Circulars inserted into newspapers still drive sales for retailers

http://www.petevanbaalen.com/single-post/2018/01/31/Circulars-inserted-into-newspapers-still-drive-sales-for-retailers

The first two months of the year in the marketing and advertising world has certain milestones that seem to come up every year. There is all the excitement and buzz of the Super Bowl ads each year, featuring the latest and greatest creations and a new catch phrase or two as a result. And then there is the annual list of store closings and contract reductions from big box national advertisers.

I prefer the anticipated laughter at the latest Budweiser commercial much more than the pain of the retraction of major advertisers trying to find traction in an ever changing retail world. Each year the impact of Amazon.com and other retailers seems to increase, and that has certainly been the case at the start of 2018.

If you are fortunate enough to not be feeling the sting of store closing, then you are no doubt facing the relentless requests to reduce preprint rates, provide added value or both. The latest store results and the latest research tells me that it is time again for newspapers to be aggressive.

Nationwide Sears / K-Mart made the strategic decision to cut their spending significantly. This included the surprising decision to not have an insert on Thanksgiving. The headline on Fortune.com's story summed up their woes, calling their performance a "Holiday Season Bloodbath". According to the story by Phil Wahba for Fortune.com, Sears performance was between -16% and -17% below prior year. Overall holiday sales were up +4.9% this past year. I'm not suggesting that all of Sears' problems are centered around their lack of newspaper ads in November and December. But their decision to turn their backs on their core customers who look to their inserts to make their purchasing decisions exaggerated the impact.

Newspapers need to stand firm on their ability to move the sales needle for their regular advertisers. The research backs that up, showing once again that newspaper readers have money to spend, our product and advertisements are wanted by our customer base and newspapers provide an inviting environment for a marketing message to be positively received by a consumer. Even in the Amazon.com world we're living in, preprints still sell products.

The Hoosier State Press Association readership study released last fall backs those statements up. It is one thing for me to say it, but better when American Opinion Research provides unbiased information with the same statements. All of your sales reps should have this information, and I would say just as important that your customers also need this information.

Regarding preprint advertising and the early year fight with advertisers, make sure they realize that 68% of people in Indiana believe newspaper circulars are an important part of their purchase making decisions, and that number is even stronger with females who control the majority of spending. 54% of consumers use newspaper inserts weekly, and that translates to 48% of people making purchases monthly as a result of newspaper advertising. That is over three times more than radio or cable, and more than double that of local TV.