The Rise of the Magalogue

Check out the Keypoint Intelligence Channel on YouTube for interviews and other insightful videos!

Despite living in a digital age, the effectiveness of print has proven to be powerful when used to talk to the right people at the right time and in the right way.  Research reveals consumers still appreciate the tactile reassurance that comes from holding a printed piece, even when they are intending to buy online.

For any business attempting to stand out amongst the marketing clutter, the “magalogue” is a marketing tool designed to do just that. It captures the buyer’s attention (which is the first objective of marketing), but it also creates an experience for the reader while elevating the perception of value of the marketer’s brand. A magalogue presents editorial information in an attractive, magazine-style format, usually with high-production or creative values, photography, and feature-led articles. It wants to not only stand out but to be savoured and digested at a leisurely pace as well.

Also, if the brand has consumer information (which many should), it allows the marketer to customize each magalogue to each buyer’s personal profile, which increases the chances of driving more sales.

Keypoint Intelligence’s most recent transactional communications research confirms that consumers—even younger ones—are more likely to engage with physical direct mail (like catalogues) than they are with digital marketing communications.

Key Features of a Magalogue

Magalogues aren’t a new phenomenon, but they do possess a novel, exciting, and fresh aspect. They deliver on two fronts, providing journalistic content (the “maga” from magazine) alongside product sales and advertorial material (the “logue” from catalogue). The key aim of the magalogue is that it wants to remain in the reader’s hands or in the home rather than be tossed in the recycle bin. Ultimately, it’s not just a product list—rather, businesses see it as a way to move their products in the sales process by selling an aspirational lifestyle through relevant and entertaining content that can also be shared in the family home, thereby targeting more than one potential buyer.

Why do companies choose to produce a magalogue over a catalogue? Let’s dive in:

• Capturing the attention of potential buyers. Printed communications cut through the clutter, offers ease of use, a level of trust, and accessibility. This means consumers tend to view them favourably. A well-crafted magalogue is certain to appeal to those looking for a more meaningful buying experience.
• Increased engagement time. Put simply, consumers will spend more time looking through a magalogue than a straightforward catalogue as it’s designed to provide features and articles of interest that complement the products being advertised. And in that deeper browsing period, there’s ample opportunity for customers to discover new desirable products that they were previously unaware of. Most importantly, it can activate the most powerful marketing channel: word of mouth.
• A magalogue offers an opportunity to draw the buyer into the brand’s world, enabling a positive perception of its products and services. Using striking design techniques and specialist paper entices the reader by what is laid out in front of them, increasing the chances of a purchase or other action that will be a benefit to the brand (such as collecting relevant data).
• Expands channel opportunities. Companies must use more avenues to engage with their customers. By having a printed magalogue, you can add another dimension by driving your audience to view online content such as videos and demos via quick response (QR) codes, near-field communication (NFC) tagging, and augmented reality (AR). Most importantly, e-enablers drive buyers from the magalogue to an online store.

A More Targeted Approach

Traditionally, the magazine business model has centred on selling advertising space next to content. But we are increasingly seeing print magazines struggle to keep afloat with falling revenues as advertiser’s budgets become more squeezed. Yet, as we’ve mentioned earlier, many buyers are more likely to engage with print over digital. Both channels are relevant if used strategically and complementing each other. The magalogue, with its blend of content and commerce, represents a golden opportunity for companies and advertisers alike to attract and retain customer loyalty.

Magalogues will work best when their distribution is targeted, and advertisers and marketeers can adapt their content accordingly if they know which customers are likely to spend and where they are living. If marketeers know the postal areas of where the magalogue is being distributed to, or where purchases are coming from, then advertisers can run more targeted and effective geo-marketing campaigns in magalogues being distributed or sold in different areas.

Keypoint Intelligence Opinion

With its more specialized, targeted content, a magalogue could be viewed as more a niche than mass market item. Combined with an advertiser’s need for more customized and relevant campaigns, it’s an ideal digital print application that favours shorter runs and variable data printing. Offset does continue to have a lower cost for large volumes, but price is not the only driver to determine whether a print job’s return on investment (ROI) is more or less expensive. An offset print job can be lower on cost when targeting a larger audience, but it’s the ROI that will determine which printed job was the cheapest. Also, other specialty printing such as colour embellishments (gold, 3D varnishes, and foils) can create an impactful and memorable experience that ought to increase the chances of more sales for marketers.

Subscribers can log in to the InfoCenter to view research, reports, and studies on other forms of targeted marketing through Keypoint Intelligence’s Customer Communications Advisory Service. If you’re not a subscriber, contact us for more info by clicking here.