Targeted Newsletter for Gardeners

Urban Extension professionals are faced with the challenge of communicating with large numbers of people. The newsletter continues to be an effective method for reaching a targeted audience. In a survey of urban gardeners, 22% indicated they go to retail nurseries for information, 21% to articles in magazines, and 20% to articles in newspapers. Only two percent said Extension was their source of gardening information. The most common reason for using a particular source was convenience and ease of use.1

Since retail nurseries and garden centers are considered a prime source of information by the public, the horticulture agents in the metropolitan Cleveland area produce a high-quality, two-color, professionally printed gardening newsletter and distribute it through these outlets.

Ohio Gardening is a four-page gardening newsletter with articles written by agents and associate agents from counties in the metropolitan area. Editing and layout are done by the Cuyahoga County agent and camera-ready copy is prepared by the unit secretary using a desktop publishing program and a laser printer. Photographs and drawings are obtained from uncopyrighted sources. Ten issues (March through December) are published annually.

The cost of professional reproduction is covered by selling Ohio Gardening to local retail garden centers and nurseries. These retailers offer the newsletter to their customers free, as a benefit of doing business at their establishment. This educational newsletter develops better gardeners with broader gardening interests, resulting in better customers. The retailers consider the newsletter a bargain at $20 per 100 copies. Because the newsletter is offered to retailers in a six-county area, economy of scale keeps production costs low. Most of the retailers can't produce a high-quality, in-house newsletter at that price. The retailers report the newsletter generates repeat customers who return to the garden center specifically for the latest issue.

For individuals who want the convenience of home delivery, the newsletter is available by subscription for $10 a year. The subscriber cost is high enough to encourage readers to get the newsletter through a local garden center. This keeps the mailing list small, reducing handling time and costs.

The benefits to the Extension Service are:

• Monthly contact with the participating garden centers and nurseries.
• Distribution system that reduces cost.
• Expanded outreach to a targeted audience.
• Exposure to new clientele.
• Cost-effective publication reflecting quality in Extension programming.
• No duplication of effort with several agents cooperating as a unit.

1. Dennis R. Pittenger, "A Survey of Home Gardeners in Southern California," American Nurseryman, CLXXIV (August 15, 1991), 136- 37.