has shown that the customer magazine sector is thriving despite the advertising downturn of the last 18 months. Mintel estimates that revenues passed the £300m mark for the first time in 2002 -- and the market showed 18% growth over the last two years. It is a pretty impressive statistic. But where is the growth coming from?
As advertisers squeeze budgets and push them below the line, customer magazines come to the fore. By achieving both brand and sales objectives, they offer the best of both worlds. They are targeted, mailed, often personalised and contain multiple calls to action through special offers, competitions, vouchers and other devices. They are an ideal tool for a database-driven CRM programme, and in the retail sector, particularly, have been used to great effect to add value to account and loyalty cards.
The USP of customer magazines identified by many clients is that they create a dialogue with customers. In doing so, they support other elements of the marketing mix and generate an uplift in sales. According to a recent report by Millward Brown, nearly two thirds of consumers have purchased a product or service from a company as a direct result of reading its customer magazine, and 40% are more likely to go on using the company or to select it for another purchase in the future.
Another crucial driver is permission. Consumers know that customer magazines are fundamentally about selling stuff, but they still like to read them. In fact, 78% of them think that a magazine is a better way for a company to tell them about its products or services than other media.
Research also reveals that customers keep these magazines, or pass them on to their friends, and that on average they choose to spend 29 minutes reading a customer magazine. You can't achieve that level of attention and endorsement through any other marketing channel.
Customer magazines also impact positively on brand image. Millward Brown also shows that readers of customer magazines are significantly more positive about brands than non-readers. This is evident through attitudinal statements relating to reputation, looking after customers, striving to meet customers' needs, and whether or not the named brand is a company you can trust. In fact, trust is one of the driving factors behind the continuing success of the market.
Where brands strive to build a relationship with their most important customers (by rewarding custom, adding value and providing opportunities for interaction) trust will grow. Consumers also trust magazines. They buy them on the newsstand and look to them for inspiration and advice. They identify with magazines and aspire to the lifestyle values that different magazines espouse. Combine those two drivers of trust and you have an extremely powerful medium.
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