For print publishers, these are challenging times. Sales through traditional newsstand and subscription channels are in decline. A lot of money has been invested in digital and, whilst there has been growth, digital revenues are still dwarfed by print. The fact is that for most consumer publishers, their primary revenue driver is likely to remain print for the foreseeable future. Yet that revenue is under threat as declining circulations make magazines less attractive to advertisers.
The challenge therefore, says Chris Horn, who remains a massive fan of print and a firm believer in its future, is to find circulation strategies to breathe new life into publishers’ print offering. New routes to market are needed.
How Gold Key Media evolved
One of the leaders in this field is Gold Key Media (GKM). Formed in 2001, the company describes its goal as “finding and delivering targeted audiences for newspaper and magazine publishers”. GKM distributes around 70 million publications each year and, contrary to popular myth, it’s not all free distribution. A significant proportion of those 70 million are paid for by GKM’s customers, and are returning a healthy revenue to the publisher.
The company initially specialised in distributing free copies of magazines to London hotel rooms. This soon evolved to include paid-for copies as hotels started demanding a broader range of titles to serve up for their guests. From there, it was a short step to start supplying them with daily newspapers, and it was this move and the ramping up to a seven days a week distribution operation, which provided the real momentum for accelerated growth. With daily deliveries to hotels all round London, there was now the van capacity to start servicing the ever increasing demand from publishers and hotels.
At the same time, publishers started asking GKM if they could find more distribution outlets, such as spas, gyms, health clubs and other niche outlets. The offering soon evolved to include airlines and event distribution, and moved UK-wide and then global.
More recently, GKM started placing magazine racks in the reception areas of the corporate HQs of many of the country’s largest companies, like Google, Barclays, Sky, British Airways and Disney. These racks are delivering great results: “We have seven racks at Sky’s London HQ. Often we find that by the time our driver has filled up the seventh, he is getting a call from reception to come and refill the first!” GKM is expecting to grow the total number of corporate HQ racks in the UK from the current 300 to 500 by mid-2015. They also have plans to place 200 stands across New York during the year. “The racks also give publishers the ability to promote subscription sales and will soon be fitted with iBeacons to allow us to promote digital offers to readers too,” says Chris.
“The range of services we offer to publishers now is very broad and diverse. We are able to place copies in locations on a global basis. That can range from placing magazines inside Camp David for a G8 summit or selling copies of GQ at the queues waiting for tickets at Wimbledon.”
The global network of venues is the jewel in GKM’s crown. It is the trusted relationship that GKM’s Venues Services team has worked so hard to build up that enables the company to offer such an effective distribution channel for publishers.
Publisher mindset
“We have the proven capability to deliver ABC-certified audience, but part of the challenge,” continues Chris, “is publisher mindset. We’ve all been conditioned to view the retail sale and the regular subscriber as the gold standard of circulation. But is there any less value for the advertiser in a reader that has received their copy in their hotel room, or picked it up from the lobby of their place of work, or on a private jet or yacht, or at an event? I think not.”
The key word in GKM’s offering is ‘targeted’. Bespoke distribution plans are drawn up for each title based on readership profile. Another guarantor of effective targeting are the hotels, venues and corporate HQs themselves. These venues make magazine and newspapers available to their guests / attendees / employees because it enhances their experience. They will not tolerate poorly targeted titles; nor will they tolerate poor deliveries, or badly maintained racks or empty ones for that matter.
To deliver the audience scale that advertisers demand, publishers have to broaden their circulation horizons, to reach out to new readers through carefully targeting copy placement strategies. What then, I ask Chris, are the secrets of maximising the scale and effectiveness of your ‘non-traditional’ distribution, and how can GKM help? Chris has nine suggestions:
1. Define your audience.
“Get to know your audience in detail. You need to have a clear idea of location, age, gender, demographics, where they work and where they play. This is the critical start point.”
2. Develop a long term strategy.
“We know that ad-hoc tactical placement has great impact, but what works best are total placement strategies, involving medium to long-term planning across a range of outlets and interconnected activities. The challenge for many publishers is that circulation teams have been cut right back, so there isn’t always the experience or resource in-house to plan effectively. This is where we can help, by providing publishers with what is in effect additional circulation planning resource. Our publisher account management team is made up of experienced circulation professionals who will sit down with you to help formulate a plan.”
3. Develop a positive sales message.
“It’s not just a numbers game. If your sole aim is to make up a shortfall in your ABC total, then you will not impress advertisers. Ad agencies do not like undifferentiated ‘bulks’ and will discount them. Make every copy work hard for you; only place them where you know your target audience will be and make sure you have done the research to support your decision when you pitch to agencies. We can provide the statistical back up for every outlet we supply. If your distribution plan includes the Travelodge on the M4, then we can give you the guest profile, so that you can build a positive sales message.”
4. Involve the publishing director early on.
“Decisions about additional circulation have value across the publishing team, not only the circulation department. The primary justification for increased circulation is usually commercial. What do advertisers want and what will impress them? Are there major events your title needs to be seen at? Would your rate card benefit from event branding? There might be potential for highly targeted spin-off publications or supplements, distributed by GKM and funded through sponsorship. Early involvement of the publishing director really helps accelerate the process.”
5. Consider paid-for strategies.
“It’s not all about free! A popular misconception is that GKM is only involved in free copy placement. We see ourselves as very much part of the paid-for environment. Take a market leading travel magazine for example. GKM sells over 8,000 copies per issue to hotels, airlines, private medical facilities, spas and rail operators, providing the publisher with a healthy monthly circulation income and a respectable ABC certificate. A successful non-traditional strategy will often blend elements of paid-for and free, alongside free-to-paid conversion programmes.”
6. Think global.
Many UK titles resonate overseas. The Economist is an obvious fit for the World Economic Forum in Davos. How about Golf World at Marbella Golf Country Club, or SuperYachtWorld at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show?
“If your title has international appeal, then GKM has an extensive roster of overseas hotels, events and venues and the distribution networks to service them. In fact, we have strengthened our international presence by opening an office in New York a year ago, and we are now setting up our activities in Singapore as we speak.”
7. Think niche.
“It would be a mistake to assume that we only work with mainstream glossies. Ultra niche title Fertility Road Magazine approached us and we created a distribution plan for them targeting private clinics and doctors’ surgeries. The more specialist the title, the cleverer we need to be.”
8. Explore the commercial potential.
“Think cleverly and creatively to realise the commercial opportunities for targeted promotions, special supplements and one-off publications. Tiffany, the jewellers, cover wrapped 5,000 copies of a daily business newspaper for distribution at Canary Wharf to promote their new store. The range of cost-effective distribution and merchandising solutions is limited only by your imagination.”
9. Use us to support your traditional circulation!
With continuing fragmentation of the media market, it is getting harder to reach prospective new readers. “Additional circulation through targeted placement delivers for your advertisers, and also supports traditional circulation channels by engaging with a steady flow of prospective newsstand purchasers and subscribers.”
Not forgetting digital
“We believe passionately in the future of print, but we are investing heavily in digital distribution, to give hotel and venues the option of including digital editions as part of their offering to customers,” said Chris. “GKM’s digital service is based on the Media Box platform and is already live at some of London’s top hotels like the Dorchester and Claridge’s and is growing fast. The IBIS chain of hotels signed up in September. The service allows hotels to offer their guests a tailored offering of digital newspapers and magazines and gives them full back-office access. The encouraging early signs are that the Media Box is not cannibalising the print sales into those hotels, but instead being used by guests to download additional titles.”
There is also a separate GKM app, which allows publishers to offer titles within tightly defined geographic areas, usually around events like the Farnborough Air Show.
What are you waiting for?
GKM lives and breathes publishing. Chris himself was circulation director for USA Today in a previous life, and was also deputy MD at Johnson Inflight News. The publishing team at GKM has over 85 years’ experience with leading newspaper and magazine publishers.
“We know how to get results for publishers. We deliver guaranteed audiences at scale. It really is as simple as that! Call us to find out more.”
Gold Key Media
1st Floor, Axtell House, 23-24 Warwick Street, London, W1B 5NQ
Chris Horn, Managing Director
Email: chris.horn@gkml.co.uk Tel: 020 7491 4065 Web: www.gkml.co.uk
