Case Studies
Use What You Have to Create Excitement in the Distribution Channel
When Getaways magazine was launched in the New England states, the publisher had very little money for promotions, very few resources with which to build distribution.
Something else was available, however-something not ordinarily used as part of a magazine marketing program. What the publisher did have was relationships with bed and breakfasts throughout the northeast.
These bed and breakfasts were advertisers in the magazine. These advertisers, as part of their approach to getting the word out about their getaway locations, often made available free stays to people associated with the publication.
Getaways may not have had much in the way of promotion monies, but it had access to more free nights at bed and breakfasts that it knew what to do with. It occurred to us that these free nights could be leveraged for promotions purposes.
With this in mind, we set up a contest amongst the national distributor field people who worked in the northeast. The contest involved building the authorization base and distribution base for Getaways magazine.
The results were to be weighted on a percentage basis, prorated according to the size of a particular portion of the territory. The grand prize was to be a weekend at a New England resort location. There were lesser prizes as well-a night at a bed and breakfast, a dinner at a participating location.
This contest proved to be popular. It got the attention of the reps working on the magazine and gave them that little extra bit of inspiration and enthusiasm which brought in the results. Additionally we made prizes available to the wholesalers themselves. Today there is only one wholesaler that distributes to the entire territory; at the time, however, there were several. The wholesalers could chose to participate, and if they were able to build distribution and sales on behalf of this product they too would win a stay at a B and B in the northeast.
When the contest was completed we found that the results were good. Distribution had increased by about 20%, which was more than we could have readily accomplished without this added incentive. The prizes awarded to the wholesalers and national distributor field reps were remembered by them longer than another kind of premium or incentive might have been.
We have worked with other publishers who had access to unconventional premiums or prizes. We have, over the years, been able to offer tickets to concerts, to parties, and to sports events as prizes or incentives for a launch or saturation test.
If your budget is tight, look at what you, as a magazine publisher, might have access to that you can leverage. You might find that there are possibilities that weren't immediately obvious.