A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

newsagency marketing

Celebrating Mickey Mouse’s birthday

I am grateful for the opportunity to visit an extraordinary display of Mickey Mouse memorabilia last month in Hong Kong as part of the 90th birthday celebrations. On show at this wonderful licence event were pages or original sketches of the character and a video paying of the first film. Mickey Mouse continues to be a commercially valuable licence for retailers focussed on licenced product. The Hallmark Mickey cards work a treat as to the collectibles, art pieces and gift lines. This licence is valuable across generations.

Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse!

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marketing

How to grow your social media audience

Asking people to like your Facebook page or other social media outlets is not the way to grow your audience in my view.

Indeed, asking people reflects a fail.

Content matters.

Provide people content they enjoy, get value from, find entertaining and / or interesting … and the likes will come naturally.

It is as simple as that.

An audience of at least 500 people is valuable. growing this by 2% at least every week sees it evolve to become even more valuable.

Content matters.

Don’t chase sales. Don’t be pushy.

Be fun.

Be informative.

Be useful.

Be yourself.

Get it right and people will follow you.

A good Facebook page can be the most valuable local marketing platform to reach possible new shopper traffic available to any small retail business.

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marketing

People love quirky social media content

This video promoting jigsaws has been a hit. I created it, using a video service I pay to access, as a disposable promotion of jigsaws. I say disposable because that is how we need to see social media content – content to throw up and not think about it as we move on to the next post.

Looking back, though, this jigsaw post got good engagement in a couple of places with people commenting about liking the batteries comment.

I like the jigsaw category in that it fits with the crossword magazine category, is family friendly and lends itself to show floor engagement.

What I have done here is easy. Anyone could do it for little or no cost. The point of my post is that this category is ripe for social media promotion, interest is on the increase.

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marketing

Support your local newsagent

Ten years ago I funded the production and airing of a TV commercial supporting the newsagency channel. The investment was just over $20,000. I wrote to the associations and suppliers at the time. One supplier chipped in $100.00.

The goal of the campaign was to remind Australians that newsagencies are local, that they are part of the fabric of Australia and to show newsagents that they belong to something beyond their own shop.

While times have changed and the focus of many local newsagency businesses has changed, I enjoyed looking at the ad again.

Here is the ad for those who did not see it at the time:

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Newsagency management

The American Express Shop Small opportunity

The American Express Shop Small campaign brings valuable and appreciated focus to small and local businesses. While I don’t have engagement data, it does feel like the campaign has built a good following among shoppers and small businesses.

Last year, American Express made changed to its fees:

We made sweeping changes to the fees we charge merchants and this fee is now between 1.5-2 per cent for an American Express card payment.  Our merchant network is growing and since January 2017 over 120,000 new places joined the American Express network across Australia. We are committed to ensuring that as many places as possible welcome American Express to give our card members the best experience.

These changes make accepting American Express for payment more appealing for small businesses and thereby makes the Shop Small campaign even more interesting.

Shop Small gains attention where shoppers are – online, on mainstream media.

Their website makes it easy for shoppers to find participating businesses through a map. Amex Australia says that last year, there were 851,000 views of the map. They also say that through the money, Amex card members spent $675M in small businesses. I like this connection as it provides small businesses a way to connect and be found. Today, more than ever, there are more routes to our businesses and every single one is worth pursuing.

If you take Amex as payment I think it would be worthwhile engaging with the campaign.

Click here to access this video for sharing on social media.

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marketing

Customers love the Christmas tree merchandiser

We have received a terrific reaction from customers at our small high street store in suburban Melbourne to the Christmas tree with our range of ornaments and items that can work as ornaments on display. Kids and adults walk around the tree, pointing and talking about what they like.

The loaded tree helps people see how what they can buy looks like when in use. This is a proven and easy to execute visual merchandising move.

We will evolve the display with the season, to keep it fresh and help regulars see what they have missed.

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newsagency marketing

Fun content matters on social media

Sometimes, the best social media posts are those that are just because. You know what I mean, a fun image just because it is fun or a cute video you share just because it is cute. Posts do not need to have any commercial focus or intent, and often commercial benefits can flow.

This video is a good example of just because social media content.

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Fun

Evolving the Halloween offer is key to success

Halloween continues to change for us. Whereas ten years ago it was all about cheap plastic pumpkin buckets, cobwebs and plastic fang teeth, today it is about for artistic and higher-priced items such as party centrepieces and home decor items. The change is focus reflects a focus on Halloween parties rather than trick or treating.

The shift in focus happened a few years ago because of supermarkets and discount variety stores buying the same product we had been stocking, some from the same suppliers, and slashing margin to change volume.

We decided they could have that space when we realised they would stay there and not touch home decor and party host opportunities.

We target product price points at $20.00 and above. The best items are those at $500.00. I recall once we bought in a $750.00 item as a display feature that we did not expect to sell … and we sold it in two days.

We change the product mix every year, usually purchasing at a modest volume so that we can tell an evolving story rather than people looking and thinking were are doing products this year that we did last year as that is retail death.

Halloween is a good season for an evolving newsagency. It’s a fun reset prior to Christmas and something good to come out of Father’s Day with.

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newsagency marketing

High-value nativity set sales in the newsagency

We put this beautiful nativity set out today, in the window, priced at $279.99.

Within two hours we sold two. A couple of hours later, we sold a third. We have ordered more given that it is early in the Christmas season. We have been able to keep a set in the window until the new stock arrives in the next couple of days. This is important as it draws people to the shop.

I hear often from newsagents that they cannot sell gift and seasonal items priced at more than $20 to $30. This shop where we had this success today is in middle class Australia. Plenty of nursing homes, self funded retirees and families, where money is tight. The right product in the right location can help us see what is possible.

What we discovered is that a nativity scene purchase is an emotional purchase.l Emotional purchases are less about price.

$839.97 in revenue from this one product in a couple of hours is terrific. We have banked the margin dollars before the supplier invoice is due. The margin dollars made equal more than 1,200 newspapers or more than  370 top selling weekly magazines.

The shopper for the nativity also appreciates the rosary beard, religious cards and other religious themed Christmas and everyday gift items. The attraction from a simple window display discovers a new shopper who could shop all year round, someone who would not have thought of a newsagency for this purchase.

I appreciate a nativity set at $279.99 is not for everyone. My suggestion today is challenge yourself. At the very least, think about it. Be open to a product you would never usually stock showing you what could be, showing you how the right product in the right location could bring in new traffic.

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Newsagency management

Small business marketing videos

If you are looking for unbranded shop local and small business supportive social media content, here are some I released to small businesses using software from my POS software company.


 

 

 
Short videos are popular on social media.

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newsagency marketing

newsXpress businesses pitched in TV campaign

newsXpress this morning launches another national TV campaign promoting new Beanie Boos, a new ow price for beanie Boos and two exclusive Boo related products.

The TVC is integrated with in-store displays featuring professional collateral that visually  connects with images in the TVC, in-store events, social media marketing and more.

Planning for a TVC began months ago, with the agreement on exclusive Beanie Boos products and the creation of a 1340 page 2018 Boo Collectors yearbook. This book was published last week after a three month in-house design process.

The TVC has been timed for now to be ahead of the Christmas ad curve and to leverage school holidays.

This is the TVC, which will run in high rotation for two weeks.

Out of store marketing is critical for us to replace foot traffic leaving our channel and moving to other retailers and online. While TV as a medium has challenges, there is evidence that it continues to play an important role in brand  building and that is certainly one of the objectives of this campaign.

Now, for those working on a comment to put this campaign down as can happen here with any newsXpress related post I write … Boos sit in the top of the top 10 toys currently sold in Australia, newsXpress is the third most successful retailer of Boos – behind Coles and Woolworths, Boos are a net new traffic driver for newsXpress businesses, Boos shoppers are valuable in that they purchase other products, Boos are fun.

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newsagency marketing

We are not our customers

Hallmark Keepsake ornament sales are very strong this year. The sales are a reminder that I am not my customer. This Christmas ornament of a character from The Walking Dead is one example:

It’s popular. As is this one from Finding Nemo.

The shoppers buying these, and other licenced Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, are thrilled they can get them. They want other product from these licences and other licences. Rarely do we sell a single ornament in a transaction. Three is common. The biggest transaction is fifteen.

If deciding to stock the full range, a decision made late 2017, there was a risk. However, I wanted to take buying away from being item based, I wanted the range and marketplace to show what could happen.

The experience has been a reminder to me of an important mantra: you are not your customer. Thank goodness for that!

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Newsagency management

Hallmark Keepsake ornaments popular in the newsagency

The Hallmark Keepsake Christmas ornaments are working a treat this year. They are driving in-store traffic as well as excellent online sales for the Hallmark Keepsake ornaments web site we created. What is interesting about online sales is that not one is from a local to the store. Indeed, 75% of sales have been out of the state.

We were able to get stock ahead of Target and this has helped drive terrific results over the last few weeks.

We leveraged the opportunity by engaging on social media, through a range of pages and groups. This was key to attracting shoppers outside the newsagency, shoppers who probably would never consider shopping for these sought-after ornaments in a newsagency.

While the online sales are excellent for driving efficiency for labour, inventory and space in the shop, they also raise the profile of the shop and play a role in general shop sales growth. And we can leverage the website interaction and transactions to drive other online engagement down the track.

The average basket depth of purchases online is close to $80.00. In-store is a little less.

What we are doing here is not rocket science. It is opportunistic though, tapping into a respected brand in a timely way to be first or close to first to market for the season and to do so with no additional labour cost, thereby maximising profitability for the business.

As I have written here plenty of times in the past, licenced products are particularly valuable in driving traffic. There are three Harry Potter Hallmark Keepsake ornaments that are working well as well as a several from the Batman franchise.  Here are short videos of two of the ornaments with sound. Sound drives popularity.

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newsagency marketing

The first ever newsagent’s choir sets up discussion about teamwork and strategy

The newsXpress national conference on the Gold Coast this week opened with Pub Choir leading a 90 minute workshop that created a choir of newsagents and suppliers.

The 200 voices, who had never sung together before, singing Better Be Home Soon by Crowded House created a beautiful sound. The experience spoke to confronting challenges, breaking down barriers, working together and looking over the horizon at what could be.

The choir workshop was the surprise opening to the conference. newsXpress members had no idea ti was coming. The feedback since has been wonderful and inspiring for what it is leading to.

Over two days at the conference there was exploration of new traffic supplier opportunities, including suppliers who have not previously supplied newsagencies who spoke in depth about their traditional shoppers and how to find and serve them.

In one case, conference attendees learnt about a completely new product category that offers excellent margin and which has a strong following in Australia. Discovering how to engage with this with context of existing newsXpress product categories exposed another way to leverage opportunities for the business.

Everything presented and discussed at the conference was optional, as is the case with newsXpress.

On Tuesday, in a deliberately more intimate setting, seventy newsXpress members sat in an open circle and talked business in a personal way that was emotional and transformational. Many who participated have provided feedback about the profound impact of this three-hour session. Here is one message:

The introduction of #Pub Choir  set the scene for a conference that was going to be different…….and that it was.

Most enjoyable, entertaining and educational.

This morning’s round table discussion certainly was the most powerful and understanding I’ve been to. It was a ‘reality episode’ that really drove the point home that, as retailers, we cannot take our eye off ‘the ball’ for one second.

Here is a comment from another participant.

I have been a newsagent for close to thirty years and been to hundreds of meetings and sat on committees and been to many conferences. I have not in all that time experienced anything close to the inspiration, care, closeness and optimism as I have witnessed here. I mean this sincerely, the experience has changed my life.

I appreciate there are some here who will either through comments or privately mock this post or put it down. It’s okay. Think whatever you like. I have not written this to get your agreement. Those who were there know first-and what it was like and what it will mean for their businesses.

For me, it was a wonderful three days: inspiring, insightful and memorable. But overall, it was practical from a business next steps perspective.

In creating this newsXpress conference, I sought to put something together that was appropriate for our times, that focussed on next steps. I think too often planning conferences look too far ahead. In our channel today, the horizon is much closer.

On the choir experience, those who participated cheered loudly at the end of singing Better Be Home Soon as a performance. Then, at the end of the conference, we showed the video of the performance, and the cheered again. It’s a joyous memory.

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newsagency marketing

Questions for newsagents from uni students

I have been interviewed by four uni students in this week for papers each is preparing for assessment. Two are writing papers for business studies, one for journalism and one for media studies.

In each case they were interested in where our channel sits in this period of disruption to print media. They came at the questions from the perspective of a print is dead world.

We talked about the habit based shopper for newspapers, their typical age and what else they buy. We also talked about regular magazine shoppers, =especially special interest title shoppers. They had not considered looking nat magazines beyond titled in the top ten.

Two students were shocked that some newsagents are growing their businesses outside of print media products, that some have been doing this for years.

The journalism student was really interesting to talk with because we discussed what constitutes journalism today and explored how local businesses, like newsagencies, might play a role in that evolving world.

One business student had not considered newsagency businesses trading outside their traditional shingle. The discussion led them to reconsider the position they were taking in their paper, that our channel would become extinct.

What I liked most about the discussions was the two-way discussion. They challenged me and I challenged them. I learnt plenty about a valuable demographic as these students will graduate, they will, hopefully, get jobs and they could become our customers.

I was surprised to learn that all four thought of our businesses as newsagencies =would have been in the 1990s. None could remember visiting a newsagency business that they would consider purchasing from beyond lottery, magazine, newspaper and some stationery products. None could name a newsagency they’d visit for gifts.

We newsagents have to change this. We have to preach loud and long about our relevance today, about our pitch away from what has been traditional for the channel. Those who are growing are growing in these new and fringe product category areas.

No one else will make this we are relevant today pitch for us. We have to do it relentlessly, entertainingly and with a voice that is relevant. Were need to do this so uni students don’t look at our channel only as one that is in a death roll.

I say this because each of the uni students I spoke with is open to a newsagency channel that is relevant to them, even if only a few times a year.

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Newsagency management

Leveraging Peppa Pig for the newsagency

Peppa Pig is one of the top licences in Australia with 200,000 searches a month. What’s terrific is that newsagents can access plenty of Peppa Pig products from greeting cards to stationery to toys to plush. The thing is, however, you need to display Peppa Pig products together to tell a strong and noticeable Peppa Pig story. Do that and you are more likely to more items in the basket and thereby maximise margin dollars from the purchase.

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Basket building

newsXpress giving away the Kylie Jenner Vogue Australia magazine

newsXpress yesterday launched a competition on Facebook giving away a copy of the Kylie Jenner issue of Vogue Australia. This is one of ten copies of the magazine being given away by newsXpress through a series of opportunities.

There s a newsagent today claiming they have the last copy in Australia, which they are giving away. They don’t. newsXpress certainly does not claim that.

While this issue of Vogue has been terrific, I would not stock the reprint given that, as I understand it, it will not have the Kylie Jenner gift.

The newsXpress post I did last night has reached 39,499 people without anything being spent boosting it. It has resulted in plenty of questions about other products newsXpress stocks, beyond this issue of Vogue.

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newsagency marketing

Specialisation in retail can drive needed new traffic

I visited this shop, Into The Wind, recently and was impressed with the extent of their specialisation. They sell wind related products like chimes, weather vanes, flags, kites and more. Their specialisation was focussed and deep. They do it well, and this drives traffic.

More and more newsagents are doing this, chasing new traffic through deep specialisation outside what has been traditional, leaving traditional newsagency lines in the shop often but as the impulse rather than destination purchase.

Inside Into The Wind, on the Saturday I was there, the shop was visually busy and busy with shoppers. I am usually not a fan of visual business but in this case it works a treat. Here is how it looked:

There is no rulebook for this type of specialisation. In my experience, it is best found organically, in collaboration almost with local shoppers, personal interests and a knowledge of what you can do online to find shoppers beyond those who walk past the front door of the business.

I think every indie retailer needs to be aware of specialisation opportunities beyond what has been usual for their shingle – such is the state of retail today.

I am grateful for the opportunity to see plenty of specialist retail stores, some of which I share here. Some make sense for a local situation wile others have me wondering, like:

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Newsagency management

newsXpress encourages shop local for Powerball $100M

Here is a 9 second video provided to newsXpress members yesterday for promoting shop local for the Powerball $100M jackpot. The objective was to create something different to the usual lottery marketing and something that could be used across Australia.

Most marketing videos for social media are disposable. That is, you use them once or twice and never again. People want fresh and entertaining content. This is also why short videos work well.

I would be happy to detail here marketing collateral from other marketing groups for this Powerball jackpot.

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Lotteries

Fun video appeals to shoppers for dad gifts and cards

Here is a video I created for newsXpress members a few weeks ago. I wanted too create something pitching to those who buy for dads but I did not want it to be about Father’s Day. This way it can be used through the year. The video was more popular with people under 50 years of age with an interest skew toward girls over boys.

While promoting Father’s Day is something we are doing, promoting being a destination for cards and gifts for dads all year round is more important to me. I am committed to filling the troughs between the peaks with good revenue and we can do this by attracting shoppers in fun and non-traditional ways, like this video.

Note: I share less than 5% of the marketing I am engaged with at newsXpress here on this blog. I mention that for any trolls readying a negative comment. I don’t care if you like the video or not. What I care about is that newsagents, all newsagents under any banner, engage creatively and regularly to attract new shoppers to their businesses.

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newsagency marketing

Nostalgia activity products can help us find new traffic for the newsagency

Shoppers are loving the re-emergence of games and toys from yesteryear. While they are popular with grandparents for sure, they are also popular with other generations, including millennials.

Take this skipping rope, it is easy to pitch it as a nostalgia gift or a quirky fun gift for a work colleague. It is well packaged for gift giving, making our pitch in-store easier. The Ridleys brand does this nostalgia play well, it is a brand to trust and leverage.

As retailers, we can facilitate this through ranging and placement as well as through our writing on social media where we can provide appropriate context for thinks like old-style skipping rope. We can also facilitate engagement though in-stoe and out of store playing. We can easily pitch fun and this is vital in competitive retail today.

Nostalgia activity products can help us attract new shoppers if we pitch them outside our businesses. For me, that is key. Everything I look at I contemplate through consideration of what new traffic it could find.

The Ridleys brand has its heart where we in newsagency retail today need it. Check out this from their website:

Start with a healthy dose of nostalgia and vintage charm. Add a cool contemporary twist. And a great big dollop of fun. That’s Ridley’s Games all over. A happy blast from the past, when toys were proper toys.

Since we started out in 2008, we’ve been putting smiles on the faces of young and old alike. We’ve resurrected old school classics and created our own unique compendium of games, puzzles, trivia and novelties.

We’ve got plenty of exciting ideas up our sleeves to spark imaginations, banish boredom and rekindle the joy of childhood. And that’s the Ridley’s Games magical formula in a nutshell…

A world where having fun never gets old!

I like it when I can find a brand to which I can relate and which offers product depth that enables a strong story to be told in-store. I’ve been leveraging the Ridleys opportunity for years.

5 likes
Newsagency management

Slime keeps on selling

Slime has been hot for almost two years. This past school holidays it has again been a top seller, easily purchased at the counter on impulse.

Slime is popular on social media, pulling good engagement and helping draw attention to retailers pitching it.

Best of all, slime is a terrific interactive product that can bring the noise of fun and laughter to the shop, which can lift the business and drive shopper engagement.

We have featured a range of slime products since last year and there is no feeling we will pull back from this at the moment.

What is interesting is that slime sells to a diverse group of people. For sure the diverse group purchases slime for kids, I get that. I have also seen slime purchased as a gift for a co-worker in an office, by someone as a stress release item and by someone to use in tactile engagement with someone with physical challenges.

I love the diversity of uses as that helps us be diverse in put pitching of the product.

It is good to have slime open at the counter for team members to play with. This, too, will drive sales.

Slime is popular online. The term is popular in search engines. People are searching how to make it, what to do with it and where to buy it.

9 likes
newsagency marketing

Talking about overseas trade shows

I am at the Atlanta Gift Fair this week. Thinking about recent comments here about overseas fairs, here is a short video from inside one of the three buildings this fair fully uses in downtown Atlanta. It is made up of permanent space allocation where suppliers have permanent professional showrooms as well as temporaries, which are more traditional (for Australia) trade show booth, for the duration of the trade show.

6 likes
newsagency marketing
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