Some print publications that target older audiences are still enjoying high renewal rates. But if these publications want to stay relevant, they need to bring in younger readers — and that usually means adopting a digital strategy.The Nation created a unique student offer recently specifically designed to draw in younger audiences. Through a unique URL (www.thenation.com/#students), The Nation offered college students a one-time trial of its iPad app and website for 25 weeks — the length of a college semester.Then, after the 6-month mark, they upsold another six-month subscription (priced at $9.50) to prospects.When interviewed for Subscription Site Insider‘s Case Study on The Nation, VP of Circulation Art Stupar told me that the offer had a 22% conversion rate. More specifically, of the 1,8000 trial-takers, 400 bought a six-month subscription.That’s an impressive conversion rate, especially considering that the majority (27%) of subscription site executives surveyed in our 2013 Online Subscription Benchmark Report reported an average trial-to-paid conversion rate of less than 10% (It’s worth noting that there was substantial representation in the 20%-50% range as well.) Moreover, The Nation was targeting a younger demographic that is neither affluent nor known to buy online content.One of the offer’s critical success factor was the fact that many college professors use The Nation as reading material in college course. Wisely, The Nation has created a formal program to nurture this sort of word-of-mouth support. You can read more about it by taking Insider’s 10-day trial for $1.