Our subs acquisition strategy: Mark Allen Group

Q: What is your subscriber acquisition strategy?

A: At Farmers Weekly, our subscription strategy has focused on reversing volume decline while driving yield growth to increase revenue. We are currently on track and now project overall volume growth over the next 3—5 years. A key pillar of this strategy is subscriber acquisition, with a clear goal of achieving year-on-year growth in new subscriptions — a target we have met for two consecutive years through a mix of targeted initiatives.

The challenge has been achieving volume growth without sacrificing yield. While deep discounts and free trials may boost short-term acquisition, they often result in low-value subscribers who are difficult to convert to full-price renewals. Instead, our approach prioritises value-driven messaging over heavy discounting, though we strategically offer 20% off promotions across multiple channels at key moments throughout the year.

Q: Where are you enjoying most success?

A: 8-10 years ago, we drove the highest volume of new acquisition through traditional direct channels such as direct mail, insert cards in newstrade editions and selling direct at shows / events. Slowly, over the years, we have seen these channels bring in less sales (though they still remain profitable and important channels) and digital channels rise up to take their place.

In 2025, email marketing, PPC, and website activity bring in more new sales across the year than those aforementioned traditional ones. A huge benefit to these channels is the ability to test our messaging, get the results quickly and adapt for the future. Utilising the website, in particular, helps us to prioritise digital subscriptions over print, which not only are more profitable, but enable us to track engagement and acquire behavioural data on our audience.

We have recently begun using a customer data platform to deliver targeted, timely and bespoke marketing to segments we have built. It is early days but the signs are very positive so far. At a simple level, we can deliver website marketing to more engaged users (warmer leads) who are more likely to convert, whilst warming up less engaged users. Beyond that you can get as sophisticated as your imagination can get! For example, a highly engaged arable farmer who has read multiple articles about tackling blackgrass can be shown messaging that instead of simply reading ‘save 20% now’, reads ‘read every article on blackgrass control with unlimited access to FWi.co.uk’. If we already have their email address, we can then follow up with targeted email marketing or content to further increase engagement.

Interestingly, one channel where we have seen fantastic results recently is telemarketing, where we focus on contacting engaged users or previous customers to offer a discounted rate to subscribe. Every audience is different, but one thing we have learned is that farmers like to speak to us over the phone. They often do not see it as cold calling but instead a customer service call. Calls are designed to engage rather than sell. It also gives us an opportunity to take feedback, identify / address issues and even discuss our myriad of other events / products / services that add value to their business. A well briefed and engaged telemarketing agency, with one assigned salesperson rather than a team, has been integral to this.

Three top tips

1. Create a test friendly environment. Within a publishing business, it’s not just about encouraging testing, it’s about creating a test friendly environment. Stepping back from focusing purely on Farmers Weekly for a moment, our wider subscriptions team look after paid-for subscriptions for over 30 brands across the Mark Allen business. For the team, the message is clear. Testing is a priority and there is no failure, only learning opportunities. We have held multiple workshops to brainstorm testing ideas, shared the output across the team and have diarised follow-ups for accountability. In each session, individuals can take centre-stage to share successes and learnings from their activity, with the biggest wins rolled out onto other brands where appropriate. I mentioned previously that every audience is different, so one success on farming might not replicate itself on music or education titles, but through continuous testing, we find out! Marketing is all subjective so our answer when marketing executives come to us with ideas is almost always, test it and find out.
2. Leverage data for targeted campaigns. In our modern digital age, this one shouldn’t come as a surprise to any publisher, but targeted, relevant messaging nearly always converts better than generic catch-all campaigns. The challenge can be knowing where to start and how to segment the data (both demographic and behavioural), so research and persona development can be incredibly useful here. My advice is to start with the biggest, simple segments first — eg. arable vs livestock farmer — to get yourself up and running before getting too niche or creative.
3. Simplify subscription bundles and provide a frictionless user experience. My team’s one must-have demand in any website redesign project? There must be a ‘subscribe’ button on the top of every page! At that crucial moment when someone wants to push the button, make sure it’s right there for them. Beyond that, remove as much friction and pain from the journey through to payment as possible; this includes which bundles you offer. Some publishers offer so many bundle types, it takes ten minutes to read through and understand what you’re getting. On Farmers Weekly, we offer print + digital or digital-only. An easy to understand, simple choice which can be influenced through pricing and discounting.

This article was included in the Subscriber Acquisition Special, published by InPublishing in April 2025. Click here to see the other articles in this special feature.