I love the cover of The Chaser Quarterly and the tag: Can this man increase our sales figures if we put him on the cover! I hope so. I have placed the magazine with our newspapers, with the Herald Sun actually as people buying it are more likely to be drawn by a Trump cover. As for the issue itself, it’s a lot of fun. I enjoyed reading it.
This latest issue of Australian Stamps Professional is one to get out in the spotlight thanks to the Robert Menzies cover shot. Browsing the title yesterday I felt the title would appeal to people who might not even know Australian Stamps Professional exists. So, I chose it as a title to promote on the business Facebook page to try and reach people who may not usually shop with us.
Look at the bags into which you place customer purchases. What do they say about your business/ What do you put in the bags to entice customers back?
If your bags are generic, not of the brand of your business then you are not marketing your brand effectively. If the bags only have the purchases then you are missing an opportunity to entice shoppers.
If you are concerned about declining traffic and or revenue, managing bags as a marketing activity could help you improve your situation.
Fewer businesses offer a fax service today than a year ago. This increased scarcity coupled with increased rent and labour costs are reason enough for newsagents to review pricing.
My suggestion is you check the pricing of your nearest major competitor and peg your price slightly above theirs. In several newsagency businesses I have discussed this with recently, they would increase their priced by a third or more. As long as volume is maintained, that is a nice bump to the bottom line.
Providing a fax service costs time and money. It needs to be price and run as a profit centre for the business.
I have been asked by several newsagents to raise here their frustration with processes implemented by Tatts for handling the scanning if instant scratch tickets. When you scan the first and last tickets of a book it presents problems when people scan a free ticket I’m told. My understanding is the changes will result in apparently inactive instant scratch tickets being in circulation.
Let others know what you think about the situation.
More and more I am using photos of parts of magazine covers in marketing of magazines for the newsagency. Rather than all the text and masthead pulling focus from the hero of the cover, the food dish or the icon, such as David Bowie, I am finding it more effective in attracting interest in a niche title by decluttering the image.
While most retailers promoting magazines online use the full covers, I am finding the use of tight shot photos of part of a cover works better. I say this based on feedback. It is certainly a point of difference at the moment.
This David Bowie photo from a magazine in February is a good example. The image is stunning, haunting. It is more effective in this form for online marketing than on the full magazine cover.
If you are promoting magazines on social media you need a point of difference to drive attention. Doing what everyone else does dilutes your effort.
Click here for a comparison of ratings given WH Smith by a bunch of stock analysts in the UK. regardless of what one may think of their UK stores, they are growing in their presence in Australia and as a new business here they are leveraging the freedom of that to reinvent their model. The analyst ratings speak to their strength and the risk they pose for us.
I put out a all this morning to newsagents for year on year sales comparison data for the January through March quarter of 2016 vs. 2015. I am hoping to have the analysis done by mid month. It is terrific to see newsagents engaged in this quarterly project. I already have data from thirty five stores.
While rent and labour costs for newsagencies increase 5% year on year, magazine revenue continues to fall. Newsagents are responding by cutting space allocated to magazines. Publishers can’t complain as they are making their own arrangements in this rapidly changing world as this tweet shows for Ride magazine. They are doing what they must for their business. As should we by cutting overheads for magazines, such as reducing the space allocated. Publishers can encourage our support for magazines is – get out of all retail channels except newsagencies.
