Promotion

The main source of promotion for SUGAR Zine will be through Instagram. Utilising this free platform is effective and allows me to connect to more of a niche target audience, rather than paying for advertising space on websites or physically in city centres which would reach a large sum of people but would only resonate with very few. An example is using relevant hashtags to each specific post, and, promoting the page on my personal Instagram account which has over 1k followers most of which replicate the target audience of SUGAR. Another benefit of collaborating with creatives and likeminded individuals is the potential opportunity to be reposted on their Instagram page or story, resulting in more promotion for the zine. There are also opportunities to purchase promotional spaces within the Instagram platform which would allow me to manually design my audience and reach the younger side of my target audience, as at the moment I am only reaching people 20-years old and above.

Although social media is a great tool for promotion and is very beneficial to a start-up company as it is free, it can still be quite challenging to gain visibility for posts. Especially after the new Instagram algorithms. Other ways to promote would be to host a launch party for the zine. This has so many opportunities for free promotion. For example, curating a very specific guest list would benefit greatly as there is potential to be posted on their Instagram stories and feeds, which will most likely have a larger following. I would want to invite local and well-known activists as well as relevant influencers.

Another way to promote would be featuring as a guest on relevant podcasts and YouTube channels. This would be a great way to gain exposure as well as allowing the audience to get to know the creator on a more personal level, which might influence more purchases of the zine. Some podcasts that would appropriate to be featured on would be ‘Adulting’ – oennone, ‘Goes without saying’ – Sephy and Wing and ‘Gurls Talk’ – Adwoa Aboah. Featuring on a podcast would again create the potential to be featured on their Instagram feed. For example, If I, the creator of SUGAR, was to feature on the ‘Adulting’ podcast, Oenone the host, would create an Instagram post promoting the episode as she does each week with every new guest. Oenone has 125K followers on Instagram thus creating a great exposure opportunity.

You get an exclusive sticker sheet with every printed version of the zine as well as a lock screen wallpaper. The stickers may be used on phone cases, laptops and bags making them a form of verbal promotion. Seeing the stickers and lock screens could start conversations and direct new consumers to SUGAR.