In order to better orient its services and to present content that is adapted to your needs and wishes, the Journal régional Le Haut-Saint-François is carrying out a study of its readers, with the collaboration of a team of students at the University of Sherbrooke.
Four marketing students are doing the study of the Journal readers in the context of their marketing research course. They must put into practice the concepts and principles they have learned by completing an entire marketing research study. To do this, the students have chosen the Le Haut-Saint-François newspaper, which had been previously registered on a list of potential businesses. “We found it interesting that it is a local business, and that the study would enable us to help you as well as the population you serve,” said Olivier Bercier, one of the group of students. “It’s interesting to be able to offer our help without having the aspect of sales,” added Marie-Catherine Roberge, while her colleague, Jérémie Côté, noted that the newspaper has some characteristics in common with the local newspaper in his region, the Montérégie.
For Bercier, the aspect of interacting with people and learning what they think constitutes an excellent motivation. “What we are doing is concrete,” he said. “It’s not shovelling clouds; we see that we can help,” added Roberge.
Survey
The study, currently in process, is based on a survey to which people are invited to respond on the Facebook page of the Journal, at www.www.facebook.com/journalHSF, selecting the link to the survey. Participants get a chance to receive one of two $100 prizes, or a pair of tickets to a show. The survey is addressed to all the readers in the Haut-Saint-François, with all the municipalities grouped together.
The questionnaire, available in both languages, aims to define the profile of readers, their fields of interest, how often they read the paper, what they like, what they like less, and their suggestions about content. The readership study should be completed by the end of November or the beginning of December. The Journal team will take the results into consideration in order to better adapt the newspaper’s editorial content.