Provide your media agency with all the information they will need, in writing, before they can commence planning.
- Clarify all required media details
Once the media agency has established a candidate list of media they will need to ascertain the following information:
- Frequency of publication
Publication frequency is vital to forecasting response and conversion lag times. - Circulation
Find out the audited circulation figures. If figures are not audited, identify how the circulation has been quantified. - Print run for specified issue
The actual print run of a promoted issue will likely have a large variance from the stated circulation. - Circulation per region
If you are taking specific regions then your agency will need to supply the volume to be taken per region. - Minimum volume
Find out the minimum volume that the publisher will take into their publication or a region. - Recommended volume
Your agency will need to recommend the volume to be placed per publication. - Overs
Calculate the number of overs that will be required. - Codes
Provided by the client, these will need to be allocated to each test cell for each publication.
Subscription and newsstand volumes may need to be identified, costed and coded separately. - Rate card cost
Provide the rate card cost for comparison with negotiated rates. - Negotiated cost
Agree the negotiated cost in gross or net, dependent on the client’s requirements. - Agency commission
Agree the rate of commission in writing. - Dates
Clarify the delivery, on-sale and cover dates. - Inserts per issue
Make sure you know the number of inserts accepted by the publisher per issue. - Exclusivity
Some publications offer exclusivity, others do not – this can potentially affect your results. - Polywrapped issues
Where possible, take advantage of polywrapping for newsstand issues to avoid inserts dropping out. - Packaging for distribution
Determine how the inserts should be packed ready for delivery to the publisher’s bindery as this can vary. See the Best practice at the bindery in the inserting process section of this guide for further information.
- Option the inserts volume
At this point the media agency then options the insert volume agreed with the client, subject to availability in the target publications. Optioning is the process of reserving your specified volume in a publication in advance of the formal booking and payment process. Should another advertiser then wish to book the same volume, you must either confirm the option as a booking or release the option to the other advertiser. At the point of optioning the media agency must also forward a sample of the proposed insert to the publisher for approval. Booking is not possible until samples have been supplied, unless it is a repeat of an insert placed with the publisher on a previous occasion.
Based on receiving a detailed brief from the client, the agency should ensure it is in a position to plan the campaign in detail and provide recommendations to the client.
Consider the following areas when planning your campaign.
- Analyse previous campaign results
Use any results from previous campaigns to build on core elements that work and to identify other potentially rewarding publications, approaches or audiences to test.
- Use competitor data
Monitor which publications your competitors are using and how frequently.
You can obtain this data via industry sources but it will only give you an indication of titles used in specific months – you will not be able to get information relating to volumes, regional splits and so on.
Your agency should also track competitor activity in terms of insert formats they are using.
- Be inventive with your media planning
Use previous experience, competitor research, agency expertise and thorough customer profiling to draw up a list of potential publications to use.
Consider all types of publications – including the national press and their specific supplements, consumer magazines, specialist niche magazines and customer loyalty magazines.
Your product or service might also be a natural complement to those of other brands – so consider how you might productively agree to include your insert in third-party programmes, catalogues, statement mailings, product despatches, brand literature, point-of-sale material or other space.
- Use targeting and regional opportunities
Consider any customer targeting and regional bias specified in the brief.
Targeting geographically is one of the greatest advantages offered by most loose insert distribution channels.
Even if a campaign is national, consider how you might be able to use regional opportunities to spread or build up the campaign more intelligently. Will one area be quicker to deliver a positive ROI that can help support the campaign in other (perhaps less fertile or mature) areas? Will success with one demographic boost the response rates of others (early adopters encouraging the early majority, for example)?
- Consider creative formats
Getting your insert to stand out with an immediately positive, attractive first impression is a major factor in the success of all media – and inserts boast an impressive range of opportunities to appeal to your customer using multiple senses.
Consider different insert format choices that might appropriately amplify your message or brand – or simply get you noticed – such as creative 3D folds, bound-in inserts, tip-ons, static nailing, post-its, tactile materials, die cuts, unusual shapes and sizes and so on.
- Rationalise and plan testing thoroughly
Seize opportunities to test different ideas – but always act with a clear idea of what you are testing and how it will be valuable whatever the result.
Do not test blindly, for the sake of it – always agree a hypothesis beforehand that you wish to prove or disprove and that will give you the insight to improve your campaign either way. For example, you might reasonably hypothesise that increasing the font size of your call-to-action will increase your response rates, or that highlighting a particular product amongst several might increase your average order value.
Use ID codes to identify your different variants and accurately monitor your test.
When put into a grid, this formalisation of test variables, media selections, ID codes, volumes and so on is known as a test matrix.
- Allow for ‘overs’ in production numbers
The agency should also consider the ‘overs’ required by each publication to allow for wastage during the inserting process. This tends to be around 1% or 2% of the booked volume and should not be charged within the media cost.