Retail Marketing and Branding: A Definitive Guide to Maximizing ROI, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 14

LEAFLETS AND LOCAL PRINT ADVERTISING:HOW TO ACHIEVE LOCAL MEDIA EXCELLENCE

Thomas Bauer, Holger Hürtgen, Jan Middelhoff

Leaflets are to retailers what flyers are to events: invitations to those you want to come. If they don't know, they won't show. So it's imperative to get the word out. Local media is much more than just a sideshow in the retail marketing mix. It is the link between classical nationwide advertising and POS marketing.

We will discuss direct mail in Chapter 18: “Maximizing Customer Value with Data-driven CLM” (customer life cycle management). In this chapter we focus on leaflets and print advertising in local publications. We provide evidence for the importance of local media excellence and present guidelines to help retailers answer two key strategic questions: What should be promoted, and where should it be promoted? In contrast, we will leave the more operational question of “How should it be promoted?” to specialized agencies and service providers such as media agencies, media houses, integrated production companies, freelance designers, print shops, and distributors.

Local media is the true point of sale: consumers' love for leaflets drives sales and profits

Local media creates a blizzard of paper. In Germany alone, every household receives about 30 leaflets and catalogs per week, adding up to a total of 60 billion leaflets distributed per year. (Source: W+V 2012.) A single company, the discounter Lidl, distributes up to 28 million leaflets a week. ...