Lifestage Marketing

As the ABCs continue to cause mixed feelings in the industry, Emily Travis, market development manager for publishing at Royal Mail, discusses how magazines can do more to keep their readers long-term…

Last month new figures from WARC revealed that 1,438,000,000 magazines were sold last year, up by 7.4% or 100,000,000 copies on the year before. However, the most recent ABCs tell a slightly different story. It seems that whilst sales in general are very healthy, publishers are finding it difficult keeping their readers loyal to specific titles. Men’s monthlies, for example, have dropped in circulation quite dramatically, perhaps being cannibalised by the relatively new men’s weekly market.

As is the case within all industries, ‘short-termism’ is extremely tempting – only looking as far as the next issue or the biannual ABCs to raise circulations, for example. There have been voracious price wars in the TV listings market, and a competitive trend of cover mounting by women’s monthlies. Whilst these marketing gimmicks attract readers, they only succeed at a big cost to the publisher. Not only do they eat into profits, worse they condition readers to switch titles based on the offer at the time. As a result reader loyalty is decreasing.

As a result of the natural competition between different magazines within the stable, for example Emap’s Zoo and FHM, some publishers are title-focused. However, as publishers seek to maintain acquisition rates and maintain profitability across the portfolio, this is changing.

Unfortunately there is no magic loyalty panacea. But, there are a number of ways publishers can communicate with their readers to promote customer allegiance, and not just to one title, but to the publishing house itself. One such way is through subscription marketing, and in particular lifestage subscription marketing.

The very nature of subscriptions and the fact that they are posted to readers means that they are very personal and the consumer has opted-in to a relationship with the brand. Furthermore, subscriptions are usually offered for one year or longer and readers are committed for the length of the subscription, which they pay for in advance. Consequently, they improve publisher’s cash flow and are an important source of revenue and can be extremely profitable. If marketed well, they can become a key element in building up a stable circulation base.

Lifestage marketing is a discipline that has been employed by the direct marketing industry for a number of years to good effect. Basically it is about marketing specific products to customers in a way that is dependent on the stage of their life that they are in. The theory behind this type of marketing is that certain events or moments in people’s lives trigger particular needs or desires. The trick is to recognise these changing priorities as quickly as possible and target customers, whether existing or potential, with the relevant products. Knowledge of what to target, to whom and when can be built up from the depth of information that companies already have from existing customers.

Some lifestages are more useful and are more effective hooks than others. Moving house for example presents a host of potential purchases from financial products to utility services, DIY products and consumer durables.

Loyalty card Nectar uses this particular stage as a good excuse to contact its cardholders. Home movers are mailed a moving kit with a map detailing the local sponsor outlets where points can be collected.

When consumers move between lifestages, they are entering unfamiliar territory. Companies that contact consumers during these times and offer help can build strong, profitable relationships. For example, targeting the mid-20s market with homes and gardens titles when they look to buy their first house. The result is a much more personalised process, which makes the customer feel more valued and hopefully more loyal. By providing some form of personalisation, companies can provide a seemingly higher level of service by demonstrating that they care about the individual.

There is no shortage of lifestage data in the direct marketing sector as most data providers include lifestage questions in their surveys. But it isn’t necessary to look far to source high quality trigger-based data; their own customer databases can provide a wealth of information, such as a birthday. Sainsburys for example invites consumers just before their birthday to come to their nearest store and pick up a bottle of wine or box of chocolates. It’s a simple but effective approach that makes customers feel good and helps Sainsbury’s retain a valuable customer.

So how does this approach translate to the publishing market? It’s a matter of utilising the subscriptions database more effectively. Collecting data about readers and using this to target them with different titles.

By their nature magazines have specific audiences. For example, the readership for Bliss is predominately teenage girls. However, it is unlikely that the magazine continues to appeal to its readers once they hit their early to mid-20s. However, just because readers have outgrown a particular title it doesn’t mean the publishing house has to lose them altogether.

By building a relationship with a subscriber and determining lifestage, it is possible to make them aware of other titles within the stable, before they outgrow whatever they currently read. It is also possible to target readers according to lifestyle. We all have different interests and magazines cater to niche audiences, for example sports magazines or cooking titles.

A simple way to do this would be to include another title in their usual subscription mailing for the last three months of their subscription. Not only is the reader receiving something for nothing and adding value to the relationship, but also it is likely that reading the additional magazine will become habit. Once the subscription runs out it is possible that they will replace their existing subscription with the new title, or even subscribe to both.

Learning more about readers can never be detrimental to a publisher. Data is an extremely powerful tool and can drive long-term consumer attachment to a publishing house, rather than title-specific relationships.