| READERSHIP SURVEY
BY
GEORGE LEE
PEGG Managing Editor
The most comprehensive readership survey in The PEGG’s
history is now underway, as we grapple with the numerous
challenges involved in further integrating your Association’s
communications tools. The objective is to improve the overall
effectiveness of our web, PEGG and e-mail communications,
as a way to bring more value to the membership.
The move follows an earlier random survey of 600 APEGGA
members. That mail-in survey answered a number of questions
for us and confirmed that we should, indeed, develop an
electronic newsletter or bulletin, which we’ve tentatively
dubbed the e-PEGG.
We learned that readership of The PEGG is high, at more
than 90 per cent. We learned that close to 80 per cent
of members would like to receive an e-PEGG. And we learned
that perhaps 40 per cent would like to continue receiving
a hardcopy version as well.
This is all good information. But it begs questions, too.
What’s Being Read?
We learned, for example, that one of the key projects we’ve
been regularly publicizing – PEGGasus, the online
professional development marketplace – was being
recalled by less than half of the membership.
If members are, in fact, reading The PEGG, why aren’t
more of you absorbing information about this important
and ground-breaking professional development service? What
are you reading in The PEGG, what would you like to see
more of, what would you like to see less of?
You will likely have noticed a number of improvements to
the look and content of The PEGG over recent years, beginning
with a complete redesign. Then, in response to a communications
audit and a stakeholder survey, we improved the appearance
and organization of the publication, and put extra emphasis
on stories about Association initiatives.
But what we haven’t done is determine, section by
section, story type by story type, what you are reading
and would like to read.
What about the newspaper format? Would you prefer fewer
editions of The PEGG, in the form of a magazine, rather
than 10 a year on newsprint?
Since the beginning of 2003, the website has become an
archive for every story published in the hardcopy PEGG.
How does that online PEGG fit with an e-PEGG and our regular
PEGG?
All members can participate in the online readership survey,
through the month of July. Simply go to the APEGGA website
and follow the links.
Effect On Advertising
There’s one other major constituency we need to look
at. That’s our advertisers.
The PEGG is subsidized considerably by advertising dollars.
We restrict the type and percentage of advertising and
we don’t actively solicit it – yet the revenue
continues to increase.
Advertisers base their buying decisions on a lot of different
factors. One of the major ones is how many households and
businesses their message reaches. If a growing number of
readers decide an online version of The PEGG is enough,
circulation of the printed PEGG will drop.
That would be great for the environment, and it would also
reduce postage and printing costs. Advertisers might not
be as willing to use The PEGG, however, and the rates we
charge might need to be reduced.
So, in conjunction with the online reader survey, we’ll
be phoning all our advertisers to find out the effect of
various scenarios on their buying decisions.
Your Say
We’ve made no decision about The PEGG’s future
at this time. Ultimately, the publication’s form
and content will be greatly influenced by what our readers
want.
Please, make your opinion known by taking part in the online
survey.
Visit
www.apegga.org/whatsnew/peggs/Web06-04/epegg.htm
To Complete Survey
http://216.218.188.77/peggsurvey/peggsurveyALL.htm
|
