I was in Geelong last night speaking at a newsagent group meeting, sharing strategies for growing magazine sales. The meeting was held at the offices of the Geelong Advertiser. I was impressed with the relationship between the Geelong area newsagents and the Geelong Advertiser. There is clear healthy mutual respect. While the Advertiser does not have a monopoly on such a relation ship with newsagents, it is rare.
Demonstrating the value of the good relationship was Circulation Director Geoff Smith’s pitch about the Advertiser’s Bride magazine. Newsagent commission is 45%. There are reasons for this which Geoff explained. Where other publishers would have understood reasons to pay a premium, they would have stuck with 25% believing that newsagents would complain but do nothing.
The mutual respect in Geelong sees a win win – the publisher hs Bride magazine well represented in the area and newsagents have an opportunity to make additional margin.
I’d like to see newsagents somehow share information among themselves, across regions, about their publisher relationships. I see this encouraging those less fortunate to approach their publisher relationship is a more proactive way and, hopefully, unlock the value I see being experienced in Geelong. As I understand it, several newsagents have nurtured this relationship with the Advertiser. Doing this outside of a more formal Association push might be more useful.
Better relationships with publishers are more likely in regional and rural areas because the mutual dependence is stronger. That said, some newsagents have bee able to leverage good relationships with capital city publishers – but not enough.