Newspapers, take note: How to make the most of public notices, now a very important part of your revenue

By the Public Notice Resource Center and the Institute for Rural Journalism

Along with open-meeting and freedom-of-information laws, public notice is an essential element of the three-legged stool of open government. The purpose of public notice is to prevent official actions from occurring in secret, and they have become an essential element in newspapers' revenue mix. But local officials and others keep lobbying state legislatures to cut back on paid notices.

Opponents argue that public notices should move from newspapers to the internet, so the local notices that run in your printed editions also need to run, with no addiitonal charge, on your website – not just the statewide sites that many state newspaper associations maintain (sometimes as a legal requirement). Notices should never be behind a paywall.

If a public-notice ad has news value, write a story about it or at least direct readers to it via social media. If a public notice plays a role in a story, mention it – taking the opportunity to draw attention to the importance of notice publication in news media. To make sure this happens, designate someone to read the public notices in each publication.

Promote the effectiveness of public notices in your paper. “Delinquent taxes roll in – after debtors’ names are published” is an easy headline to imagine.

Promote public notices in your paper with house ads in print and online – with social media, rack cards, etc. Mention them in editorials and columns throughout the year. Maintain relationships not only with notice clients, but also legislative representatives.

Notices should be easy to find. Give them a home-page link. Don't bury them in “classifieds. Rethink your Public Notice section: use visual section headers; publish contact information of public-notice personnel; use headlines to break up groups of notices, and subheads. Create an index of notices, and create a glossary of public notice terms; it's an informative filler.

Don’t take public notice for granted. Treat public notice clients like customers. Help the buyers of public notices – your customers – meet statutory requirements. This is not always easy, but you need to be an expert to truly serve your client. You will provide value to clients and set yourself apart from potential competitors. This can be specially important for private-party clients, but local governments need help too.

Notices must be readable. The type size should be the same as main news. Each notice should be distinguishable from the surrounding text. They should appear in the paper as if we care whether or not people read them. Public notices are news.

Finally, accuracy is paramount. When newspapers mess up a notice, fail to publish it ,or publish it at the wrong time, that provides ammunition for those who want to stop paying for them.