Business & Merchant

Last Updated on Friday, 02 May 2014 22:33

Newly Named "Messenger" Newspaper Will Reach Over 60,000 Readers!

For the last ten years, since June 2004, readers throughout the south hills and Mon valley communities have become accustomed to picking up their free community newspaper. Starting with the May 2014 issue, they will notice a new name running across the masthead.

The South Hills Mon Valley Messenger - New Look

Haniford Enterprises, LLC, publisher of the Union-Finley Messenger and Mon Valley Messenger community newspapers, recently decided to bring these two titles together, and create the new South Hills - Mon Valley Messenger. This strategic decision will result in one of the largest circulated newspapers in the region.

"It was a change that we felt was necessary for us to continue to grow," said Doug Haniford, owner and publisher of the newspapers. "I had been thinking about this for quite some time, but needed to make sure that we had all the right pieces in place to allow us to make this transition," he added.

Haniford went on to say that there were many reasons as to why this move makes sense, stating that there will be some operating efficiencies gained by combining the two newspapers into one, but that it will also help position his company to reach other communities who didn't exactly identify themselves with the Mon Valley, or the Union-Finley areas. Despite his allegiance and loyalty to the town of Finleyville where he was raised, Haniford and his team regularly had to deal with questions and concerns when trying to expand into new areas. "Many people outside of Union Township and Finleyville couldn't identify with our newspaper name," said Haniford. "We had people tell us that they thought we were a Uniontown newspaper, or covered Findlay Township! They just didn't understand where the Union-Finley area was."

Haniford now feels that the new name is more representative of their entire distribution area. "We long ago outgrew the "Union-Finley" identification for our newspaper," he said. "And as much as I wanted to keep the name, unfortunately it limited our ability (to some extent) to sell advertising and appeal to a broader audience. We may have started out 10 years ago as 'that little Finleyville newspaper'..... but we have become so much more."

The Union-Finley Messenger launched 10 years ago in June 2004, followed by the launch of the Mon Valley Messenger in 2011. Both publications have been tremendously successful in terms of reader loyalty, circulation growth and popularity. It was this success and loyal readership that played a significant role in Haniford deciding to keep the name "Messenger" for the new larger, newspaper.

"By keeping the name 'Messenger' as part of our new title, it will allow us to continue the 10 years worth of inroads, awareness and name recognition that we have built up," said Haniford. "The Messenger name had become synonymous with community news within our distribution area, and I didn't want to lose that," he added. While Haniford admits that the new name, South Hills - Mon Valley Messenger sounds a bit verbose and can be quite a mouthful, he fully expects everyone to simply refer to their newspaper as "The Messenger" or the "Monthly Messenger".

With this consolidation of his two newspapers, Haniford will now have one of the largest free community newspapers in the area. The new Messenger will have a circulation of almost 27,000 copies with a readership approaching 60,000. "This change really strengthens our position in the market," said Haniford. "Almost all of our competitors in the south hills and Mon valley have circulations under 11,000. Some even have circulations under 5,000." Haniford's newspaper circulation figures are audited by the Circulation Verification Council (CVC), an independent third-party company that services the free newspaper industry.

Haniford assured his readers and advertisers, that all other aspects of his operations would remain the same. While the name will change, there are no plans to change the editorial format, publish cycle, content or price of the paper. "We will still publish once a month, and we will still be a tabloid-sized publication, and we will still be FREE," said Haniford. He went on to add that people can look at this change very similar to how a grocery store product redesigns their packaging...... "We will have a 'New Look - Same Great Taste' as always.