian is funded by donations, advertisements and fundraisers. These sources of funding are made possible by efforts of the staff and and are the primary responsibility of the Arlingtonian business manager. It was important to me as the incoming Editor In Chief to recruit a strong business manager to be on staff for the school year. With guidance from our adviser, I have been able to empower and collaborate closely with our business manager. This was important to me because last year, we did not have a business team that took pride and initiative in helping the publication.
Fundraising
I work closely with our Business Manager, Leah Hoffman, to schedule and plan multiple fundraisers throughout the year. We focus on local businesses who have give-back programs which give back 10-20% of total proceeds during the event time. These fundraisers not only help to gather proceeds but to promote the publication within the community and strengthen the bond of the staff by working towards a common goal. Fundraisers are also an excellent opportunity to meet family and friends of staff members and see each other outside of the newsroom, which has been beneficial to our culture.
Examples of fundraiser flyers that are posted and shared via staff and publication social media as well as hung up on the walls of UAHS.
Advertising
Each Arlingtonian issue is allotted space for a full page ad and a back page ad. Ladders can be adjusted to make room for more advertisements as our business manager receives confirmation from businesses. This year, our back cover is a repeating ad purchased by the City of Upper Arlington promoting the Parks & Rec Department. We have a recurring full-page ad from our Norwester Yearbook. Over the past four issues, Arlingtonian recieves an average of $950 from advertisements per issue. This is a 243% increase from last years $271 average earnings.
Arlingtonian advertising contract created by Leah Hoffman and I. Prices for ads were increased by an average of 285% from the year prior. This was to make up for discrepancies in funding and to adjust prices to the appropriate amount in regards printing costs.
Donations
This year, I felt it was essential for our growth as a publication, from both a business and camaraderie standpoint, that we held a donation fundraiser. This fundraiser worked in part to increase our outreach in the community, celebrate the launch of our brand-new website and collect donations that will help to open an endowment and cover costs for the year. Donations are accepted year-round on our website, but this specific push lasted from Thanksgiving break through the second week of January.
Arlingtonian staff members were assigned to reach out to 10 individuals each and track all donations and contacts. After the second week of January, Journalism II (J2) students were assigned to fundraise the remaining $800 needed to reach the $10,000 goal. J2 students were given a sample message to send to contacts. This was done to connect current and future Arlingtonian staff members and give J2 students practice for the future.
Fundraiser presentation created by the Arlingtonian business manager to explain the launched fundraiser and class assignment. Progress was checked daily and visual trackers were updated in the newsroom frequently.
Marketing
As both a business and successful publication, Arlingtonian must have a presence beyond the newsroom in order to remain relevant. Our adviser has coined the phrase “put a face on it!” – a reminder to everyone that we must continue to be present and active in the community, through both journalistic storytelling and active involvement.
Representation
This year, our Arlingtonian staff has one of the highest student involvement in other extracurricular activities and graduation pathways than any other year. With a staff full of athletes, musicians, committee members, club presidents and volunteers, our presence in the community is steadfast. However, representation doesn’t stop there. With tables in the hallway during club and scheduling fairs as well as the parent open house, Arlingtonian increases exposure to future journalists and community members.
With the launch of our new website, each staff member has their own profile with a biography, photo and link to all content on the website they contributed to.
Along with faces visible on our website, we now include a section of our newsmagazine dedicated to alternative copies, talk-backs and our statistics page. Th section “UA Speaks,” allows writers and students the opportunity to see themselves in-print outside of bylines and quote attributions.
Branding
With representation comes branding, a publication cannot successfully promote without a strong brand and identity as the foundation. Each issue uses the same fonts and master colors to remain cohesive. Across platforms, Arlingtonian adheres to AP Style and our newsmagazine style guide.
A consistent style is important to productive promotion, but marketing a culture and identity takes more than cohesive fonts. This year, I made it a priority to create an Arlingtonian holiday card that staff would be able to distribute to family, friends and supporters. These cards went hand-in-hand with our fundraiser, as many donators and business owners received well-wishes and personal thanks from the staff. Each student was given 10 cards to deliver before the start of the new year.
Audience Engagement
Although Arlingtonian provides issues free-of-charge to members of the community, we are driven to tell the stories of those who power our publication. Without the support and engagement of our readers, Arlingtonian lacks the true journalistic impact that is rooted in the values and mission of the publication. We are beyond grateful and motivated by the loyalty and trust community members have shown Arlingtonian since 1936.
Distribution
Arlingtonian distributes each printed issue during lunch periods at UAHS. Last year, I saw an enormous amount of printed issues left in the newsroom after each distribution. I began to take a few copies to the main office, counselor offices, teacher workspaces and to our second-floor mezzanine. By the end of the year, I was distributing to the student services office, the main library, fire stations, primary schools and our student-life department. This year, I appointed Evelyn Jones as our community liaison to help with this distribution. Issues are now distributed to all schools within the district, as well as our municipal building, fire stations, local businesses and libraries.
Photos of Arlingtonian Issue Two distribution during 4th and 5th period lunches.
Interaction
The most interactive source of engagement we have with the student body is our “Missed Connections” section. Students are able to submit anonymous messages to peers through a Google Form located on our Instagram. Submissions are completely anonymous and no personal information is collected from students. With each distribution, the “Missed Connections” page is often the first students turn to when they are handed a newsmagazine. Creating a buzz speculation and conversation, students are always excited to see the newest “Missed Connections” and submit a few themselves. This section has become a tradition of Arlingtonian and promotes direct engagement and representation of the student body.
Our Missed Connections page is compiled by photographers and photographed on a cork-board signature to Arlingtonian Missed Connections.