Key Elements in Distribution Planning

This reference is intended for Industry Canada publishers wishing to plan a distribution of copies of a print publication. This document outlines the key elements in a distribution plan.

1. Identify Your Audiences

Before you can get your publication into readers’ hands, you need to know who your audiences are. Often you will have one or more core audience segments, as well as one or more secondary audiences. Examples of typical audiences include:

• Known or prospective clients or stakeholders
• Business and industry, e.g., SMEs, manufacturers or ICT firms
• Non-profit organizations and associations
• Demographic groups, e.g., business leaders, youth or academics
• Parliamentarians or senior civil servants.

Try to ascertain as specifically as possible who your audiences are. A generic audience like “Canadian citizens” is so large and vague as to make planning an effective distribution nearly impossible (unless you have a very large budget!).

Your Communications and Marketing Branch (CMB) advisor (link available to Industry Canada employees only) can assist you in identifying audiences for your publication.

Note: In addition to the audiences that you identify, there are certain mandatory recipients who need to receive copies of your publications as they are released. For more information on mandatory recipients, see “Delivery from the Printer” in Industry Canada Publications: How-to Guide for Distribution, Warehousing and Inventory.

2. Create Mailing Lists

Once you have identified your audiences, you can create the mailing list, the basic tool for distribution. See “Mailing List Tips” in Industry Canada Publications: How-to Guide for Distribution, Warehousing and Inventory for additional information on creating and maintaining mailing lists.

You essentially have three options to create mailing lists:

• Build them yourself — To do this, you need to find ways to get in touch with your prospective audiences, such as allowing people to sign up at trade shows or via your website. Building your own mailing list is time and resource intensive, but results in a highly targeted list of recipients who want to read your publications.
  
  
• Rent someone else's list — For most audiences, there is a mailing list already in existence that you can rent. For example, you might want to target the readers of a particular business publication. Contact that publication's list manager to see if you can rent the subscriber list.
  
  
• Contact a list broker to create custom lists — List brokers know the lists that are available and can advise you on what type of list would work best for your needs. You can find list brokers in the yellow pages under “Mailing Lists and Services.”

3. Establish Distribution Method

There are two main methods of distribution:

• Traditional mass mailing — The best way to undertake a mass mailing of your publication is to contract a direct mailer or fulfillment contractor, who can output mailing labels from the mailing list, stuff envelopes and ship your publication. (Note that in many cases, the same contractor can handle both the creation of mailing lists and the mass mailing itself.) You will need to arrange for delivery of the necessary number of copies of the publication to be distributed to this contractor. Contractors can be located in the yellow pages.



• Online announcement or virtual distribution — A cost-effective alternative to a traditional mass mailing is to announce your publications electronically and provide your recipients with a link to order the publication. Such announcements can be made via email (to an electronic mailing list), online forums, message boards or list servers. Under Industry Canada's arrangement with PWGSC for order fulfillment, you can provide your recipients with a link to Industry Canada's electronic bookstore at the Government of Canada Publications website. For information on how to arrange for this, please contact your designated CMB communications advisor (link available to Industry Canada employees only).