HOT PURSUIT
No matter if it’s personal, professional or other, I enjoy celebrating successes. And this week I’ve come up with a unique way to celebrate a milestone we’re hoping to hit within the next month or so.
On the front of this week’s edition, you should have noticed an announcement regarding the Steele County Times nearing the achievement of having 3,000 subscribers. Currently, we have 2,800 subscribers, which means we need 200 more to hit the 3,000 mark.
And you’ve guessed it. I’m not letting that accomplishment slip by without a little fanfare. We will award the 3,000th subscriber a $300 shopping spree at Hy-Vee Foods in Owatonna.
We’re offering a couple great deals. The first one comes next week at the Steele County Free Fair. As we have for the past 14 years, we’ll be offering subscriptions at a reduced rate at our fair booth in the Four Seasons Centre. If we don’t get 200 new subscribers at the fair, then we have another deal running until the end of September. Whether it’s during the fair or after the fair is over, some lucky new subscriber will win the shopping spree as long as we hit 3,000 by Sept. 30.
And even if you don’t win the shopping spree, we’re still offering you a great bargain for subscribing. New subscribers who pay for one year will get an additional nine months added on for free. We also have a renewal special for those loyal readers who have been with us.
We have been flooded with new readers over the past two years. We are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming success we have experienced. Our circulation has skyrocketed by almost 60% since 2021. If you go back to when I took over the newspaper in 2009, our circulation has jumped 175%. To put this in perspective, the circulation at the daily newspaper in Owatonna has declined by 75% during the same time period.
So, as you can see there is much for the Times to celebrate. Speaking of celebrating, we’ve also just found out we have won many national journalism awards, which will be presented next month in Washington, D.C. If you’ve been looking for the right time to subscribe to Steele County’s most read newspaper, now is the time.
Last week at Downtown Thursday I received one of the best compliments I could. A long-time Owatonna businessman told me, “Thanks for giving us something to read again.” While maybe not in those same words, we receive many similar comments like that from readers all the time. It’s very gratifying and humbling to be so well received.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with our publication, I’d like to direct your attention to page 5A where we have a story, “Navigating Steele County’s most read newspaper.” This will answer many questions you may have about our newspaper.
If you want to know what’s going on in Steele County, this newspaper is the place to be. Find out for yourself what the excitement is all about by checking us out today.
And by going in hot pursuit of subscribing, you might find yourself on the winning side of a shopping spree.