D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June 2008
Record Response
In that huge pile of reader surveys, a couple of surprises.
As I've noted in this space before, our annual reader survey — although packed with good information — seldom produces any real surprises. That's one reason we throw in a few different questions every year, to mix it up a bit. Sure enough, this year's "bonus" question — "How long have you lived in Southwest New Mexico?" — elicited some surprising results, or at any rate shattered a stereotype or two.
If you've thought of the typical Desert Exposure reader as a relative newcomer to this region, maybe a recent transplant from California or a refugee from the Snow Belt, think again. While we certainly are popular with newer arrivals — many of whom tell us Desert Exposure itself was a factor in helping them decide to relocate to Southwest New Mexico — we also reach folks whose roots in the area go much deeper. Nearly half of those answering our annual survey in the April issue (and online) — 46.9 percent — have lived here more than 10 years or all their lives!
Other responses to that question were roughly equally divided, with the smallest group being true newcomers, here less than two years. That probably wouldn't be surprising in other parts of the country. But with Las Cruces' growth and Grant County's transition from a mining community to more of a retirement haven (one focus of this issue's story on economic development — see the B section), you might think readers of a publication like Desert Exposure would come overwhelmingly from this new wave of population. Instead, we're gratified to discover that Desert Exposure is reaching, well, pretty much everybody.
That wide readership reach is underscored by the record response we got to the 2008 survey — more responses than we've ever had to our annual survey and a whopping 67 percent over last year. While not exactly scientific, this year's broad response also closely matches the distribution of our printed copies; in particular, readers in Las Cruces and Mesilla spoke up this year in greater numbers more representative of Desert Exposure's circulation coverage.
Besides asking where readers pick up their copy each month, we again asked them to check other places they regularly shop or go for entertainment. Even those who don't live in Silver City come to shop or have fun: More than 93 percent either live here or visit regularly, including lots of Las Cruces readers. And the reverse is also true: More than 83 percent of Desert Exposure readers either live or regularly shop in Las Cruces and Mesilla.
Speaking of picking up copies of Desert Exposure, the survey again revealed a loyal bunch of readers: 85.3 percent read us every month and 10.8% almost every month. That's up slightly from 2007, as is the average readership per copy — 2.3 readers per copy. Also up is the percentage of readers who save their copy: 47.1 percent keep it to refer to all month, while another 15.7 percent hoard their Desert Exposures indefinitely.
We continue to be amazed and honored at the amount of time readers spend with each monthly issue. Nearly a quarter of you pore over Desert Exposure for three hours or more, and overall the average is 2.1 hours.
Perhaps because readers spend so much time devouring our pages, they don't devote a lot of attention to other publications serving our area. The biggest overlap continues to be with the Silver City Daily Press, at 43.1 percent, but still no single alternative reaches even half of Desert Exposure's audience. The Las Cruces Sun-News (22.5 percent) and The Bulletin (20.6 percent) saw bumps in this year's results, as you'd expect from the increased response from Las Crucens. The Sabroso dining guide saw the biggest drop, with a mere 7.8 percent of our readers also picking it up. (Perhaps the fact that our own Red or Green? restaurant guide is now monthly has made Sabroso less necessary for these folks.)
None of the publications we added to this year's survey had any significant overlap with Desert Exposure readers: Stepping Out just 11.7 percent, Sunshine Senior at 8.6 percent and Southwest Senior at 7.5 percent. Nearly 9 percent of respondents didn't check any of the dozen area publications we listed.
So what are these loyal readers spending their 2.1 hours a month reading? As always, we polled readers about our regular columns and departments, asking how often they read each as well as their number-one favorite. This very column edged back into the number-one "most read" position, pushing last year's top finisher, the Letters column, down to fourth. The Continental Divide column, also by yours truly, took second, followed by the ever-popular Desert Diary. (Before I get too swell-headed about two top finishes, I should perhaps remind myself that the other two most-read regulars, Desert Diary and Letters, are actually written by you, the readers.) Though the ranking shifted slightly, those were also the top four in 2007.
Zooming up the rankings in popularity, however, to tie with Tumbleweeds and our 40 Days and 40 Nights events calendar for fifth place this year was Marjorie Lilly's Borderlines column. Given the continuing prominence of the border in the headlines and the recent surge of violence in Palomas, Marjorie's carefully crafted insights on life where the US and Mexico meet fill an important gap in coverage by the "mainstream" media.
Rounding out the top 10 for 2008 were Business Exposure by Donna Lawder (new in 2007), the aforementioned newly monthly Red or Green? and Ramblin' Outdoors by Larry Lightner. We were pleased to see the latest addition to our lineup, Vivian Savitt's Southwest Gardener column, debuting at number 13 — just behind Henry Lightcap's Journal and Arts Exposure — despite only a handful of outings with which to earn readers' eyeballs.
When we asked the question a different way — pick your one favorite — responses were pretty much the same as last year: Desert Diary topped the list, followed by a four-way tie between Editor's Note, Continental Divide, 40 Days and 40 Nights and Business Exposure, then Ramblin' Outdoors and Henry Lightcap's Journal. Lightcap was the only newcomer to this list, with a surge in readers checking the column as a favorite.
As for what else you'd like to see in our pages, "articles about regional history" led the way, followed by "in-depth investigative articles" and "profiles of colorful area personalities." We were already taking steps to respond to these reader interests before all the ballots were tallied, so this issue includes a dose of local history in our ongoing "Voice of a Ranch Woman" series (returning after a month's hiatus) as well as an investigation into what Grant County got out of its quarter-million dollars in state economic aid. (We'll let you decide which of the personalities in this issue qualify as "colorful.")
As further proof that, yes, we really do pay attention to what readers tell us in these surveys, note that "tips on gardening in SW New Mexico" and "restaurant reviews, news and guides" were no longer on this year's survey, as they were in 2007. That's because the reader response to these topics a year ago encouraged us to make Red or Green? monthly and to greenlight Vivian Savitt's new Southwest Gardener column.
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