LO1: Proposal: Distribution and marketing

 Starter questions;

1. Distribution is the movement and supply of products to customers. In the terms of a magazine, it's the act of physically distributing the product to an audience so they receive it. A local magazine created by an independent group wouldn't have a fee for it. The adverts in the magazine would fund the costs.

2. Marketing is advertising a product, good or service to an audience in order to gain sales. Promoting the product to an audience. This stage is done before the distribution stage so that customers will know what they're getting.

Content & distribution & marketing headings: merit

Cultural hub: Places where people gather together e.g creative spaces, where your target audience goes to socialise.

1. Think about genre. Which local pet shops would a dog magazine be in? At least 3 examples linked to genre/life style of audience.

Distribution:

An effective shop to sell a dog magazine in would be a location such as Gleadless Pet Store; it's a highly-rated local store that stands in a busy area along a tram route, meaning that an array of potential customers in Sheffield would be able to access it. It's likely to be recommended by other dog walkers, who are usually friendly and willing to recommend helpful places to others. This means that a local magazine being sold in a well-respected local shop would increase it's chances of being bought.

Another method to distribute the magazine would be in vets. These places are designed for animals, so the intended audience would definitely come into contact with the magazine. Using another popular location would give the magazine a better reputation; a vets like Peak Vets in Sheffield would be a good example thanks for their 5*  ratings and long opening hours - while waiting for their dogs to be taken care of, customers can pick up the magazine and read it for free in the waiting rooms, making this method incredibly effective in attracting new customers.

A third location to distribute the magazine would be in local parks. These can be considered cultural hubs; places where the target audience would socialise and gather together in. If the magazine is made available through "pick up & take for free" methods, such as how Sheffield train station and Stagecoach buses have free newspapers from the Metro that can be taken. These newspaper boxes usually have little messages that become visible as the box is emptied - rather than messages, these could be replaced with cute dog cartoons. This way, it fits to the theme of the magazine, and may become more well-known in the area. Though this links with marketing itself - parks would be a suitable location to distribute in because of the amount of dog-walkers that may come by, alongside families with children that would take one for the sake of entertaining themselves as they walk or because it's available.

Focusing on better-known local areas will help with the magazine's reputation and distribution; getting the word out is an important task if later releases wanted to be successful.

Marketing:

Marketing through traditional methods is vital, because the magazine itself is free, and would rely on either crowdfunding or advertisement slots for marketing funds. Posters could be one traditional method that could easily be used; once designed and printed, they could be placed in areas which would let them be spread to a wider audience. Possible locations include family-friendly restaurants or bars (which are scattered around Sheffield City Centre), nearby local schools (where passerby children would see them) and in local residential areas. This would help word be spread around. Another below the line idea (advertising to a niche audience) would be to create a radio advertisement that could be shown on Sheffield Live. It's a smaller radios station that allows you to advertise anything you'd like - a specific local audience may use this type of radio, so it's possible they would hear the ad and remember it.

Online advertising & digital methods are also an important step in marketing the product. These adverts can vary in different ways - using web banners and pop ups through websites would be effective if the right sites were targeted. These sites could be family-orientated such as Mumsnet, or they could be pet-based such as Pets at Home. This could be expensive. Social media itself is also an option; using promoted posts & tweet functions on Instagram and Twitter could help audiences see the advertisements on their feed, when they usually wouldn't. Social media channels would be created alongside these to show videos, upcoming potential articles, and etc. in order to make a connection with the technology-oriented audience. Using online polls would create further engagement in order to advertise the brand. It suits the genre since families would use digital technology on a daily basis, and would need to access pet-related websites in order to buy supplies for their animals.

Cross-promotion would be an excellent way in promoting the product. If we were to promote the magazine on different platforms, it would make our voice louder and increase the effectiveness of our advertising campaign; for example, if we were to work alongside another pet-based magazine, they could use their advertising space to promote us. This would expand our reach to bigger audiences. Working with an entirely different platform such as working with a large online store (theoretically like Pets at Home) would show another audience our brand - using a specific house style through the promotions can make the magazine recognisable and easy to spot.