Steve Jordan takes a look at the global reach of The Mover and how readers prefer to keep up to date with the industry and its people.
When The Mover magazine started life in April 2011 we billed it as the world’s first and only independent publication specifically for the global moving industry. It caught on quickly, and is now read widely by the people who make up this extraordinary industry of ours. But just how far does it go? Who reads it? Why should anyone care?
When it started, The Mover was published in hard copy and mailed to every major moving company in the UK. The magazine’s website www.themover.co.uk was, of course, available for anyone to view and carried all the news from each issue, plus latest news items that were too time sensitive for a printed publication, and a pdf copy of the latest and all back issues. Today that has not changed, however, the number of online readers has expanded steadily and continues to do so.
If you look at the raw statistics and compare them with the stratospheric figures claimed by some YouTube posts, you will get the wrong impression. Even globally the moving industry is niche and relatively small. However, what is undoubtedly true is that there are more people reading The Mover online every month than attend every moving convention around the world put together in a whole year: that’s a lot of movers.
Some of those readers are responding to our monthly newsletter which we send by email to around 6,300 movers worldwide every month to accompany the release of each new issue of the magazine. The newsletter carries a note from me as editor, with my recommended stories for a global audience. Statistically around 23% of those recipients open the email every month (not always the same people of course) which is much higher than the industry average for media sent in this way, and an above average number of those actually click through to read more stories from the website.
Understandably perhaps, just over half the online readers are in the UK (despite the magazine being sent in hard copy to all major movers there anyway), however that still leaves over 40% being read in the rest of the world. The USA is second on the list with almost 8% of the total, rather surprisingly followed by the Netherlands with a similar figure. There are also an impressive number of readers from far and wide including Australia, India, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand all appearing in the top 15 locations. In August there was even one reader in Syria, one in Yemen and two in Afghanistan where you might have thought they had other things on their minds.
For me the novelty of bumping into someone I don’t know, thousands of miles from home, who is an avid reader, has never quite worn off. I attended IAM last year in Orlando and nearly everyone I met knew of the magazine and some said they were fans. It was great to hear. Being a little cynical I thought ‘well they would say that wouldn’t they’, but then they promptly started talking about some of the stories. I thought, Wow! They really have read it.
I’m told 63% of online readers choose to access The Mover through their desk top machines. This is, presumably, for lunch time entertainment. 26% use mobiles and a further 11% prefer a tablet. Outlook is by far the favourite e-mail client and, remarkably, 91% of mobile users choose an iPhone with only 1% choosing BlackBerry and 2% using an Android device.
The global reach of the magazine has been greatly enhanced by our coverage of overseas events. With the help of my brother David (Deputy Editor) we have attended and reported on almost every moving convention in the world for the last two years. It has involved us in a lot of travelling but we feel it’s important to include as much international news every month as we can, and we greatly value contributions from around the world. We are also building up quite a few air miles between us!
I believe the success of the magazine is not just a result of its international bias. Its independence means we can include stories about anything we feel is interesting. We don’t have an agenda, we just want to inform and entertain our readers. This means we can say what we like and be honest. We don’t go in for ‘corporate speak’ or hyperbole. We are very straightforward. We never try to upset anyone either, we just tell the truth. If people don’t like it, that’s their problem.
You can use The Mover to promote your company to the international trade. Advertising allows you to shout your name and service as loud as you like, but sometimes a more subtle editorial can be just as effective. Our editorial must be informative or entertaining and preferably both. If it happens to promote an organisation too, that’s fine with me.
If you’d like to know more about The Mover and how it can help you get your message out to the world give me a call on +44 (0) 1908 695500, or drop an email to steve@themover.co.uk
Photo: The Mover's Editor, Steve Jordan.