MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Mars-Campers on March 18, 2014, 09:19:17 AM
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Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to click on this topic.
We at Mars Campers are curious to learn if forum participants care about magazines, specially camper trailer related ones.
Your vote and comments will be highly appreciated.
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I read 'Nudey Girl Magazines' - Just for the articles!
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What about Carlisle's magazine - 4wd Touring?
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They are all rubbish... plenty of threads on this subject.
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After buying and flicking through fishing mags for many years, I put a sheet of glass on top of them and ended up with a coffee table ;D
But when I added up the costs of all those mags holding up the sheet of glass, I could have brought a cheap boat and motor, so I have given up on monthly mags but I do go to a lot fishing/camping shows expo etc.
Cheers
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What about Carlisle's magazine - 4wd Touring?
X2
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They are all rubbish... plenty of threads on this subject.
X 2
If you are trying to work out which Mag to advertise in maybe you should get in touch with this lot Audited Media Association of Australia
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What do you mean care about them? What are you trying to find out?
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I have added one more category in case you read any of the other mags around
GG
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Do'nt Need to buy any camper trailer magazines.
when the wealth of genuine knowledge, advice and modifacation for camper trailers is on this Forum for free ... A not so cheap $$$ magazine doesnt give you anything close to what this Forum Family can in value .. Just my honest opinion though .. Ohh And thanks to each and every one of you for your helpful hints guys, much appreciated ..
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Do'nt Need to buy any camper trailer magazines.
when the wealth of genuine knowledge, advice and modifacation for camper trailers is on this Forum for free ... A not so cheap $$$ magazine doesnt give you anything close to what this Forum Family can in value .. Just my honest opinion though .. Ohh And thanks to each and every one of you for your helpful hints guys, much appreciated ..
That's the best reply in this thread so far.
As a previous business owner I spent a fair bit of coin advertising in mags initially, but found online marketing a lot more fruitful especially forums. If i was to choose one though I would say Carlisles mag is a good thing. CTA is just full of jargon :cheers:
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When I started out looking around, I read a lot of mags to see what was out there and got ideas. So for a manufacturer I guess they are a way of getting a foot into some of the market. But after a year or two you start reading the same thing over again. Plus you tend to see more about the campers that spend more on advertising.
If I was a manufacturer, I wouldn't fully avoid the mags, but I'd also maintain an open, honest online presence on forums like this (well, there are none quite like this one..!). People respect approachability and candour about a product.
Carlisle's mag is definitely the pick of the bunch at the moment.
Did the mag advertising work on me..? Naah. Didn't have the cash. After reading the excellent stuff on this forum I bought a box trailer on steroids and added everything myself from there. :)
sent from earth via tapatalk
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X 2
If you are trying to work out which Mag to advertise in maybe you should get in touch with this lot Audited Media Association of Australia
Thanks for the tip I will check it out. I am trying to work out the general feeling towards Magazines too.
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When I started out looking around, I read a lot of mags to see what was out there and got ideas. So for a manufacturer I guess they are a way of getting a foot into some of the market. But after a year or two you start reading the same thing over again. Plus you tend to see more about the campers that spend more on advertising.
If I was a manufacturer, I wouldn't fully avoid the mags, but I'd also maintain an open, honest online presence on forums like this (well, there are none quite like this one..!). People respect approachability and candour about a product.
Carlisle's mag is definitely the pick of the bunch at the moment.
Did the mag advertising work on me..? Naah. Didn't have the cash. After reading the excellent stuff on this forum I bought a box trailer on steroids and added everything myself from there. :)
sent from earth via tapatalk
Thank you for sharing your experience, much appreciated.
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I am trying to work out the general feeling towards Magazines too.
If you haven't worked it out yet, your doomed ;)
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Do'nt Need to buy any camping type magazines.
when the wealth of genuine knowledge, experience etc and advice on this and other Forums for free why bother
but I have borrowed mags to read but full of ads
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Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to click on this topic.
We at Mars Campers are curious to learn if forum participants care about magazines, specially camper trailer related ones.
Your vote and comments will be highly appreciated.
I didn't vote, cause Tapatalk doesn't show me polls..
However. My 2 cents..
While I agree forum frequenters will use forums to garner information on a brand or product.
It would still be important for a brand to build awareness through any popular medium in their industry.
Forums are great... But you as a marketer can up sell more effectively in some form of dedicated advertising medium. Anything where you can outline Feature Action Benefit clearly. You may have a great website. But it's no good if only forum members are aware of it...
I don't read many of the mags anymore.. However... I have been 4wding/camping for a long time. The mags get repetitive.
There were years when I subscribed to several.
And years of camping and 4wding before I even heard of a forum.
Thus.. Newbies in the market will certainly use mags to help make a decision. If there was some product I was researching, I would probably still use respectable unbiased mags to as a resource into my decision making process..
I don't know what the percentage of mag subscribers vs. associated forums are.. But it wouldn't be too hard to get a rough idea. My guess would be.. The substantially larger market will be magazines. (Can't look purely at forum memberships.. But active users) although same can be said for magazine distribution.
So.. An online presence is vital I would think. But then again, so would be the industry publications.
Online branding/ print media all, ultimately should be helping build brand awareness... Paid adverts are still a better medium for call to action promotional activity..
Hmm this is long winded.. So I will shut up... :)
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Hi Fathom, on tapatalk select webview and it will take you to internet version, then you can see and use the polls.
Having said that, I can't now log into web view:-(
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Hi Fathom, on tapatalk select webview and it will take you to internet version, then you can see and use the polls.
Cheers
NB: Mars should be also able to check their customer database to see what segment of their market they are appealing to.. 1st time buyers vs. people upgrading/ changing campers etc to help them decide where to get the most bang for their buck.
Now I will shut up again. :)
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A few years ago I would buy several each month, but over time they are just the same thing over and over again so I stopped buying them all.
I would imagine for a company trying to gain exposure it would be good to get in the magazines however in this day and age most young people do everything online, and a strong online presence would most likely give better results if it was one or the other.
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I have bought about 8 copies of " Camper trailer Touring" the eighth one I have bought will be my last,they seem to be pushing the same trailers and extras to go along with them each issue,as already stated above much more knowledge ,ideas can be gathered from this forum so I will be saving my $$from not buying any more mags and may be use it for a few items from "Autolec" or another supplier in the 12 volt market .And the usual disclaimer in regards to auotlec and any other suppliers .
Bluejay
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I often pick up a mag when going away for a few days as something read, as I'm not into books. No particular preference, just what looks it might have the most interesting stories.
I don't like that it is almost impossible to pick when the mag was released. The wife bought the same one 3 months apart.
I agree with the comments so far. The repeat stories and flog the same brands. "Camper trailer of the year" is a classic example. It should be camper trailer advertiser of the year.
They choose from 2 in each price range hen there are dozens on the market. They have only just included a <$15,000 category. When I was first looking for a camper I read a few CTOTY editions, which was a waste of time as my budget wasn't catered for, yet the mag was chockablock of adds for the lower end
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My two cents worth...
I have been reading CTA for about a year. Picked it up when I started investigating getting a CT. Whilst I have some questions around topics like the CTOTY (i.e. how where the participants selected??) I think that the magazine has its place. It is actually a good source of information for a newbie, seeing what's out there, where to go, what kind of companies are our there, ideas about setup, etc...
Once you have a better understanding a forum such as this is a much better source. The input and feedback from the members here has been nothing short of outstanding and has provided a fountain of information for any (sometimes stupid/naïve) question I have put forward.
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I really enjoy reading a magazine or 2 when I'm waiting in the doctors surgery..................
That's about all the ads I can handle for a year!!!
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I didn't vote, cause Tapatalk doesn't show me polls..
However. My 2 cents..
Thank you for your contribution. Much appreciated
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May I suggest another poll?
How long did it take you to decide on your camper trailer? from the moment you thought that a camper trailer might be for you till the time you actually purchased one.
For us that time was three years. We were tent campers when we thought that maybe moving into a trailer might be the right move for us, so we started taking interest what was happening in the trailer market, reading forums, buying the magazines, attending the shows and talking to people who had them. Nothing over the top at first, it was probably 12 months before we bought our camper that we started looking more seriously (and having the cash to do it)
I mention the time frame because by the time we started looking seriously, we had already stopped buying the mags and discounted their opinion. As a few others have stated, after a certain time period it becomes apparent that it was the advertising dollar driving the comparisons and not necessarily the camper itself. I remember one comparo where if you had been reading the mag long enough to know the style and learn to read between the lines you could tell they thought the camper was crap, yet nothing really negative was said about it other than the camper still has some room for improvement. After reading far to many articles that shied away from stating anything negative about a product I lost faith in the mags ability to give a fair and honest opinion on any product.
Then there was the issue that after a while I was noticing that many of the articles were recycled ideas from 6/12 months ago or already covered by another mag.
So for us personally we would not have looked at your camper based on what was in one of the mags, but it would put your name out there and made us aware of your presence in the market.
I would think though that depending on who your customer base is, is dependent on how effective advertising in the mags will be for you.
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The only reason I buy mags is to pass the time at work when its slow.
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My wife and I are looking at buying a ct when the funds are sufficient and the first thing I did when starting the process of choosing what brand was to google ct,gic was the first to come up and when seeing the trailers and price we thought wow not as expensive as we thought,so next was to find reviews on the ct,whilst searching it opened up a whole new area for us with the many forums and advice given on these various forums,I read as much as I could and my swag was the forum that offerd me the most informative and unbiased varied views something I could not find in any magazine and the only thing it cost me for this value able information was time,and the things I have learnt will give me the knowledge to make a better informed decision when we buy,so thanks to all the members who post there vast experience,knowledge and helpfull hints thank you.