Trinity Mirror is planning to tailor its regional newspapers closer to the needs of their readers with the launch of a major new project.

After conducting a major survey of its readership, the group is now aiming to ensure its newspapers are more focused on target reader groups, in terms of content, marketing techniques and newspaper sales, with a strategy it has named Connecting Communities.

The project will involve the group’s 250-plus regional titles, which include the Birmingham Evening Mail, Liverpool Echo and South London Press, and will examine which key reader groups each newspaper should target.

It will initially focus on families with school-age children, although other groups have been identified, including sports fans and businesses.

Ways of improving interaction with readers will also be investigated, including developing text services and links with the Internet and inviting readers to visit the papers.

The newspaper group hopes the initiative will help develop readership and circulation across its regional titles by developing a better understanding of, and satisfying, readers needs.

Regionals editorial director Neil Benson said: “The research findings overall were extremely positive, but have nevertheless prompted us to ask whether we are truly as reader-oriented as we should be.

“Connecting Communities will help us to define the various reader groups each of our titles plan to target.

“It will also question what content we should gather, how we should write it and what presentational treatment we should give, in order to be of maximum value and interest to readers. It’s a big, bold, exciting project.”

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