Online Ads, Story Plaques & All-Direct-Mail Print Issues Set Us Apart 

Editorial

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Neighborhood News you’ve been receiving in your mailbox has continued to grow, despite some people still believing that “print is dead.” 

Thanks in no small part to the efforts of our director of ad sales & marketing, also known as my beautiful wife Jannah, we have been adding new advertisers at a near-record rate. Just a few issues ago, we were at 40 pages per issue, but last issue and this one, we’re up to 48 pages and that momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing. 

In fact, Jannah has been averaging between 3-5 new advertisers in each issue and the content I am so proud — as the publisher and editor — to present to you each issue continues to keep both readers and advertisers alike coming back for more. 

Although both of our publications are growing, there is no doubt that it’s been a lot easier for our all-direct-mail circulation to keep up with the pace of growth here in New Tampa than it has in Wesley Chapel. 

At the start of 2022, our New Tampa direct-mail distribution, which also includes the Lake Forest subdivision on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Lutz, was 28,436 residences and businesses, reaching 77,500 total people, according to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)’s estimates of the number of people per household in each postal carrier route we serve. With only the K-Bar Ranch area of New Tampa still growing, that number has risen (as of Sept. 1) to just over 29,000 residences and about 80,000 total people. 

Meanwhile, at the start of 2022, our mailing to zip codes 33543, 33544 & 33545 was less than 29,000 total pieces and less than 80,000 total people, At the start of 2023, our Wesley Chapel distribution had risen by more than 2,000 additional pieces — to 31,000 homes, apartments and businesses by direct mail. That number of pieces equalled more than 5,000 additional people (or about 85,000 total) in those same zip codes, again according to USPS. 

Now, only nine months later than that, our all-direct-mail Wesley Chapel circulation has surpassed 33,000 residences and businesses and we now reach more than 90,000 people! And, my pledge is that we will continue to add the thousands of additional residential units that are planned and actively being built to our mailing every four weeks. Based on the stories about new developments we continue to run in these pages, we could surpass 35,000 direct-mail pieces and approach 95,000 total people by the end of this year or sometime in 2024. 

Compare those numbers in Wesley Chapel “proper” with any other print publication claiming to serve our area — or any portion of it — and you’ll see that if you have a business located in or near either of our distribution areas, there is no other way to reach as many potential customers for that business than by advertising in the Neighborhood News. And, some of those other publications actually charge more to reach a tiny percentage of your potential customers than we do. We’re not just mailed to one community, no matter how nice it may be. We mail to ALL of them! 

But Wait, There’s (Much) More! 

And, in case you think we’re resting on our print laurels, you couldn’t be more wrong. 

Our online presence continues to grow at an equally rapid rate, as we post individual hyperlocal news, business and dining stories on our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page pretty much every day of every week. Those posts often reach thousands of people in our areas who don’t necessarily want to hold a print publication in their hands. And, those stories always link to our website in order to read the entire text of those stories. We also recently began selling ads on our website, which registers an average of more than 30,000 “hits” per month, with some months surpassing 100,000 hits — when one of our Facebook stories attracts enough attention — such as our breaking news stories about the Target being built at The Grove, PopStroke’s opening on S.R. 56 and even the Chicken Boss’ opening at the KRATEs. Our 2024 Media Kit, which will be available shortly, will include combination rates for print and online advertising. 

We also continue to have advertisers — and even some local residents — who have had stories in our publications also purchase what I call “Story Plaques” (photo above) from us, rather than take what we work hard to do for them to an outside company who then makes money off our efforts by creating plaques of stories they had nothing to do with writing. 

For nearly two years now, we have been able to offer equally attractive plaques for our advertisers and others to hang in their offices and homes — all at a lower cost than what those outside companies charge. 

Best of all, we can even include the cost of the plaque in the cost of your ads! 

So, whether we’ve done a story about your business or someone you love in these pages, email us at Ads@NTNeighborhoodNews.com. Or, call (813) 910-2575 and Jannah will help you find out more about everything new at the Neighborhood News!