Report 2013 - Kelly Fagan HERE - Australian Publishers Association

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The Evolution of Marketing and Publicity Strategy Looking at book promotion and the way in which trade publishers are responding to changing market channels it seems important to note that this is a process of evolution not revolution. And there are two parts to the process – publishers need to evolve their overall strategies concerning marketing objectives and budgeting processes, and marketers and publicists need to evolve in terms of the activities they plan to promote books at a title by title level. As Mike Shatzkin says in his blog Idealog: ‘Publishers have a lot to change in the way they do their marketing. We’ve advocated for years that publishers look at marketing as an investment, building assets, such as email lists of consumers they can reach for free, through their marketing efforts for subsequent use. That works better if the house’s marketing efforts are vertical, or audience-centric, which enables repeat efforts to the same people to bear fruit.’ 43 As discussed earlier in this report, many of the UK publishers I visited were implementing or had already implemented ‘vertical structures’ to varying degrees within their marketing teams in order to target consumer groups and market segments more effectively and more regularly. In terms of overall strategy, Sara Lloyd seemed to sum up the sentiment of all of publishers I visited when she said: ‘In trade publishing in particular, publishers tend to think book by book, campaign by campaign, short term, short term, short term. I think we’re going to see a trend moving away from book by book campaigns to much more, much broader, much deeper ongoing strategies, including online community building and brand building, so that you’re not just living or dying by the next book. We’re going to need to have businesses that can have a longer term vision than that, and in general there’s going to be a greater focus on developing and communicating brands, because in the cross-media landscape that’s what works.’ 44 With regards to online community building a new study conducted by Bowker Market Research reveals that the number of publisher-owned online communities in the US and UK is set to more than double by 2015. The study also investigated the rationale and perceived benefits for publishers moving into this arena, revealing that: ▪▪ 84% of publishers felt their spending on online communities would increase in the next two years with only 14% envisaging expenditure remaining stagnant ▪▪ 64% of publishers with online communities were convinced that their investment in this market is already paying off and a further 24% believed it would do so in the short term ▪▪ 73% of all the publishers interviewed felt that online communities helped or would help them to engage better with their audiences ▪▪ 72% of trade publishers said they helped or would help to increase direct relationships with customers and 45% claimed they provided or would provide good marketing support to sales channels ▪▪ 40% of academic and professional publishers said that increasing knowledge and understanding of customers was a key benefit, whilst 40% felt increasing content usage was a priority Although currently only 16% of all respondents viewed online communities as viable direct sales channels, the formats that have benefited most from online community activity are e-books for trade publishers (40%) and online resources for academic publishers (67%). 45 When discussing the findings at the 2013 London Book Fair, Jo Henry, Director, Bowker Market Research, said: ‘There is a substantial amount of activity going on in this area as publishers seek new ways in which to engage directly with their consumers. It is interesting to note that in this survey US publishers were not significantly more advanced than UK ones – and that trade publishers appear to be leading the way in developing online communities.’ 46 43 http://www.idealog.com/blog/book-marketers-need-rethink-three-things-time-timing-budgeting/ 44 Transcript of Dutch Foundation for Literature 8th International Non-Fiction Conference, 29 January 2011 (courtesy of Peter Collingridge) 45 http://www.bookmarketingsociety.co.uk/2013/04/publishers-online-communities-set-to-double-by-2015/#coverage 46 http://www.stm-publishing.com/publishers-online-communities-to-double-by-2015/ Author: Kelly Fagan 14
The Evolution of Marketing and Publicity Activities There is no doubt that social media and online retail present enormous opportunities when it comes to individual promotional campaigns – the ability to target specific consumers with a product and then receive first hand feedback about it – means that activity can be better timed, and better measured. But is it ‘Book marketing is broken’ proclaims Peter Collingridge, formerly of Canongate and co-founder of Enhanced Editions and Bookseer. ‘It is not evolving at the rapid speed of other parts of the industry, and many campaigns look identical to those 10 or more years ago, relying on PR and big-budget poster campaigns.’ 47 Specific campaign case studies suggest that in part, Collingridge is right – at the Book Marketing Society Campaign Awards for January to April 2013, the winning campaigns in each category were all praised for what might be considered ‘traditional activity’. Winner: Adult category GONE GIRL, BY GILLIAN FLYNN Marketers: Mark Rusher & Jo Dawson, Orion Notes from BMS: This title came over from the US with a head of steam but, as many campaigns before it have proven, this doesn’t always translate into success. Gone Girl was an exception. It was Mumsnet’s Book of the Month and was instantly identifiable from the striking use of colours on a widespread poster campaign. Winner: Children’s GEEK GIRL, BY HOLLY SMALE Marketers: Nicola Way, Hannah Bourne, Abby Tayleure (HarperCollins’ Children’s) Notes from BMS: From the aspirational strapline – “Celebrate Your Inner Geek!”, to the engaging Geek Girl cover shot competition (get your pic snapped on the cover) at the NEC Birmingham Clothes Show, this was a campaign with a lot of energy and plenty of visibility. It was promoted in Shout magazine and on radio, and more than 1,500 photos were taken in their special photo booth (with glasses provided, of course). It was also the Number 1 debut in children’s books to date – a well deserved achievement for this first-time writer. Winner: Shoestring budget KNACKERED MOTHER’S WINE CLUB Marketer: Alice Shortland, Bloomsbury Notes from BMS: This book benefited from the genuine engagement of Waterstones booksellers, resulting in their voting it the Waterstones Book of the Year 2012; strong targeting of a foodie audience which managed to turn restaurant customers into book buyers; great competitions for the potential audience, and amazing sales and ROI. 48 47 http://www.enhanced-editions.com/blog/2012/02/book-promotion-analytics-and-a-new-marketing-approach-for-publishers/ 48 http://www.bookmarketingsociety.co.uk/2013/07/gone-girl-geek-girl-win-in-jan-april-2013-bms-campaign-awards/ Author: Kelly Fagan 15
Page 1 and 2: A Very Long Engagement: how the new
Page 3 and 4: Overview With book marketing, every
Page 5 and 6: Key Findings 1. Differences/similar
Page 7 and 8: The Australian Retail Space In Aust
Page 9 and 10: An Australian book consumer benchma
Page 11 and 12: The UK Retail Space When I approach
Page 13 and 14: The UK Media Space (cont.) As in Au
Page 15: Marketing and Publicity Department
Page 19 and 20: The Evolution of Marketing and Publ
Page 21 and 22: The Evolution of Marketing and Publ
Page 23 and 24: What Does it Mean to Connect Direct
Page 25 and 26: What Does it Mean to Connect Direct
Page 27 and 28: Cross Industry Collaboration In thi
Page 29 and 30: Conclusion jThis report led me down

Report 2013 - Kelly Fagan HERE - Australian Publishers Association

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