Q: What is the best way to achieve circulation growth?
A: We recommend an approach we call ‘total circulation’. It’s an integrated approach to the various traditional circulation streams, newstrade, subscriptions and digital, away from what is currently more often than not a silo approach — linking the revenue streams and marketing opportunities to generate a greater benefit — be it reach, sales or profit, than the individual areas currently generate.
Q: Why is this approach needed now?
A: We are all aware of the current trends in the industry regarding paper — however, while saving costs seems to have become the standard response, there are still plenty of opportunities to grow sales, revenue and profit that still need to be managed and developed to make the most of the existing streams — and the good news is that there are still plenty of opportunities.
This is even more important at the moment as most businesses are looking to transition away from a largely paper-based model to embrace changes in both technology and how our customers consume content — however, as with any shift of this magnitude, working out the best options for your brand or title and bringing them online will take time.
The concept of ‘total circulation’ will support your business in two key ways — firstly helping to bridge the revenue / profit gap between the traditional paper-centric approach to content and the establishment of newer revenue streams: memberships, podcasts, webinars, events, newsletters, email, e-commerce etc and, secondly, creating a fully functioning, profitable base to grow from that will already be able to integrate the newer revenue streams into the existing ones in a way that allows all the streams to support each other and so give better results
Q: Can you give us an example of ‘total circulation’ in action?
A: Last year, we applied a total circulation approach to a group of titles covering crafts, model rail and automotive sectors. Premium pricing activity was used to drive increased sales and revenue in the newsstand, leading to significantly increased grocery listings, further supporting ongoing increased sales and reach. This activity was supported by membership and subscription campaigns and competitions that are a hybrid of paper and digital content to support the traditional customer’s paper-based consumption along with added value digital content to encourage sampling of what digital can do to augment and support their experience. The whole process was supported by a sympathetic (but not heavily discounted!) pricing hierarchy and email journeys to gain insight into customers’ preferences that was then fed back into the content creation process. The activity grew sales, revenue, reach, email acquisition and retail listings. It increased knowledge of what the customer wants and so increased the relevance of future content, it encouraged digital sampling and increased the quality of the customer’s experience — and generated significant additional profit.
Q: What key points need to be considered with this approach?
A: The methods for finding, keeping and growing a customer base are changing and require a different approach. The traditional silo approach to the existing circulation streams will limit both the effectiveness of activity and publishers’ ability to maintain or increase customer engagement levels.
For an independent or specialist publisher, what will be key is understanding not only what the different circulation streams can offer but that these need to be integrated.
A clear understanding of return on investment and lifetime value tied into the key objectives for the brand along with a willingness to test everything... our own preconceptions being one of the things that need challenging!
Confidence! In both the value that our content can bring to our customers and the ‘value’ of that content — customers have demonstrated that they are happy to pay more for quality content delivered in the way that they want it.
Ultimately, the integration of these key points will need to become the norm so publishers can not only maximise current growth but also benefit fully from the newer opportunities offered by technology as they mature.
Q: What is the outlook for specialist publishers?
A: Exciting! The options to engage with customers is growing — increasingly, our imagination is the only barrier to how we can communicate with them about the hobby they love. Customers now are no less interested in their chosen activities and lifestyles than before and more people over time will join them — what is changing is how to find those new customers and how we need to communicate with them when we do.
I think in many cases, there will still be room for a paper product but probably as a premium-priced ‘flagship’ product to give credibility and trust to the other brand extensions used to interact with customers. Those other brand extensions though will need to be fully integrated to ensure that the journey the customer goes on takes them where both they and we as publishers want them to go
Q: What’s in the pipeline from Warners?
A: Like many publishers, we continue testing and developing new content delivery options. We are seeing large increases in the demand for audio and visual content and experiences that allow the customer to become even more immersed in their pastimes. Key to this is looking outside the existing market of customers who currently know the brand. This in turn means customer engagement is increasingly important which can be very challenging to our traditional views of ‘what the customer wants’!
We are also changing our understanding of what customers mean by ‘value’ — too often this has been translated as ‘cheaper’ but it has become clear that customers are happy to pay more for content that is of value to them and equally that a lower price does not constitute a competitive advantage — increasing our understanding of what the customers value and how we can be part of fulfilling that need has grown our product confidence and paved the way to trying new things and trying new approaches to existing revenue streams — all of this with a publishing for profit mentality. This in turn allows us to pass on pre-tested options to our publishing clients supporting them with all aspects of their circulation offer and making the most of the current options available while also growing and developing the new.
Keiron Jefferies will be presenting a webinar entitled ‘7 top tips to optimise circulation profitability’ at 2.30-3pm (BST), Tuesday 15 October 2024. Click here for more information and to register.
About us
For over 35 years, Warners Group Publications has been delivering an effective bespoke ‘Total Circulation’ service to support specialist and independent publishers dealing with the challenges posed by the industry.
We recognise the importance of a strategy that brings all the circulation channels together — ‘Total Circulation’. The best results are obtained when newstrade, subscription and digital edition strategies are interlinked, utilising the strengths of each to support your customers’ experience, engagement and retention.
We provide services across all the main circulation revenue streams so can support publishers with an integrated approach across newstrade distribution, subscription and membership management, digital editions and marketing, fulfilment, print, production, advertising services and more.
www.warnerspublishing.co.uk/circulation
01778 395043
