PatrickFinnegan

The Challenge

While attending the University of Northern Iowa, I joined the student newspaper as a sales representative and was promoted within my first year to Senior Account Manager. At the time, the newspaper faced significant financial challenges, losing thousands of dollars each semester and relying on supplemental funding from Student Government to cover operating expenses.

After learning the extent of the financial challenges, I approached our faculty advisor and asked for the opportunity to help turn the organization around. Drawing on my lifelong exposure to the newspaper business through my family's newspaper, I believed we could build a sustainable operation by treating the newspaper as a business: understanding our customers, controlling expenses, creating accountability, developing our people, and finding new sources of revenue. Our faculty advisor gave me broad autonomy to evaluate the operation and recommend and implement changes across the newspaper.

Diagnosing the Business

I began by looking at both sides of the equation: expenses and revenue. On the expense side, we identified inefficient practices contributing to unnecessary costs. Editorial leadership addressed excessive article length under the existing per-word compensation model, while we reduced print quantities by hundreds of copies where circulation did not justify the expense. Staffing was also evaluated, resulting in difficult personnel decisions necessary to create a more sustainable operation.

On the revenue side, I found an advertising operation that lacked structure. Sales representatives could approach any business they wanted, sometimes resulting in multiple representatives contacting the same company on the same day. Beyond creating internal inefficiency, this presented an unprofessional experience to prospective advertisers. I redesigned the sales organization around dedicated geographic territories. Each salesperson became responsible for developing relationships within an assigned market, eliminating duplicated sales efforts and creating greater ownership and accountability.

To expand our prospect pipeline, I worked with the Cedar Falls and Waterloo Chambers of Commerce to identify local businesses and decision-makers. I then used those resources to develop targeted prospect lists for our sales team. We met weekly to review leads, discuss sales strategies, share ideas, and coach one another on how to approach prospective advertisers.

Creating the Newspaper's Most Successful Revenue Product

One of the largest opportunities I identified came from my previous exposure to the newspaper industry. Growing up around my father's newspaper business, I had seen the success of community visitor guides. I realized UNI had a similar opportunity: approximately 10,000 students represented an attractive audience for businesses throughout Cedar Falls and Waterloo, particularly at the beginning of the academic year.

I created a special Orientation edition designed to connect students with the businesses and services they needed — restaurants, grocery stores, housing, entertainment, retail, and other community resources. Because of the value of this highly targeted audience, we developed premium advertising opportunities rather than simply selling standard newspaper placements.

Demand exceeded our expectations. The first Orientation edition grew to approximately 70 pages, making it the largest edition in the newspaper's history and the newspaper's most successful revenue-generating product. The concept proved sustainable and became an annual publication.

The value wasn't limited to our own revenue. Hy-Vee participated with a coupon offering a 12-pack of soda for 50 cents. Following the promotion, the store manager told me it was the most successful coupon he had ever run through any advertising channel. Hy-Vee subsequently continued advertising with the newspaper because of our ability to effectively reach UNI's student population.

Expanding the Newspaper Beyond Campus

I also recognized that the newspaper needed greater visibility beyond its traditional student readership. I approached the University of Northern Iowa Athletics Department and developed a mutually beneficial partnership with the Assistant Athletic Director. Through the partnership, newspapers could be placed on every seat in the McLeod Center before games, dramatically increasing exposure beyond the student body and putting our publication — and our advertisers — in front of UNI fans and community members.

For major games, I developed special game-day editions that incorporated double-page spirit signs featuring messages such as 'Go UNI' or 'Beat Iowa.' Advertisers were incorporated into the designs, meaning that when students held the signs up during games, they simultaneously demonstrated school spirit and provided visibility for our advertising partners. In return, UNI Athletics received promotional space within the newspaper for upcoming games and events, creating value for both organizations without requiring significant additional expenditures.