1st child under 6 many products linked to child.
Full nest 2 Bulk foods, detergents. Many purchases linked to
Other children children – school fees, music lessons, sport gear.
More fashionable adult clothes due to teenage influence.
Empty nest Replacement expenditure on household items –
Older couples durables, furniture. Better holidays, weekend
Children left for college, breaks. Lump sums available for investments
University or work (inherited money).
Wish to experience the ‘good life’ as a reward for
Hard work and doing duty. Often good purchasers of showers, new bathrooms, bedrooms, kitchens etc.
Retirement Drop in income. Possible move to smaller home. Compact furniture. Greater expenditure on medical items
Solitary Move to live simply. Special need for attention,
Survivor care and security
e.g. 2. Socio-economic grades
Social grade Social Status Occupation
A Upper Class Highest income earners. Top management
Politicians, top media people, senior professionals
B Upper middle Intermediate management, professionals,
Class Owners of small businesses.
C1 Middle class Supervisory middle management, trainee
professionals, top skilled manual workers,
administrators.
C2 Skilled Skilled manual workers, clerks, secretaries,
Working class pensioners.
D Working class Semi and unskilled manual workers.
Pensioners
E Lowest income State pensioners, casual workers, students on
grants, unemployed
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3. Who, what, how, when, where, why
-
Who - target audiences. Individual consumers,
organizations .Reseller markets. Need to know as much about these as possible to match brand to customers, for a magazine need to think about market segment aimed for. Individual consumers what information is relevant? Social trends, core cultural values, aesthetic values. Proportion of population, geographical distribution, age distribution, regional variations - housing prices in London cut back spending power of some groups.
- Consumption patterns - boom in housing boom in interiors magazines, increase
in home ownership, aesthetics/lifestyle trends. Britain country of couch potatoes, cocooning has largest home video sales of other European countries.
- Purchasing power.
-
What - what is currently bought - magazines, books, newspapers, important in terms of competition but also for thinking about promotion of your publication
Market Share potential - for example if launching a London guide would have to compare Time Out and other magazines and their market share
-
How, when and where - newspapers, time of day, seasonal, shopping hours. How often light users, heavy users, where – local shops, supermarket, subscriptions. For example 40.5% of books sold via bookshops such as Borders, 70% of children and adults read at least once a week. 80% of adults in the UK read a consumer magazine. Industry invests in relevant research for example the Quality of Reading Survey (QRS) carried out in late 90s by magazine industry organisations.
- The majority of children's comics bought in grocery outlets now.
The majority of consumer magazines still over the counter only 11% of sales in the UK by subscription, compare to US where 82% subscription sales.
How loyally - always, sometimes i.e. always Penguin sometimes Oxford,
always Elle, sometimes Elle other times Marie Claire.
With the information of the market, and our target market or target audience, here going to talk about how to market a publication and focus on promotion - personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, Public relations. Known as the 'promotional mix'.
4. Promotion and its aims
In thinking about promotion we are concerned with meaning, how meaning is produced, how things are made to mean. If you think back to discussion of branding this is about the construction of meaning. Here we are interested in how books and magazines take on meaning for their consumers/markets.
Promotion is a fundamental part of that process part of the area of marketing
communications. Aim both to persuade and to differentiate. Requires thought about what is being communicated, to whom and by what means i.e. what promotional tools and what media vehicles e.g. press releases to relevant trade press. It also requires a consideration of what behaviour should result from the message.
Press release to trade press aim coverage, knowledge, information circulating about the publication, primary aim to acquire orders from trade for copies. Ultimate aim to sell copies (books), sell issues (magazines) and if an advertising-led publication to secure a circulation that is attractive to advertisers, in particular agency.
Promotional Mix - Corporate Identity (branding and signifiers), Packaging design, advertising, sales promotion includes ads., reviews, leaflets, competition, merchandising e.g. t-shirts, mugs, direct mailings/emails, film/video, Public relations includes sponsorship, exhibitions, conferences, seminars -see Baverstock
5. Uses of Promotion
Promotion often thought about as linked to a launch however promotion can have a number of roles:
- To increase consumer awareness
- To increase penetration of new or existing products - such as product sampling for example giving away Elle Decoration free with Elle, money off coupons to promote repeat buys, refund offers e.g. as good as Stephen King or your money back offer on Gaiman's American Gods, reduced price offers Tesco's top reads…
- To improve repeat purchase - competitions running over issues,
- To increase consumer loyalty - personality promotions, in-store promotions
i.e. dumpbins, websites as a service, building trust.
- To increase purchase frequency or amount bought - competitions, free offers such
as covermounts
- To move high stocks out of stores - three for two in Waterstones'
- To attract consumers to premises - signings, readings
- To increase distribution - special promotions, trade competitions
i.e. reviews and free books or wine or holidays
Magazines often cross-promote - see case studies at
example of Vogue and Total Effects moisturiser
See Appendix 1
References/Reading
Baverstock on reading list
Philip Kotler, Marketing Management ( Prentice Hall, 8th Edition, 1994)
already recommended for free reports/information on magazine industry e.g. different sectors of magazine market such as Men's lifestyle sector and general reports on magazine industry.
The Bookseller - back issues, you can use their website to identify/search for articles on marketing and then copy relevant articles.
For magazines - see also articles in media sections recommended
e.g. back issues of The Guardian Media section
Books - statistical sources -
The Publishers Assoc- Has statistics on UK book industry
.
Book Marketing Ltd.
Booktrack
Sources of General Information for UK
Dept. of trade and industry
Office for National Statistics
for HK:
Trade Development council
SAR government website: