Marketing & Audience Engagement
Introduction
Marketing and audience engagement are the most important aspects of a student journalist's job description. Democracy needs adversarial press, but that's not what's occurring at both the scholastic and national level. Most Americans value an entertaining press: media that coerces constant engagement through hyperbolic claims and echo chambers. Valuing entertainment over facts has created biased news sites, prompting shutdowns of less sensationalist publications across the country as they fail to generate revenue. Yet this isn’t what journalism should be. America’s democracy fails if there aren’t reporters committed to unconditionally upholding the truth.
Logos
1
2022-23
2
2023-24
3
2024-25
The first thing I did as website editor in chief was design our logo. After all, as a media outlet that produces five different publications, we needed a cohesive brand — something that viewers could recognize as being distinctively Ladue Publications. During the 2023-24 school year, this meant a simple serif and sans serif font stacked on top of each other. As executive editor in chief, I pushed this logo one step further — collaborating with our art editor in chief to incorporate Ladue's signature "ram," further enhancing our brand and image.
Donations & Sponsorships
SNO Donations
Before my senior year, the only way to donate to Ladue Publications was through check or cash — a method that made it near-impossible for those outside of St. Louis to support us. So, alongside our website editors in chief for the 2024-25 school year, I added a SNO donations link to the bottom of our website, increasing the accessibility of donations so all could contribute.
Advertisements & Sponsorships
Advertisements
For all three years that I've been part of Ladue Publications, I've worked to sell advertisements and sponsorships around the community. Often, this meant walking around Ladue and speaking to local businesses — ice cream shops, floral boutiques, restaurants — that our students often frequented. I'd introduce them to the methods in which they could support us, emphasizing that Ladue Publications relied on donations from the community to operate. Each person that purchased an advertisement would then receive a copy in the mail of each of our issues.
Fundraisers
This year, I worked with my advisers to organize a photo fundraiser: an event in which we took pictures of Ladue families and friends to fund Ladue Publications. The event filled up within hours of announcing it to the public, and we worked to put on an event that lived up to the public's desires. I managed the function, coordinating the event and assigning photographers to shooting locations to ensure everything ran on time and efficiently.
Advertorial Copy
Last year, I wrote two pieces of advertorial copy for the Ladue Education Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the educational ventures of the Ladue School District. This was different than anything else I had ever written — instead of the objectivity that was present in my other articles, I wrote this copy with the LEF's mission and values in mind, ensuring that I supported the organization in my writing.
Audience Interactions
Letters to the Editor & Guest Essays
To increase our ability to communicate with audience members, I worked to clarify letters to the editor and guest essay content. By providing a space for community members to give feedback, I ensured that our publication remained constantly available to our audience.​
Editors' Note
Summer Issue
November Flip Issue
Every issue Ladue Publications releases features an editors' note: an insight from the editor in chief into the issue's content. When writing the notes, I attempt to connect with the audience and candidly explain my editorial choices. The summer issue, for example, had a casual tone, setting an uplifting mood for the upcoming school year. The November Flip Issue, which covered our first-ever election reporting, was a more delicate topic. I walked my audience through our process, honing in on the editorial board's decision to localize every story within the Election section.
"Pitch a Story"
At the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, I implemented a "Pitch a Story" form on laduepublications.com. Modeled after professional news sites, this form granted audience members the ability to explain what type of coverage they were interested in, aiding Ladue Publications' reporters in story selection.
Website Comments
Both this year and last, I have monitored comments on laduepublications.com, ensuring that all are published unless they contain foul language or inappropriate content. I believe the public deserves the ability to engage with our work freely, without unnecessary limitations.
Professional Instagram Account
To increase both my and Ladue Publications' audience visibility, I created a professional Instagram account, @j.ainarti. On this platform, I publish event photos and personal reporting milestones, creating a digital blueprint that will serve me well in my reporting career.
Promotion
Melodrama Literary Magazine
To promote submissions to and issues of the Melodrama Literary Magazine, I went to activity fairs and classrooms and posted fliers around the school. In each conversation, I attempted to convey my love for Melodrama — speaking about the privilege to view and curate the art, convincing the larger student body to read and submit to our publication.
Collaboration
At the beginning of the year, Panorama Newsmagazine created a pocket-sized summer issue, meant to inform the student body of events occurring during the upcoming school year. As part of the issue, we collaborated with our school's student-run business, the Ram Shack. Students who filled out the crossword featured at the end of our newsmagazine were entered into a raffle drawing for a free sweatshirt from the Ram Shack. This collaboration boosted both of our visibility, promoting our individual content.
