Journalism that makes the first move: How a NYC online publication uses snail mail to reach new audiences
The front of a postcard sent to New York City community members as part of THE CITY’s efforts to engage new audience members. Credit: THE CITY
With countless sites and outlets competing for viewers’ attention, it can be hard for journalism organizations to gain new followers. Being online-only can also be a barrier for less tech-savvy viewers and readers. That’s why THE CITY — a nonprofit newsroom in New York City — sends some of their journalism directly to community members via print media. These pieces of print media — postcards, posters, etc. — are meant to stand on their own as complete stories that address hyperlocal issues.
Owen Berg was a student with New York University’s Studio 20, a master’s program built around news innovation, when he worked on the direct-mail effort as part of his capstone project. Berg and Diana Riojas, audience engagement producer for THE CITY, talked to America Amplified about their team’s approach and its local impacts.
Tell us about your engagement initiative or project?
We built a way for THE CITY to deliver its service journalism to new audience members offline by selecting pieces of service journalism that could be easily paired with specific locations in New York City. We then created physical versions of those stories to be distributed in those areas. For example, we took an explainer story about getting one’s heat fixed during the winter and sent it out as a postcard to areas with high rates of heat-related 311 complaints.
Using direct mail marketing via USPS, we were able to deliver large amounts of postcards directly to people’s homes in specific areas. We also experimented with lower-cost options like flyers, which we left at public libraries across New York City. Our results also offered valuable insight into how new readers are introduced to THE CITY, and helped build relationships with local organizations like libraries. -OB
The back of the postcard depicted above. Credit: THE CITY
What was the main objective?
Our goal was to reach audiences who weren’t spending much time on the internet, but could still benefit from reading THE CITY’s work. We wanted to find ways to rely less on search/social media, and connect with new, possibly less tech-savvy readers in an impactful way.
It was very important to us to build a physical product that would be impactful on its own. Our postcards included QR codes which led to longer versions of the stories, but the goal was to provide readers with useful, actionable information before asking them to visit THE CITY’s website. In other words, we wanted to send out journalism that made the first move. -OB
What challenges did your organization face when trying to reach the community?
Measuring engagement with physical media proved to be more difficult and less predictable than tracking how readers interact with digital content. Although we tried our best to control factors like copy, design and targeting, it’s hard to draw a 1:1 comparison between online and offline formats
The best evidence we found for our work’s impact was in the feedback we got from readers. Some of those who responded to our calls for feedback mentioned that our postcards were their first introduction to THE CITY’s journalism, and that they were able to put the information we gave them to good use. -OB
How are you bringing reporting back to the community?
The postcards have been a great way for us to introduce ourselves to New Yorkers who may not rely on digital-only outlets. THE CITY has only been operating for five years, and it’s a mission of ours to share our serviceable journalism with as many New Yorkers it can help out.
Our latest iteration of the postcards not only told people where they can learn more about how climate change is complicating local Superfund sites — toxic places where contamination is hazardous to human and environmental health — but also invited them to an event where our reporters would answer their questions and concerns about living so close to a site. -DR
Were partnerships with local organizations and community leaders part of this work? Did they increase outreach efforts and build trust with the community?
Distributing flyers at libraries led to opportunities to further collaborate with librarians. One recent postcard campaign promoted an event THE CITY held at the Brooklyn Library, where journalists presented on a recent article/podcast series about superfund sites in New York. Having a relationship with the BPL definitely helped in putting the event together. -OB
What lessons do you take away from this work in terms of strengthening engagement?
We learned that readers are genuinely receptive to journalism that meets them offline and brings them online if it is carefully done and presented with the reader’s best interests in mind. Building a way to track reader impact and feedback was also very important in measuring how well we were doing. We also found it crucial to build tests that are low-cost and easy to replicate, because it’s unlikely you’ll get everything right the first time. -OB
Is there anything you would like to add for other engagement practitioners?
We found the postcard strategy has been a way for us to find avenues in which New Yorkers can look to us as a resource to solve their everyday problems. It’s a model we continue to look back at and keep in mind when it comes to future projects. - DR
If you’re interested in learning how to do this kind of on-the-ground engagement, check out Owen Berg’s Print Engagement Guidebook!
