Handouts/News Paper Inserts; Unconventional media options for Entrepreneurs - Part 1

Over next few days, I am planning to share my understanding of non-conventional media that startups love and few of my learnings around them. Here is the first one of the series. Feel free to post your comments/ tweet or write to me at [email protected]

Few days ago, there was an interesting news item that got published in TOI pertaining TOI itself. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/BCCL-gets-interim-relief-against-newspaper-flyers/articleshow/53835716.cms. This news brought focus on how TOI is going after newspaper inserts, a Guerilla marketing technique that offers a low-cost alternative to advertisers. Thanks to @RaviGururaj for noticing it and posting it. Like many others, even I found it extremely interesting to see that even large publishers worry about small irritants. Just shows the pressure on margins and scale with media owners.

How do paper inserts work?

Businesses (Largely local ones), print leaflets and handover them to local newspaper agents. Local new paper agents would insert the handouts inside the newspaper and drop at the doorsteps of consumers. Local newspaper agents charge the business for each insert (50p to 1 Rs) and sometimes even stick them with newspaper (ensuring leaflet is not lost).

There are several advantages of this strategy

1. Leaflets only reach people in a given locality reducing media spill
2. Leaflets standout when user opens the newspaper ensuring higher eyeball

Few of the smart advertisers would make it even better by

1. Printing the leaflets with the same size of the newspaper giving it a feel of newspaper jacket (Which is extremely costly otherwise)
2. Printing leaflets with special offers/ coupons that users can tear and carry with them

Sounds really good. But are they really so good? Let's do a few quick checks

Are they accepted well?

• Normally, no mainline agency would recommend paper inserts as a credible media
• Inserts are challenged with the high inefficiency of distribution. There is no way to measure the exact number of homes reached by the inserts (All of us get multiple copies of same leaflets don't we?)
• Not sticking them well (not hampering reader's experience etc) can cause irritation to the customer causing more harm to a brand than otherwise.
• While theoretically inserts present an opportunity for A/B testing, Managing / controlling them would not be easy

Are they really cost effective?

• We need to consider the cost of printing the leaflets + distribution cost. To stick the newspaper on the front page, one would pay upwards of 50P per page + around 1 Rs of printing charges, which makes it 1.5 Rs per insert.
• An inner page ad in most newspapers would cost <20 paisa (no printing charges). An ad in a slightly premium position would cost between 2 to 3X the cost of an ad in the inner page.
• Cost wise, it appears that inserts are costlier unless you want to reach really small and niche audience
• Do people love them?
• I have seen lot of entrepreneurs loving paper inserts. Have hardly seen anyone getting the clear results (We did try few times with hardly any luck).
• But still, Leaflets have survived for long compared to many other media what could be the reason?
• This could be because of the attitude and structure of the retail franchise world.
• Contractually, franchisees and franchisers are committed for local promotions. Leaflets are the easiest thing to execute compared to other options and appear to ensure least amount of spill over. A Franchise would like to ensure that his marketing would not deliver sales for neighboring franchise (even if it is at the cost of his own sale ;-) So for the retailers, with some catchy offers, leaflets do offer some reasons to embrace, but at the cost of the brand and real ROI.

Why would media publishers worry about inserts?

They are like spam add on /malware plugins on a web browser. Never fair on consumers/publishers. But let's look at it from the advertisers’ perspective as Guerilla marketing always sounds interesting.

Inserts would capture the attention of large publishers as they eat into the revenue (However small may be). You have consumers because of the newspapers, and inserts would hamper the newspaper industry in whatever little way they can. While channels make some money, is it at the cost of loyalty? Apart from revenue leakage there are additional challenges of

• perception by consumers thinking that inserts are done by newspapers themselves.
• Some advertisers (Especially retailers) questioning pricing to get negotiation power.

How can we ensure that paper inserts work?

While I have cautioned you about limitations of paper inserts, if you believe you should try out, go ahead and experiment. But please take care of the following

A.     Be creative in content and format-  It’s important to get it designed by a right designer and copywriter.  make them colorful, glassy. But key is in the simplicity of message and call for action. Try being creative, see if you can change the look and feel. Can it be a cover? Can it look like a postcard? Can it be a bookmark or even a voucher?  Can Augmented Reality or treasure hunt be integrated to drive word of mouth?  Opportunities are endless

B.     Localize –Ensure that call for action and the core message talks about the locality. Use landmarks & cultural icons that are extremely local. Remember you did choose this media because you thought it can deliver hyperlocal results

C.     Amplify – It is important to amplify the message within the locality. Integrate the message with outdoor/ posters in the area (For improved recall). Ensuring high visibility can bring credibility to all media formats delivering cascading effect.

D.     ROI- ROI and ROI . Measuring ROI from paper inserts is not easy. While increasing sales/ walk-ins is some indicator same may not be enough. Reasons being – paper inserts would have delivered brand visibility that may not necessarily drive immediate purchase. Walk-ins might have been increased because of other reasons. Thus we need to innovate in terms of measuring the ROI. Strategies one can adapt include providing a special voucher code with the handouts, giving a missed call/ sending an SMS to get special offer. AR/ VR/ QR can drive additional opportunities to measure the ROI. An informal survey done before and after the event with target segment can bring out softer aspects of the campaign (Brand affinity, awareness)

Have questions/feedback?? Feel free to post your comments/ tweet or write to me at [email protected]? Would be glad to append the story with your feedback with credits to you