I once sold Punch N/papers at Lagos/Ibadan tollgate, Ayankunbi, the man whose book on newspaper marketing is making waves

Call him the encyclopedia of newspaper marketing in Nigeria, and you are not wrong. Having traversed many newspaper houses where he functioned as circulation manager, he has put his experience in a book, Principles & Practice of Newspaper Sales in Nigeria,  that is selling like hot ‘akara’ in harmattan. Fondly called alhaji by friends and colleagues, he opened up to newdawnngr’s Charles Okogene recently

 Congratulations on your new book. What is the title, what is it all about and where can one get it?

Thank you very much Sir. The title of the book is Principles & Practice of Newspaper Sales in Nigeria. This is the first book on newspaper sales in Nigeria. At 300 pages and seventeen chapters, it showcases the current status of the newspaper industry in the country. The book touches on an important aspect of media survival and posits that the problem is half solved once constructively interrogated. The purpose of this book is to provide the practitioners with a general background to the elements and characteristics of newspaper business within Nigeria context. This book examines the future that will partly be shaped by the need for vision, leadership and community support of local news and journalism. The future will be shaped by what readers choose. This book provides comprehensive and balanced coverage of traditional materials, new, emerging issues and topics. It also deals with introductory tips on management sales concepts that have mostly influenced media companies over the past years. Presently, the book is available based on order and how to order for it is available on the website of my consultancy firm.

Who is it targeted at?

The target audience of the book is publishers, newspapers’ MDs, editors, general media employees, agents, vendors, advertising agencies, students of Mass Communications and the general public. Some of the publishers that have gotten copies of the book are Chief James Onanefe Ibori of Independent Newspapers, Uncle Sam Amuka Pemu of Vanguard Newspapers, Mrs Angela Emuwa of The Punch Newspapers, Dr Seye Kehinde of City People Magazine, Bashorun Dele Momudu of Ovation International Magazine, Lady Maiden Alex Ibru of Guardian Newspapers. Efforts are still on to reach others. Equally, many editors are presently in possession of the book. Appreciable in roads into the higher institutions offering Mass Communications in Nigeria has been made. My happiness is that the book has received endorsements from majority of the media practitioners.

What or who inspired you to write the book? 

 Arguably, my generation remains the first set of graduates to work in the circulation department of media houses in Nigeria. Majority of those before us were school certificate  and diploma holders, (three months course) certificate holders. I was inspired to write this book because there is scarcity of textbooks on newspaper marketing but the ones on general marketing abound. Although, “marketing is marketing,” the guiding principles and practices when discussing newspapers’ marketing are entirely different. Also, in many media firms, newspaper sales techniques seem to be implicit and reside solely in the heads of the Circulation Managers. However, they often have great difficulty articulating it to the field sales people around them in words. I therefore wrote the book to make the job much easier for the circulation people. I need to acknowledge it here that Akpandem James, former Managing Editor/Editor-in-Chief of Independent Newspapers Limited, inspired me to write the book. This happened when two of us were working with The Punch Newspapers (Port Harcourt, Rivers State) almost two decades ago. He helped to edit the manuscripts then but it was Emeka Alex Duru, Editor, Politics/Features, Acclaim Communications Limited, publisher of The Niche on Sunday newspapers, who eventually cleaned the updated or additional manuscripts.

What is the reception like from the target audience?

The reception has been encouraging. Most media houses have bought copies on behalf of their companies. Nigeria Union of Journalists in some states of the federation have been supportive, the same with the Ministries of Information in some states. Post graduate students of Mass Communications in higher institutions who have bought the book find it very useful. The 15^th Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, bought copies for students studying Mass Communications in a particular university, which I will not like to mention so that the reading public won’t see “partiality” in Iba’s action. Some top politicians followed Iba Gani Adam’s footstep by buying copies for students. The initial copies that were printed had been exhausted. I recently took delivery of the reprinted copies. It has reached a point where interested reading public is now making demand directly. So far, thousands of copies have been sold and it is still selling. I thank God for the success recorded on the sale of this book that has been adjudged and christened by those that have bought it as Circulation Manual.  The success recorded so far is now a tonic for me to publish my other three books. The titles are My Sojourn In The Media, Newspapers Revenue Streams and Print Media Operational Manual.

Some of us believe that the book is at the right place but at the wrong time; wrong time in the sense that no matter the marketing strategies, online publishing (platforms) have eaten deep into the market share of hard copy newspapers. As a veteran in the business of newspaper marketing, what is your view?

 I have a contrary view. There is nothing wrong with the timing; it is better late than never. The book has come to halt the steady and continuous decline in copy sales and this can only be possible if it is properly interrogated. It is true that the Internet has been one of the major reasons print media has declined in readership in the recent time. Nobody needs to wait for the newspaper in the morning to gain access to any special information about the issues of the moment. With the rise of social media and mobile devices and applications, news has become an open commodity available within a twinkling of an eye. Unfortunately, the standard response by many of the print houses in Nigeria is to set up a website, these web sites merely upload every item in the newspaper, with all the sections replicated. When a newspaper gives its contents free, what incentives do readers have to buy the print version? Put succinctly, if you are given something for free, why would you buy it in another form? You wouldn’t of course, especially not in today’s economy where every naira counts. Furthermore, there is absence of strict copyright rule enforcement. Contents that are produced by professional journalists are uploaded by the newspaper websites; these are promptly copied and plagiarized across the Nigerian cyber space by media influencers or bloggers. In most instances, there is nothing like attribution or acknowledgement. Equally, sanction or rebuke is missing. Furthermore, media managers are yet to make use of the population, which our country is blessed with. It is disheartening and highly embarrassing that the total daily supply figure being circulated by all newspapers in Nigeria is not up to 150,000 copies in a country of an estimated 190m people. To make the matter worse, total sales are hovering between 45% and 55% of the total supply. What is happening in the print media organizations is a crisis that deserves special attention. Often, this crisis escalates in intensity, disrupts all operations, destroys organisation or retard its growth. Media owners should invest so much in market development analysis instead of winking in darkness because there lies the future of newspapers marketing. Meanwhile, Most of the online news is from the print media cable, premium times. Of late, some online medium have been getting press releases to work on but about 80 per cent of their contents are from print media without any attribution. Print media can break news on their websites and conclude same in the print edition in order to increase the purchase and repurchase rate. Research shows that virtually all newspapers enjoy higher number of visitation to their websites when compared with the recorded sales of hard copies. Think tank has to be set up and see how all these could be harmonized and a fee is to be introduced before any reader can access a particular website. Finally, print media should take it back; year in, year out, there are provisions in the budgets for the purchase of newspapers and periodicals by virtually all the public office holders at the three tiers level. This is applicable to legislature, executive and judiciary.

Do you think newspapers can still sell in Nigeria and if yes, how and if no, what must be done to bring back the good old days of Daily Times and co.?

 It must be noted that it has not been easy managing the print media in Nigeria. The economy is in a bad shape and the business environment is not friendly at all because all the production accessories like newsprint, ink, plate, etc are being imported and matters are being worsened due to fluctuating foreign exchange rates. It is a statement of fact that newspapers have moved rapidly from a season of prosperity to dwindling fortunes. This is gradually leading to bankruptcy, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions or outright disappearance from the newsstands. Meanwhile, it is still possible for newspapers to sell more copies. I will recommend the book written by Richard O Ikiebe to the editors. The title of the book is Nigerian Media Leaders: Voices Beyond The Newsroom, Volume Two. The book contains interviews by editors on what they did to improve the sales of their newspapers. The summary is that they took charge of their newspapers and engaged all the relevant stakeholders in order to achieve better sales. Most of these editors were regular faces at the newsstands. Nigeria is blessed with population that can assist in the sale of newspapers. In our estimated 190m population, let us assume that the estimated literate population is 70m and 50m represents those with means to buy the newspapers. The question is therefore why are these people not buying newspapers? The answer is simple; the newspapers are not meeting their expectations and media managers have failed to find out via periodic marketing research. Exclusive news is dead, sponsored political exclusive news strives while follow-up on breaking news is missing. Newspapers’ contents and availability are the major determinants of copy sales. In most instances, marketing team is given a newspaper to sell whether it meets the expectations of the reading public or not. It is quite unfortunate that everybody is just printing newspapers without knowing what the readers actually want. Read one and you might have read all the newspapers in Nigeria. Media managers should allow the readers to drive the business. Knowledge of readers like one’s family members will lead to satisfaction and success will be the story at the end of the day. If the media firm’s action is not adding value for a reader, it should be simply eliminated. The entire organization should work to identify what readers need now and in the future. A media organization must at least,  periodically monitor market conditions usually by obtaining feedback from readers and answer control related questions like: What is the market share of our newspapers? Is its share increasing, decreasing or staying the same? Who are our readers? Is the volume of their purchases consistent with our expectations (goals)? If not, Why not? Conventional ways of distributing and selling papers have proven inadequate for a brand trying to re establish its eminence in certain markets. In doing this, there must be a sustainable customer data base, calendar of events, special sales, conventions, retreats, social functions and a coordinator for each section. All these will guide in the allocation of copies at various levels. There is a need to move beyond the obvious. It will amount to winking in the darkness if a newspaper is unique, desirable (by the readers), producible, good in aesthetics, marketable, finance able, profitable, growth-oriented but without effective distribution network that guarantees newspaper’s availability in the right places at the right time. In order to resolve this crisis, each newspaper must be uniquely developed, not purely in terms of engineering or production techniques, but in terms of design, presentation, packaging, brand image, and all other attributes which together, give readers the anticipated satisfaction they are paying for.

If we are not wrong, your journey into newspaper selling and marketing, which has taken you to the Punch, Independent, National Mirror, to name but a few, started at the Tribune, tell us the high and low points of your career?

This is like asking me to summarise my next text book that is titled My Sojourn In The Media. One of the low points of my career was when I had to sell Aura magazine; Nigerian Tribune publication at the toll gate in Ibadan, Oyo State. The magazine was not selling being a new publication and the heat was on Mr Osunniran, the then circulation manager. I took it upon myself to sell directly to the reading public. The management appreciated this effort but it did not exercise patience of a farmer because the publication was rested after few months. Another one is when I had to sell The Punch newspapers at Lagos toll gate by Seven Up area. This was when The Punch had problem with the newspapers’ agents based on the “no unsold policy”. In one instance, my town people were returning from Abdjan, Ivory Coast, saw me selling newspaper and reported the incident to my father when they got to Ejigbo in Osun State. My father asked; you are now a vendor in Lagos but I told him that I was only practicing what I studied in the school because it will be irresponsible for a cook not to taste food prepared by him. The gang up against me by few agents with the connivance of some disgruntled circulation staff after my exit from The Punch can only be imagined; they threatened the media houses to boycott sales of their newspapers because I was engaged to head the sales department. At a point, while at Independent Newspapers Limited, my designation was changed from Copy Sales Manager to firstly as Press Liaison Manager and later to Distribution and Logistics Manager. Actions of few  circulation personnel is another low point of my career; some of them were sending fictitious messages to newspapers’ MDs that newspaper did not sell because of my presence in the company. I suffered detention in Owerri, Imo State in July 1993. It was reported on page 130 of  Annual Report, 1994, A CLO REPORT ON THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA. I was equally threatened with acid bath; this made me to lodge a complaint with the police in New Oko Oba area of Lagos State. A sales representative embezzled sales proceeds and I gave him ultimatum to pay up. Instead of doing the needful, he sent N20,000.00 to me as a bribe. I paid it into the company’s account in the guy’s name and used it to reduce his indebtedness. I later forwarded the teller to him; he was shocked. I informed the MD at the end of the day. I have supportive documents to buttress all these. Meanwhile, the high point remains being seen as one of the leading lights and authority in the business aspect of the media.

 Obviously, you had it so good at the Punch until the no return copy policy of the company pitch you against the agents and vendors, tell us more about it.

Like I said earlier; details of this will feature prominently in my next book. In summary, the company first set unsold ceiling at 20% of the supply; we, the circulation department achieved it. Thereafter, the company asked us to maintain 5% unsold ceiling and this was equally achieved. The next thing was for the management to tell us to implement no unsold policy except when there is an early morning rainfall or late delivery of paper. We engaged the agents in discussions, secured their understanding and cooperation. We pleaded with the agents to always book for the copies, which they can sell. And if per adventure they were unable to sell all, their loss will be mitigated. For example, if an agent paid for 100 copies and sold 80 copies, commission on the sold 80 copies will be higher than the value of 20 copies not sold. This situation went for a while. I need to admit that it was a sort of grave yard peace. The issue of no unsold policy reared its head again when the cover price of The Punch was increased. We communicated this to the agents; they pleaded for concession of additional 50 kobo or naira but the company turned it down. The agents agreed to pay the offered rate on the ground that they will be returning unsold copies and again, the company turned down the request. Series of meeting was held but we were unable to strike a balance. We thereafter communicated to the agents the effective date but they warned us not to bring The Punch newspapers to their distribution centres. We met and resolved to sell the newspapers directly to the reading public. The management inaugurated the war committee and directed all the staff members to partake in the exercise with circulation department playing a leading role. Credit needs to be given to the Newspapers Distributors Association of Nigeria (NDAN), they were well coordinated because they made it a national affairs. It was led by the owner of Asi News called Mr Ochem. On our part, we concentrated our efforts in Lagos because about 50% sales of The Punch newspaper came from there and Ibadan, Oyo State because that is the publisher’s place and charity must be seen to begin at home. Mr J.O Agbeniga, former Senior Circulation Manager and later Corporate Affairs Manager was sent to Ibadan but nothing so much was achieved until Gani Kayode Balogun, then Deputy Advert Manager who is presently the Osi Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland was sent there and made a tremendous progress. Many things, both conventional and non conventional approaches were deployed to win the war. Please, let us wait for the book for further details. Less I forget, I was only the second in command in the department. My boss was Adetomiwa Olorunsola. However, I became more visible when my boss decided to take a back seat so that he can direct the operation appropriately. Pastor Charles Omotoyinbo of  blessed memory played a prominent role. There were saboteurs in the department but we suppressed all dissenting actions capable of derailing our goal. On a general note, we won the war because the product (The Punch) was good and met the expectations of the reading public.

 How come you failed to repeat your marketing ‘prowess’ at the Independent Newspapers when you joined it after your Punch years?

With due respect, I disagree with you. As at the time I joined Independent, many things were not just right. Copies were sold but remittance was not made. I practically set up the department not minding that the company had been in existence for many years before I joined. During my tenure, all copies that were printed were fully accounted for. I set up a subscription unit in the department and in no distant time, the total sale from it was more than the entire street sales by agents and vendors in Lagos State. Equally, I set up Direct Sales where sales personnel were placed in strategic locations within Lagos areas. They were selling only Independent titles. I have records; we were making an average of N1.5m Direct Sales on a monthly basis. This can be verified; revenue from copy sale was used to pay staff salaries for few years. Independent titles commanded appreciable media market share in the South East and South South.  It was during my period that Independent Newspapers won Newspaper of the year in 2006 & 2008. I embarked on sales monitoring activity and encouraged my staff to do similar thing. Feedbacks were promptly related to the appropriate quatres. The department had an appreciable relationship with the editorial team. All these would not have been possible if not because of Ted Iwere, the Executive Director/Editor who took over from Dr Doyin Mahmood and assembled competent hands like Akpandem James, Ikechukwu Amaechi, Funke Egbemode, Olumide Iyanda, Felix Ofou, etc to join the existing capable ones.

What actually led to your departure from National Mirror when you left Independent for it.

 I was asked to resign. Actually, I submitted a proposal to be a sales consultant. I was thereafter invited for a discussion. As at that time, printing had not started. Rauf Abiodun, MD/E-i-C took me to Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, the publisher. Unknown to me, the publisher refused to give go ahead for the commencement of operation because he was not satisfied with the level of preparedness of the circulation department. After the discussion, the publisher said that with this man, we can now fix a date to start printing. He convinced me to forget the idea of consultancy and take the position of a Manager, Sales and Distribution in the company. He fixed the salary and asked me to resume immediately. I was paid a full month salary despite the fact that I resumed towards the end of the month.  On getting to the department, I discovered that plan had been concluded on how to defraud the company especially in the area of freighting and unsold copies. Imagine a request for 66,000 litres of petrol to fuel vans for the distribution of papers in a month. I put some measures in place but some circulation staff had made up their mind to frustrate my efforts. They first rallied round some few agents to demand for my removal as a manager before they can sell National Mirror Newspapers; this failed. At a point the publisher was getting text messages from all over the country that the paper will not sell as long as I remain the manager. I thereafter got to know that some circulation staff were behind this; one of them confessed on how seven SIM cards were used to send fictitious messages to the publisher. He confessed because his religious leader told him that before his prayers can be answered, he needed to beg a person he had offended and he felt that it was me. I will explain further in my book. The publisher was confused and could not see the correlation. He refused to bulge; he even talked about it during one of his Monday-Monday lecture. I wanted to resign but felt that he may be a slight on the publisher who had remained my supporter in this cause. Some of my colleagues were aware; I even came to the management meeting with the resignation letter at a point. Sorry for a little digression, Abiodun Rauf, the pioneer MD had earlier asked me to resign based on the directive from the publisher. I did immediately but the publisher denounced his action and asked me to continue my job. Abiodun Rauf was later relieved of his job and Steve Ayorinde took over. Back to my story, some editors joined the clamour for me to be excused from the job. Coincidentally, an editor just left Group Managing Director’s (GMD) office when Steve Ayorinde, the MD/E-i-C was summoned to a meeting by the GMD. He was directed to inform me to drop my resignation letter. He called me into his office, delivered the message. I did as directed promptly. I even went ahead to complete the assignment given prior to my resignation and he appreciated me for this. The publisher regretted his action; he expressed such during one of his Monday-Monday lecture. This, I was told.

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From your own view, has media been fair in reporting events?

Just as Nigerians are sharply divided along ethnics and religious lines, the same thing is applicable to media when it comes to their reports. It is convenient to tag a newspaper as either being “unnecessarily” pro or anti government based on its reportage. Pro government’s reports are hyperbolical and anti government’s reports are sensational but the fact remains that all the sides of the issues need to be reported. Government should equally not dictate to media houses on how to run their businesses. Some newspapers’ future will surely hang in the balance if objectivity is not playing a pivotal role while determining news items listed for publication.

 What is the future of print media in Nigeria?

There is a possible fear that print media in Nigeria may eventually disappear or  reach grossly abbreviated in the nearest future. It is this that has promoted a resort to survival mechanisms by many newspaper companies. An analysis of some of the measures in this direction by Nigerian newspapers shows a genuine concern, but at the same time, the inadequacy of strategy or the lack of creativity and innovation. The future for print newspapers surely rests in community oriented publications. In order to elongate the possible extinction of the print media in Nigeria, there should be creation of niche products for different segments of the markets. Community oriented publication in this context means that newspapers should localize their contents to suit the target audience. For example, The Punch is in firm control of Lagos and by extension, South West market, Vanguard has South South in its kitty, The Sun is dominating the South East while Daily Trust is popular in the North; among Muslims. Their market shares in these regions based on the population are however, embarrassing. The Nation has an appreciable presence in all the regions. Media managers of these companies need to firm up their grips of their present markets bearing in mind that any newspaper that claims to be controlling a largest share of a shrinking market is heading towards extinction earlier than expected.

Are the circulation staff getting enough training?

No! This is the most neglected area and virtually all the media houses are guilty of this. Majority does not have provision for training in their budgets. Any good budget has to be based on the income or revenue. I have lost count of how many sales plans which I have written for some circulation managers. I cannot blame them because they practically lack the requisite training for such. The importance of training can never be underestimated. Firstly, it gives room for strengthening those skills that each employee needs to improve besides bringing employees to higher level of knowledge. Better ways of doing things would also be acquired during training. Training improves efficiency, reduces weak links, keeps organization competitive, boosts team’s morale and ensures better human relations. Training should not be limited to the employees alone; agents and vendors should equally be trained. Although, no media firm can claim ownership of agents and vendors, training them is desirable. As long as the traditional sellers of the newspaper are accounting for almost 97% of the total sales, media firms, in conjunction with the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) should be organizing training for the known carriers (distributors and vendors) periodically.

What are you into presently?

 I am into a consultancy business and still monitoring what goes on in the media industry. My firm’s name is AbingMO3 Marketing Management Consultancy and our areas of competency are but not limited to training, research, feasibility projection, marketing plan, product launch, market entry strategies, sales forecasting, market segmentation, brand and perception management. I am equally involved in academics. In no distant time, I intend to approach some media houses and see how my firm can handle the sales of their newspapers. The concept is for my consultancy firm to take over distribution and sales of these newspapers thereby eliminating the payment of salaries to circulation staff. Agents and vendors will still play very prominent roles in this planned venture. The sales of the newspaper need to be thrown opened to the public just like the GSM operators are doing. Alliance may be formed with various marketing institutes. Lawyer will have to prepare an agreement for the parties to sign. Collateral deposits need to be considered. The concerned media firms will be withdrawing from areas that are being covered effectively by my firm and the process needs to be gradual.

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