At the risk of prolonging this thread even further beyond its natural life,
I am surprised by the level of ignorance of marketing and how it works shown
by some of the postings about the David Nieper insert. Companies use inserts
as a marketing tool because they work, and the return on their investment
makes it worth their while. Companies monitor the relative effectiveness of
each aspect of the marketing mix they use and they do more of what works,
and less of what doesn't't. I would guess that this company uses inserts in
other professional periodicals and are successful with it. They don't use,
for example TV advertising, because that doesn't work for them. In fact some
posters to the thread say they are familiar with the product and have bought
it in the past, which suggests that David Nieper have got their targeting
right.
There are two reasons why this matters to us.
CILIP continues to be under pressure as far as subs is concerned and should
therefore explore all reasonable avenues to optimise its income, and if the
Gazette can pay for itself through advertising, I don't see the problem. For
those worried about environmental issues, most marketing agencies who use
large amounts of paper, use environmentally friendly papers, and of course
you can recycle any paper that you no longer need. Most of the people who
complained about inserts do buy (and presumably do not keep indefinitely)
the newspapers and magazines that include them.
Other recent topics on this list, such as Faking It, imply that as
profession we are really poor at marketing ourselves. Libraries and
information units get closed, people lose their jobs, and this is a poorly
paid profession because we don't market ourselves and what we do
effectively. So we should stop being precious about marketing and how it
works. We must get to understand it and exploit it, rather than regarding
ourselves as somehow above all that.
Diana Nutting
Information Liaison Manager
Business Link for London
Link House
292-308 Southbury Road
Enfield EN1 1TS
> * 020 8443 7229
> * [log in to unmask]
www.businesslink4london.com
Winners of Best Information or Knowledge Team in a Business Environment -
International Information Industry Awards 2004.
---
Employment law changes 2005 - make sure you comply
Visit http://www.businesslink4london.com to find out more
Winner: Most effective public sector website 2004
This email has been scanned for viruses at Business Link for London
|