Back to Print with Custom Publishing

(Promo) Here’s a hot tip for marketers who want to stay in touch with their customers: Take a page from the past and try a customized magazine. Though more costly than e-mail, it can serve as the perfect setting for promotional offers.

For example, Sandals Beaches and Resorts has a publication called “Sandals Style.” It recently offered a 50% discount at certain resorts and stores.

And Bloomingdale’s has one called “The Little Brown Book.” It provides deals on everything from Broadway theater tickets to front-row seats at fashion shows.

Generally, these magazines should go only to your best customers. Bloomingdale’s sends “The Little Brown Book” to 180,000 shoppers who spend between $3,500 and $5,000 a year on the Bloomingdale’s credit card. And they are rewarded with articles on fashion and culture and six to 10 promotional offers per issue.

“It’s a whole range of things that you cannot get through any other venue,” says Duncan Milne, director of publishing at Rodale Custom Publishing, which publishes “The Little Brown Book.”

Why bother with magazines in an era of e-mail newsletters? For one thing, magazines provide tailored and glossy environments that are hard to match online.

“The business is getting more sophisticated,” says Valerie Valente, vice president/publishing director for Rodale Custom Publishing. “It is now able to combine a pure marketing promotional element and useful editorial content. These are high-value products that a marketer develops within a promotion budget and promotion goal.”

In addition, magazines and online media are not mutually exclusive. Custom publications can drive readers to online sweepstakes, Websites, and stores. And those are not the only synergies they have with other media. Slimmed-down versions are being slipped into consumer magazines, and digital versions are being sent via e-mail.

“Sandals Style” is “a traditional printed publication, but it has legs and goes throughout various other media,” says Peggy Nordeen, the president of Starmark/Marc USA, a loyalty agency that produces the periodical.

“Sandals Style” debuted last September as a glossy 24-page periodical packed with information about Sandals and Beaches properties in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The quarterly publication is mailed to 175,000 members of the Signature Guest Club in the U.S. and Canada.

“It’s so much more cost effective to keep an existing customer than it is to go out and find a new customer,” says Emily Curtin, director of loyalty programs for Unique Vacations, the operators of Sandals and Beaches Resorts. “The magazine goes above and beyond editorial to build the brand and drive sales.”

Regent, an operator of luxury cruises and hotels, started a custom publication last year as part of a move from mass targeting to personalization. It delivers information about specific trips booked by the customer, highlighting shore excursions and on-board spa treatments.

Is the couple on their honeymoon? Do they have kids? These data points will be reflected in the content.

Last summer, Regent launched “Unique Discoveries,” a personalized newsletter. The cover includes the customer’s name. Inside is news about voyages and special promotions. About 94,000 active members of its Seven Seas Society loyalty program receive the quarterly mailing.

“We want to do as much as we can to personalize the experience for them,” says Sophie Vlessing, vice president of marketing and guest strategy for Regent. “There is so much information available — the more they can feel it’s personalized for them, the more special it is.”

Spending on custom publishing reached a high of $45.8 billion in 2005, marking a six-year growth spurt. And last year companies increased the average spend by 18.4%, or $175,901 apiece, according to the Custom Publishing Council (CPC).

In addition, custom publishing claims 24% of all dollars spent on marketing, advertising, and communications, according to the CPC. Some 39% of companies plan to increase spending in 2007, 48% will spend the same, and 13% plan a decrease.

Who creates these periodicals? The most common outsourcing partners are design firms (43%), followed by companies that specialize in custom publications (23%). Next is ad agencies, which have gained market share at 18%.

“Marketers like that they can produce their own quality publications,” says Lori Rosen, executive director of the CPC. “They want control over their message.”

But the medium is changing. For one thing, the majority of custom publications now include advertising. Over half carry space ads from outside advertisers, and 20% include inhouse ads, the CPC said.

But this can be a tricky move, experts warn. “There are shades of gray in terms of going from a custom publication to a traditional publication,” Nordeen says. “As long as companies draw ads very much related to their own business and products, they’re OK. But if you move into providing ads for a mass market, that’s not going to bring the same value.”

A 2005 CPC study conducted by Roper Public Affairs found that 85% of all consumers said that they would rather get information through an interesting collection of articles than through an ad. And 75% feel that custom publications show a company’s interest in building good relationships with them.

Costs vary widely based on page count, circulation, paper stock, and other factors. And while there are tools for measuring the return on investment — trackable codes imbedded in offers and the use of loyalty member identification numbers — success is often determined anecdotally.

For example, Regent monitors a customer chat room. Recently it saw positive comments about its new “Unique Discoveries” newsletter.

And Bloomingdale’s studied a sampling of telephone responses to assess how “The Little Brown Book” was doing.

“It gives these people a sense that Bloomingdale’s provides them with access to fashion and culture that they can get nowhere else,” Milne says. “ROI is measured not just financially but by the fact people sense that their value as a customer is being recognized. It’s not just dollars and cents.”

Dos and don’ts of custom publishing
Courtesy of the Custom Publishing Council:

* Do measure ROI. Understand the metrics for success at the start of the project.

* Do remember that content is king. Creativity is not only rewarded, it is rewarding. Figure out what differentiates you from the competition and put it out there.

* Do identify the target. Conduct research to understand what information the audience wants.

* Do put the content to work. Much of the work that goes into developing content can do double duty in other parts of the program — trade shows, trade magazines, sales literature, Websites, etc.

* Don’t blow the deadline. Custom works when it is frequent and consistent. Creating a custom publication is a promise to your customers. If you can’t keep your scheduled communication, what does that say about your brand?

* Don’t assume it’s all about print. It is all about creating dialogue and content that specifically targets your preferred/high-value audience or market segment. Custom content vehicles can also include custom events, e-newsletters, Websites, and interactive CDs.

* Don’t miss an opportunity. This is all about building customer relationships. Involve your customers in some positive action, which occurs as a direct result of reading your magazine.

* Don’t change direction midstream. This is the surest way to blow the budget and the schedule. Have a plan and stick to it.

* Don’t take the short view. Don’t start a custom magazine or other initiative unless you are committed to it for the long term.