We are promoting the Winter Favourites cookbook from ACP Magazines in prime position at the front counter this week. This title has performed very well for us in recent years but we know from experience that we have to do the work to drive sales. This is why we created our own marketing collateral (by copying the cover) and gave the title the best impulse purchase location in each of our newsagencies – at the counter between two busy registers.
As the photo shows, we are using one of our Just In! bookmark to show that this is a new title, just in. We use this bookmark sparingly to draw attention to titles shoppers may not first notice when browsing.
None of this extra effort is recognised in the cookie-cutter approach to magazine promotions and this is frustrating. I see newsagents and their employees regularly innovating outside the structure of publisher marketing programs without recognition. This comment is directed at all publishers.
While the best recognition is sales, I’d like to see greater focus on innovation around promoting titles. After all, you won’t see any innovation from supermarkets, petrol outlets or convenience stores.
Nice display Mark. Bold. Clean. What can you suggest to get more newsagents engaging like this?
Produce titles with compelling covers which make impulse purchases easy. provide good collateral: A2 posters and cover run-ons.