If your business has a magazine, the key is putting it in the right place.
A strategy that combines quality magazines and effective touchpoints can ensure that your content reaches the right people, helping you to win new customers, engage with existing ones and ultimately boost sales.
What is a touchpoint?
A touchpoint in that sense is any location where your magazine could be placed. This could be an airport lounge, a gym, a hotel, or anywhere else that you’ve identified as somewhere your customers are likely to be spending time.
Identifying the most effective touchpoints for your magazine can help you get the best results from your magazine. Any retailer wanting to utilise touchpoints needs to identify where potential customers are located, as well as ensuring an environment where they will have time to read the publication. Examples of this include placing your magazine in airport lounges or in hotels nearby conventions.
The power of magazines
Despite the onset of digital media, magazines remain an effective, popular and direct way to communicate with customers. One survey found that 98% of respondents felt corporate publishing enhanced their awareness of a company, while 97% said it improved the business’ reputation.
Print magazines can often cut through the noisy world of online content by speaking directly to your customers about the things that interest them, putting the information they want to read in their hands rather than expecting them to stumble upon it online.
Branded magazines are an efficient and effective way of reaching new audiences, re-engaging with contacts that may have dropped off and either up- or cross-selling products and services. And it works for any business, of any size, in any sector. It’s a great way to tell customers about special offers, new products, discounts and deals or even just stay connected.
Touchpoint trends in 2023
Where new technologies and smart software are changing to how consumers interact with marketing materials, the fundamentals of magazine touchpoints are simply about getting a publication in front of a target audience where they have time to read.
1. Give your customers what they want
Marketers know they need to tailor everything to their customers, so it’s essential to find the right touchpoints for your target audience. It could be wellness centres for a fitness magazine, selected restaurants for a wine magazine, or yacht clubs for your yacht magazine; get to know the demographic you want to reach and find where they are and make sure your publication is there.
2. Get a niche
Although subscriptions to daily newspapers may be falling, there is still growing demand for customer magazines, special interest magazines and other publications that target specific topics and groups. Reaching these groups can also help attract advertisers to a publication, thanks to its highly-specific audience.
Asendia’s Top tips for touchpoint strategies
The right touchpoints: Take time to identify the most effective touchpoints for your magazine that ensure the publication is put in front of the right people and in a place where they will have time to pause and read it. That way you can ensure the most effective use of resources.
The right quantity: Remember these copies are being given away for free. Consider the frequency of people passing through the touchpoint, how long they spend there and the space your publication takes up. Using your magazine for a touchpoint marketing campaign also helps keep circulation high and attractive to third-party advertisers.
The right distribution partner: There’s already a lot to consider when implementing a touchpoint marketing campaign. A reliable partner can help take care of the preparation, distribution, shipping, customs and other details involved in getting the copies of the publication where they need to be.
Our touchpoint marketing services can help you develop the right strategy for your publication, distribute it globally and place it exactly where your target audience is.
Case study: Wine specialist and retailer
A wine specialist produces its magazine for customers and wants to improve the magazines ROI, promoting the brand and growing revenues by boosting sales.
Asendia’s solution:
Asendia identified and contacted potential placement partners to find relevant touchpoints, such as restaurants and bars known for their fine dining. Asendia enabled the wine retailer to place a total of 4,000 magazines at these touchpoints to engage with potential customers and thus generate new wine orders.
Case study: Traditional, high-end watch manufacturer
A watch manufacturer in the middle- to high-price range wants to promote its brand and reach new customers by placing its magazine for 4 months in airport lounges in Barcelona Airport.
Asendia’s solution:
- Placement of 5,000 magazines in airport lounges at Barcelona Airport.
- Including transportation, customs clearance, storage and regular delivery to the airport during the campaign.
