This topic revolves around understanding the advantages and dis-advantages of distributing inserts in newspapers. At the moment, I am unable to find any data helping me understand how this form of marketing can help E-commerce businesses.
We are unaware of the possible conversion expected.
I would like to know the following:
1. What is an approx. expected conversion rate when distributing newspapers?
2. Is there a way to find out what is the actual number of people who read English Newspaper, Hindi newspapers and similarly other languages?
3. Who are the different people who can help with the distribution of newspaper inserts?
4. How should one approach this marketing strategy, should one Aim at Conversion OR simple reach with this type of marketing?
Vikrant Shanbhag
Hi Apeksha,
A couple of years ago I had initiated an internet start-up (which failed miserably). Out of the numerous mistakes I did in that initiative one was the method of promotion. I had spent a major portion of my promotion budget on local newspaper which didn’t work out so well. Before we proceed with your questions I would like to highlight some common (mal) practices by newspaper agencies.
1. A newspaper will always talk about readership and not about how many people does it actually reach. What is the difference between readership and printed copies? Well they assume each of their newspaper will be read by 2-6 people so they multiply the number of copies they print into 2-6 times (differs from agencies to agencies) to inflate their readership.
2. All papers that are printed are not distributed. A large portion of the printed copies stay unsold at newspaper stores and are retuned on the next day. A newspaper agency will not give out the figure of returned copy.
So basically it’s very difficult to know how many people you are reaching with your advertisement.
Back to your questions.
1. What is an approx. expected conversion rate when distributing newspapers?
Well conversion rate can be calculated by the actual turnout from the total people reached. As mentioned before it is actually difficult to calculate the total reach itself, going through some research papers it had mentioned that a newspaper advertisement might give you 0.8%-3% conversion rate but the reality was absolutely different for me; I got a mere 0.1%-0.2% conversion rate just to add on to the information I had promoted in all leading newspaper’s local edition.
2. Is there a way to find out what is the actual number of people who read English Newspaper, Hindi newspapers and similarly other languages?
I have some research papers on the topic which I will find and mail it to you soon.
3. Who are the different people who can help with the distribution of newspaper inserts?
I am assuming that you are talking about flier insert here and not an advertisement insert in the newspaper. The easiest way is to get hold of your local newspaper distributor (who delivers newspaper every morning at your doorstep or who comes at end of every month to collect money for the same) he will be willing to do the insertion and distribution part for a fee.
4. How should one approach this marketing strategy, should one Aim at Conversion OR simple reach with this type of marketing?
I would like to suggest if you have a limited promotional budget then instead of spending on newspaper go for more accurate mediums like online promotion (Facebook/Google adwords/Google display ads). The reason is every person you will reach through these mediums are your target audience as they have internet access and by clicking on the ad they are already on your site (only then you will be charged). But if you are still willing to go for press advertisement then take it as a branding exercise and don’t expect much sales return out of it.
I hope the reply will be useful please feel free to ping me if there are any more doubts.
kiran n. bolantkodi
Hi Apeksha,
I don’t think paper insertion helps E-Commerce sites. It will definitely helps for Food & Beverages , Consumer Items , Clothes. I am into Food & Beverages space and in my experience fliers are cheap way of marketing . There is possibility of Paper Delivery Boys wasting fliers ( not inserting all the fliers you gave to them…some of them may be dumped in the public dustbin sometimes!!!) , readers just throw away fliers before reading it .
In my experience its only 20- 25 % conversion . But it will definitely help register your brand in the minds of the people which may get you business in future.
It’s better you go for other marketing strategy for your E-Commerce site.
Kiran N. Bolantkodi.
asha chaudhry
wow vikrant,
rodinhooders like you are the reason i INSIST on reading the comments on every ASK post!
ps: and this is a BIG P.S. – when you feel upto it, it would be a huge learning experience + value add for the rest of the 7300+ members if you shared something about your internet startup that failed. we have a separate section – celebrate failure! for this reason – https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/categories/celebrate-failure/listForCategory
stay in touch!
Aswin Natarajan
Hi Apeksha,
I am answering the third question on newspaper inserts as I have some experience in that. I have sold firecrackers online in Chennai for about 2 years now and newspaper inserts provided a lot of traction.
Newspaper inserts are a great way of promoting your brand / product / service. If your budget is limited, then inserts fit the bill perfectly. Do keep these factors in mind:
1. Locality : Based on what you are selling, choose the locality for the inserts carefully. I sold firecrackers online in Chennai and I focussed only on affluent areas – readers of The Hindu, Indian Express etc and left out the vernacular papers and the corresponding areas where their readership is high.
2. Timing : Choose a day of the week without many supplementary papers. The chances of your insert getting to the reader is higher on these days.
3. Newspaper distributor : Strike up a personal relationship with him over a tea. These people are quite flexible with the rates and will even give you tips of how to finetune your strategy. Make sure you are there when they put in the inserts for at least for the first few days.
Bye the way, did you think of contacting a local newspaper to do an interview / article of your company? Most of them oblige. We did get an article featured in The Hindu for free.
Newspapers do give you some amount of visibility but as others pointed out, don’t get too carried away with the numbers the newspapers tell you on their readership.
Cheers,
Aswin
Vikrant Shanbhag
Thank you so much Asha,
I just joined the community and I find it very active and informative. Great work must say. It would be a privilige sharing my experience with the community, I will definitely take some time out and post it in the mentioned link above.
Anthony Fernandes
Hi,
Vikrant did give some very good points.
I would like to add one more.
eCommerce or not. What is your target market.
Your question should be, How many people in the area i choose to distribute the flier, would have the need for my product and would be able to buy by product. then take 10% or 15% of that number. Is that number good enough sales for you, go ahead. If not, you are marketing to the wrong crowd.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
So, let me ask you:
Tell me the last insert that you remember?
Let me take it further:
Do you remember the solus (solo) ad in the first page of the newspaper today?
Use online, viral stories to get audiences – not dumb paper posters that fall off when the newspapers are lifted
Sunil Suri
Alok, yes true we don’t usually remember the inserts, but at the same time when inserts do have some mind boggling offers we generally tend to keep those inserts separately for later use.I really don’t know if we could recall those offers at the right time.
Further I’ve been using newspaper inserts for my online vegetables, fruits and Grocery store and the conversion rate has been close to 1%. It has not been a generic newspaper insert(like handing over the 10000 inserts to newspaper vendor and then everything at its disposal) but more planned and targeted insert.
~ Sunil Suri
Anil
I am contributing very late to this discussion but wanted to share a few inputs . I work with Print Media , with Hindustan Times Group.
Flyers in newspapers can be done in 2 ways
a) If you want to cover a large market or multiple markets , then with the newspaper companies directly
b) if you want to cover a small targetted zone, then thru the newspaper vendor ( he will charge you on a fee per 1000 copies or something like that )
Drop rates in flyers are huge. But costs in a micro-marketing activity thru a newspaper vendor is also quite low. So ROI is there in most cases , unless you are a product category that makes no sense in a newspaper and its readers
Also a suggestion … The call to action in your offer on the flyer has to be exciting for a first time trial . Try and keep it engaging content ( no harm in a sudoko box to add some fun and reader stickiness to the flyer )
Flyer is a great low cost test marketing tool before you go all out spending in other media.
As regards to your question on circulation and readership , broadly one newspaper sold = about 2.5 readers in English Newspapers . This is higher in regional newspapers ( 1 copy sold = about 4 to 5 readers ). But concept of readership does not really apply when you do a insert flyer.
The expected conversion in a flyer can be below 5% but again clearly depends on product category / offer .
Like in digital you do cpm campaigns or cpc campaigns but acquisition/lead generation is barely 1%, the larger benefit you get is also branding and making your product popular.
If you may need any help/advisory in Print Media , you are welcome to connect with me.
Hope the info helps .
Cheers!
Vinay Goel
Hi Aswin ,
How is the firecraker business going ?
We are Steel and Cement distributors in Chennai for a National Brand. We are looking to increase our Company’s brand recognition and also improve the product brand image. I thought newspaper inserts would be the best bet for that purpose.
Could you please link me to the newspaper distribution vendors you know in Chennai ? It would be a great help.
Please mail me on vinaygoel71@hotmail.com . Thank you so much.
Also if you can please share how is your business going ? Would love to hear about it.
Vinay