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In November of 2004, the Chicago Tribune launched Subscriber Advantage, a loyalty program designed to give exclusive benefits to newspaper subscribers. With more and more people getting their news from the internet, the Trib needed a way to leverage the popularity of chicagotribune.com to help declining print newspaper subscriptions.

The program is available to all print subscribers and offers them coupons, discounts, and other incentives that must be selected from the website. This drives traffic to chicagotribune.com, and offers a compelling incentive for becoming and remaining print newspaper subscribers.

The Subscriber Advantage program has close to 300,000 members and has proven successful in reducing print newspaper cancellations.

Recently, Subscriber Advantage introduced TribPoints, a program that allows members to earn points and redeem them for various items. Members can earn points for reading certain article on chicagotribune.com, by answering trivia questions, or by doing numerous other activities on the site. Basically, Chicago Tribune is giving its best customers points to do what it wants them to do.

Why is this and other loyalty programs successful? Because they help businesses build relationships with their customers. We all like to receive free things, and we tend to like those who give us free things a little more than we do those who don’t.

If a B2B company website has white papers it wants visitors to read, why not give those visitors something for reading them? Or, if this B2B company has a specific section of the website it wants visitors to visit, why not give them something for visiting that page? All it takes is getting their email address, and sending them something of value like an e-coupon. It also will entice the visitors to return and see if they can earn something else. In short, it’s the beginning of a relationship with your visitors.

The Chicago Tribune has realized that building relationships with its customers is an effective way to stay competitive in a changing world, something from which all businesses can learn.