Customer Publishing – What is it?

Broadly defined a customer magazine is any regularly published title produced by a publishing agency on behalf of a third party that is offered to customers, employees or members.

But this description disguises the fact that customer publishing is the UK's most dynamic marketing medium. Customer publishing is an industry that is now worth more than £385m, with year-on-year growth of 10%, and projected to be worth more than £531 million by 2009.

This staggering growth can be explained simply by the customer magazine's ability to meet the myriad challenges that confront the 21st Century marketer and communicator.

It is flexible, targeted, and cost-effective. It delivers customer engagement and is measurably successful. Today 79% of the population read a customer magazine and companies and organisations that have customer magazines as part of their communications mix enjoy an average 8% sales uplift.

Research for the Association of Publishing Agencies (APA), of which Aspect Media is a member, confirms the media power of the customer magazine. It demonstrates that organisations with customer magazines enjoy more profitable conversations with their customers.

Engagement

Readers spend an average of 25 minutes reading a professionally produced customer magazine. No other medium can give you this sort of quality time with your target audience. One in four people pick up a magazine three or more times before they finish with it. Typically 62% keep theirs for a week or more.

Brand relationships

With a customer magazine brand loyalty increases by a third. More specifically a customer magazine can be used to establish a desired brand image or positioning.

Behaviour change

The research shows that nearly 50% of a title's readers act or respond after reading the latest issue. This dwarfs response rates from other media where 3% constitutes extreme success.

The most important, and the most tangible, indication of a customer magazine’s effect must be what it does to a brand’s sales. On average the research found sales increased by 8%.