A thought occured to me, which I'm sure isn't new, but I wanted to see everyone elses take on it.
One of the reasons that the Direct Sales market has declined is a lack of new readership. How do you get new readership? One way is to cultivate younger kids into comic loving fiends, like all of us were and still are. Another way is to bring people back to comics and to lure people who have never read comics into reading comics.
So how do you do it?
My thought is this: You have market those people who don't read comics now, and show them what they're missing. Market to the masses. How so?
A few thoughts I've had:
-Most comic shops are independently owned and operated. There is no (to my knowledge) great big chain of stores. A large chain could drw more people, and at the same time, boost sales of smaller stores. For Example: When you think of video rentals, what store(s) do you think of? Blockbuster? Hollywood Video? They have a mass appeal. Yet there are other stores out there that rent videos that aren't large chains, but they still profit from renting videos to people. Everytime Blockbuster shows a commercial in primetime TV, that little video store gets a piece of the action. Now I don't forsee some hugh buyout of comicshops nationwide, but what's to prevent a coalition of retailers from banding together and marketing comicbooks and comic shops to people nationwide? And I'm not talking about just advertising during a show like the X-Files, a show that appeals to the comic loving type, but also advertising during more mainstream shows, like ER, Friends, etc. This could attract some of the non-comic reading majority to a local comics shop.
-On a local leval, my local comic shop, Heroes & Dragons, has started running ads before movies at the local theather. And not just X-Men. I went to see "The Replacements" with Keaneu Reeves, and there was an ad for Heroes & Dragons. Ads like this could tap into a market that isn't really being pushed for right now, the non-comic reader. (shameless plug, check out their site at http://www.heroesanddragons.com )

These are just some things I've been turning around in my head, based on my experiences in the sales and marketing field. Anyone think they could work?

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Nothing is fool-proof to a highly skilled fool.

Philip,

Those are excellent ideas, and they, and others like them, have been bandied about in the industry for at least 10 years that I know of. Unfortunately, there are several problems with them. The main one is that even if you get a coalition of 50 stores together, they could still barely put together enough money to run one ad during a 3am rerun of "Green Acres". The vast majority of comic stores are very underfunded. Not all of them, just almost all.

The other problem is the odd inability of most retailers to work together. I was involved in the creation of the Comic Book Retailers International (CBRI), a professional organization that attempted to unite retailers in national issues, like advertising. It has since been followed up by PACER, the Professional Association of Comic Entertainment Retailers. Out of about 3500 shops in America, their membership is not even 100. And it has been around for nearly 5 years. There are other national organizations similar to that, each with their own particular demographic group, and they all have a similarly small membership, particularly amongst retailers.

The reasons why the retailers cannot get together on these things are pretty varied (and rarely what they say they are), but it will require much more re-education to get this to work. The "Comics Retailer" magazine has been working on it for years, and it still hasn't happened.

Ugh... I could go on and on with examples of why this will not work in todays climate, but I don't want to hog all the bandwidth. The big companies need to take the lead but won't. But, please believe me, I am not telling you to stop harping on this. Keep beating that drum as hard as you can. Actually, go to your local retailer and ask him those questions specifically: Why won't he join a national coalition to do national advertising, amongst other things?

Sincerely,

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James Echols
Founder - UncommonCon, [URL=http://www.uncommoncon.com]www.uncommoncon.com
Business Coach, Uncommon Solutions

Speaking of local retailer organizations:

My bookstore was a member of a 14 (or so) strong retailer organization developed to do marketing, author events and whatnot in the face of the large chain presence here in Ottawa, Ontario. Though effective in building awareness with the buying public (we were all indie stores and there was (and is) a backlash going on among many consumers against the large chain bookstores) it suffered from many internal problems that I think are very difficult to overcome. One of the main ones is apathy on the part of retailers (myself included), not because of lack of interest but more due to a lack of energy and time. It's very difficult to do a long shift at your store with all the day to day business concerns and THEN try and be an active participant in an organization. If you have children (I don't) or any other interests that monopolize your time it's even more difficult to get involved. Personally, as much as I like the idea of these organizations, I think it's very difficult to do practically. And when you factor in a significant percentage of stores that wish to remain outside of these organizations (for a variety of reasons) it is even harder. Not impossible, but very hard.

What about assistants to do the work for your end of the organization? Or do you run the store by yourself?

One thing my experience as a publisher has shown me, about advertising, is that if you spend money advertising to an unsympathetic market, you are throwing your money away. The comic industry can't afford mass-market advertising rates for a product that is not (currently) mass-market.

Some other kind of outreach perhaps (targeting colleges with free product, signings, etc, would be a good idea IMHO). But a I suspect a massive ad campaign wouldn't help anyone, even if we had the dough to mount one.

Gareth Hinds www.thecomic.com

Phillip: I'm actually not involved with it anymore, but managed it for 5 years (just getting out last year). We were a small store (1100 square feet) and though we were in a fairly high traffic area of Ottawa (and street front as opposed to a mall store, allowing me to do a lot with non-mainstream titles, new authors, award winners and that sort of thing) we did not have a large staff. That meant the day to day operation of the store was in my hands and I must admit (sheepishly) that trying to work well within an organization was very difficult. Not impossible, but not a priority for me. And I think that this can be the problem with these type of organizations: if you are not an active member, decisions can be made that either you don't agree with or perhaps you simply had a different suggestion. Well, you can't really go half-way. You're either in or out, and it's very difficult to come in every few months with a suggestion and then disappear. I believe I understood that, but I know that a number of stores wound up having problems with the way the organization was run (what happened is that two key stores basically ran the whole thing, generating some bitterness when other, less active member stores felt that they were pushing hard for their way of doing things over anyone else. Of course, if aren't speaking up, how can you blame them for running it as they see fit?).
At any rate, many retailers feel that being a member of this type of organization flies in the face of being in business for yourself. They don't want to be tied to an organization, don't want the headaches and everything else, and feel they are stronger without it then they are with it. And it's a tough call either way, but I do think that all of this are reasons why these organizations either fail or stay strictly regional and why so many retailers have mixed feelings about them.

And Philip,

Here's a perfect indication of the problem, right here in comicon.com. You posted an *excellent* topic that needs not only great discussion, but also great action, and look at the pitifully few responses you got. Then, go look at some of the other raging threads, even with otherwise high quality professionals spending their time on, and you'll see part of the problem.

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James Echols
Founder - UncommonCon, www.uncommoncon.com
Business Coach, Uncommon Solutions

Yes I know.
I made referece to this thread in the Gutters, and I still haven't seen a large number of replies here.

Let me ask this to the retailers: how do you advertise in your own local market? With what results?

If I might add something - I am currently attempting to open a comics store and my thought is that any retailer who does not join the comics retailers organizations, nor advertise, is just helping the industry go down.

The reason my store is not open yet? My business plan is realistic and includes money for advertising, promotions, art exhibition, etc. I want to have fun and make it fun for others and hopefully grow the market. I think many stores are just not as interested in growing the market and seem woefully underfunded in regard to depth of product, ads, etc. I need to raise more money to do it right.

Many times the publishers are blamed, and for MANY good reasons, but there are so many comics right now that might have a broader appeal if people knew they were available and had a better opinion of comics in general.

I also think the general lack of discussion on a point like this does not show much promise for change. Though I have had some excellent supporters, most think opening a store is crazy, and think having promotions, ads and exhibitions is retail suicide.

I think it's now or never.

[This message has been edited by joem (edited 08-24-2000).]

joem,

I've seen your posts elsewhere and I think you've really got it together there. If I may ask, what are you thinking of in terms of funding sources. Having been through it all myself several times, and done lots of research on it, maybe I can be of help.

Sincerely

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James Echols
Founder - UncommonCon, www.uncommoncon.com
Business Coach, Uncommon Solutions