If advertising is a game of numbers, then it would make sense that national newspaper advertising would hold more clout than local or regional advertising. But as The Guardian points out, everything is not always what it seems. Apparently, nearly 50 percent of people who read local, regional and national newspapers are more inclined to respond to local and regional advertising than they are the national ads. Newspaper publishers all over the world are trying to figure out why, and use regional advertising to reach a bigger audience.

SEE ALSO: 3 Keys to Attracting New Advertisers

Follow The Buffett

Sometimes all you need to do to understand a business trend is find out what Warren Buffett is doing and duplicate that. In 2014, Warren Buffett offered to pay $142 million in cash and add another $400 million in guaranteed loans to Media General to buy 63 of its local and regional newspapers at a time when investing in newspapers was seen as an unstable idea. But now that local and regional newspapers are starting to see improvements, it is easier to see what the Oracle of Omaha saw in the local and regional newspaper business.

Building A Local Reputation

But why are newspaper readers more likely to respond to a local or regional ad than a national one? After all, The Guardian points out that advertisers that utilized local and regional advertising were 20 percent more likely to be seen as reliable and trustworthy to consumers. So why are people so interested in what local and regional newspaper advertisers have to say?

According to Chron.com, the key is that local and regional advertisers are considered to be from the areas where the advertising is seen, and that allows these companies to develop a strong local reputation with consumers. Local and regional newspapers can capitalize on that feeling of trust by making sure that they sell plenty of advertising space to local and regional businesses.

Enhance Your Local Advertising

Now is the time for local and regional newspaper publishers to track their advertising and measure its effectiveness versus national newspaper advertising. When it comes time to present your case to the businesses in your area, the fact that nearly half of the consumers who read your newspaper prefer local and regional advertising to national ads should convince those businesses to invest in your newspaper and not a national one.

There will always be a market for national newspapers at the local and regional level, but the presence of national publications in a marketplace should not intimidate the newspapers that have been there for decades. When it comes to trusting advertisers, local and regional consumers prefer the advertising they see in local and regional newspapers as opposed to what shows up in national newspapers. By leveraging the trust factor for local and regional advertising to consumers, local and regional newspapers can grab a big chunk of that advertising revenue that was meant for the national publications.

How can national publications better cultivate their relationship with local communities in order to develop more trust?