NERUS Best Of Las Vegas project chosen top idea by Editor & Publisher

Editor & Publisher Magazine announced this year’s list of 10 Newspapers That Do It Right. These ideas range from successful digital innovations, strategies that helped cut costs, and revenue ideas that increased the bottom line. We are pleased to announce that our work with The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Inc. and Best Of Las Vegas was chosen as one of the top 10 ideas!

Here is what the story had to say:

[March 1, 2018 – EDITOR & PUBLISHER MAGAZINE] As the “Best of Las Vegas” rolled into its 36th year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal knew it needed a new approach. Despite doubling its revenue in 2016, the “Best of” section struggled with profits.

“In the past, as with most newspapers, we would spend three months, grab the money, run a newspaper section and then have to start all over again,” said Kimberly Parker, vice president of advertising.

That wasn’t going to work in 2017, which is why the Review-Journal brought in NERUS Strategies LLC. That move would result in the 2017 “Best of Las Vegas” bringing in more than 1.3 million votes, $725,000 in revenue and an 84 percent revenue growth year-over-year.

The NERUS team stepped in and helped the Review-Journal create twice-weekly feature editions for “Best of Las Vegas” and an all-new 120-page full color glossy magazine. In addition, it also created a digital platform which served both the readers (voters) and advertisers, optimizing voter engagement while providing our advertising staff with the ability to serve customers in a new and meaningful way, said Parker.

Not only did NERUS simplify the voting process but it brought a new approach to the project, transforming both the advertiser and user experience, according to Parker.

“Whether it was running marketing promotions, designing ads, making sales assist calls or writing content,” she said. “They provide whatever is needed in order to free up sales to do what they are paid to do: sell.”

NERUS helped create a year-round website with a self-serve shopping cart function that gave users and customers the freedom to browse at their leisure.

“We often found customers logging on during the early morning hours or late in the evening as their own personal schedules allowed,” Parker said.

An addition of an entertainment channel filled with ongoing news and events to the site helped boost page views for the Review-Journal.

“It allows us to sell digital solutions to a unique audience that is highly engaged in Las Vegas entertainment, news and travel information,” Parker said. “The website (BestOfLasVegas.com) now has valuable content year-round.”

Most of all, NERUS helped the Review-Journal change the “Best of” experience into a product line, said Parker, and they saved money on production, digital and marketing services.

Parker said their partnership with NERUS would continue this year and offered three pieces of advice to other publications with “Best of” programs: “Have it managed outside the newsroom; let it be managed by professionals that know the space; and treat those professionals as partners, not vendors.”