How 6AM City reinvented the classifieds

At 6AM City we’re always looking for ways to break the mold, to find new ways to deliver the information people want and need, and to engage our audience in a way that no one else can.

We pride ourselves in being a free source for everything happening in our city: events, developments, jobs, and more. We cover the most important topics in a digital, condensed, digestible and engaging format. But sticking to this model means we can’t cover absolutely everything that is sent our way.

Since we’re changing the way people digest their local news… we also saw the opportunity to give those prehistoric classified ads a little 21st century facelift.

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Introducing Digs, Jobs and Event Listings: An online platform that allows local realtors (commercial and residential) and business owners to promote their properties, job openings, and events without needing to have a huge budget or large team to drum up the press coverage they’d like to see.

The cost? $250. The process? So simple an intern could do it. The payoff? Guaranteed coverage in one of our daily emails sent to 30,000–60,000 locals (depending on the city).

Each type of listing caters to that specific industry. We ask for the need-to-know information so that we can then send our audience to their websites to learn more and convert.

In one year, through inbound leads and marketing within our own products, we were able to increase our online sales by 214% and sales in the first quarter of 2020 are on track to end 60% higher than the same period in 2019.

An example of how our Digs Listings live on our websites. Advertisers provide the headline, photo, description and need to know information. We host it on our website and push it into our newsletter.

An example of how our Event Listings live on our website. Advertisers provide the headline, photo, description and need to know information. We host it on our website, push it into our newsletter and include it in our Monthly PlanAhead.

An example of how our Job Listings live on our website. Advertisers provide the headline, description, and requirements. We host it on our website and push it into our newsletter.

Here are just a few testimonials we’ve received:

“I just wanted to thank you for helping us spread the word about the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The Walk was this past Saturday and we ended up surpassing our fundraising goal of $309,000. In fact, as of today, we’ve raised $320,000! We couldn’t have done it without the help of our community partners and appreciate your support so much!” — Leslie Fletcher, City of Greenville

“We sold 55 online tickets the day the Sounds of Summer event ran with you. That was our highest day of single ticket sales. Great start to this partnership!” — Emily Dymski, Greenville Theatre

So what’s next for the 6AM City classifieds? In 2020, we plan to enhance our events calendar and launch two additional ways our audience can get involved — “Celebrate” and “Deal of the Day”.

• Celebrate: Allows users to give a newsletter shoutout to those that have something big going on. Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!
• Deal of the Day: Allows businesses to share exclusive deals with our readers.

As we build out these offerings, we’d love your help. What do you look for in an events calendar? Filterable? Shareable? Let us know in the comments below.