Publishing articles in trade magazines 3

[imagitec]

I've read that this is one of the best ways to promote your business, whether it is consulting or providing a finished product. I notice the byline when I read an article in Machine Design. Has anyone had success with this? Care to share your experiences?

Thanks,
Rob

Rob Campbell

http://www.livejournal.com/users/robcampbell

 

[tygerdawg]

Yeah, for some reason the "guru books" all say this is the sure-fire way to self-promotion. My experience is otherwise.

I've published the articles, written the tech papers, received invitations to do presetations, done the presentations, and gotten nothing to show for it. It looks good on the resume I suppose, so for me that's where the value is.

Without a doubt, all trade rags are desperately trying to fill up pages with blather so that they can sell advertising. Contact any of them with a proposal or manuscript and you'll probably get in with little or no trouble. Will it do you any good? Only time will tell.

TygerDawg

 

[buzzp]

I have written articles for trade magazines on several occasions. It is kind of cool to see your name in lights and to put on a resume (as the previous poster said).

If you look close, you will find the advertisers that are contributing the most to the magazines bottom line (advertising)are the ones with the articles and perhaps the ones that sit on the editorial board. After learning this, I do not put a lot of credit in such articles, its all a win-win situation for the magazine and the writer but not for the reader. I recently took issue with an article (errors in technical info) and gently wrote a letter to the editor in hopes it would be cleared up in their errors and omissions section. It never showed up. After checking it out further, the VP of the company that the writer worked for sits on the editorial board and just so happens has a full page ad in every edition. The experience and professionalism has nothing to do with who gets published its has to do with how much money you or your company spend on advertising.

 

[jmw]

I gues sit depends on the magazines you write for.

Self publication is not a justification. It is a reward for doing it right. You cannot just publish the article. Remember the real reason why you do anything is to make sales. It doesn't matter if it is a technical discussion or an out and out promotion. Your objective is to promote a product or service. To gain a profile in the market place, to be recognised as epert in your field.

Anything you do must be a part of a complete and coherent plan. You must ensure that sales, marketing and engineering are all buying into what you do. Each must be clear about what is being doen and what is expected of them in the follow up.

Above all, if you do this right, and document every step well, you can provide that elusive "justification" to management for any such activity because you will show a causal link between what you do and orders. This is often very difficult.

Do not neglect the internet. The internet provides feedback in all sorts of ways by page hit counting etc. Good web-site design is important. Any one reading your article will visit the web site and you must ensure that your website doesn't give "free" information. The major beneficiaries of this are your competitors. You should require a "registration" before allowing downloads of complete articles. This seperates out browsers on the wrong pages, students etc. You can then analyse the data and get a direct measure of the impact of the article.

Properly done the benefits can be outstanding.

I have had many articles published and given a presntation at the Texas A&M Instrument Syposium plus papers at trade shows and coferences (including providing the materials for others to do the same in their territories).

Like many promotional excercises, you must provide metrics to demonstrate the success. Often this is circumstancial. Providing a direct causal link is often difficult.
However, i have been fortunate to get a feel for the feedback that pursuaded me of the benefits.

In one instance I spotted an opportunity in the marine fuels sector through internet keyword searching. I put together a product package and then wrote a press release which was circulated to all the relevent trade magazines and internet magazine/newsletters. So far as i can determine, it was run in them all within a couple of weeks. I received a request to write an "editorial" for a prestigeous magazine, Bunker News. A competitor was also invited to write an article (it's all good publicity, you can even exploit your competitors activities).

I also produced a complete promotion package for the sales force and chased them for appointents. Our Danish agent arranged a meeting with one of the leading bunker suppliers and i flew out to attend the meeting expecting to see the chief marine superintendent. Instead, the meeting was attended by the Chief Marine SUperintendent, the Head Bunker Broker and the Managing Director. The Managing Director brought a copy of the magazine to the meeting.

They have embarked on equiping all their fuel barges with the intrument package i put together. It is not often one gets such a clear link between promotional activity and sales. This is one reason why Top Management often try to eliminate salesand Marketing when times get tough, despite the received wisdom declaring the opposite to be true.

Advertising is expensive. However, provided you have someone tough to fend of offers of advertising to accompany your article etc there are variety of "free" publicity approaches:
The Press release.... this is very company and product orientated. It has to have something new to say.
Editorials: These also have to have something new to say but must also be "generic" i.e. not blatantly advertising ones product though your by-line and company details are prominent and you can "illustrate" what you have to say with your own success stories. You must review the style of the magazine you are writing for and match that style. Some require superficial details, some require in depth technical data. If you have a budget for it, a professional publicity agency is invaluable as they will rewrite your material to fit the magazine.

Exhibitions are also invaluable but suffer the same problem of linking investment with sales. No exhibition is worth much if you don't have some press releases for the exhibition newspaper and unles you have a pro-active plan to visit your target clients at the exhibition (if they are also exhibitors) or to lure prospective clients to your stand if they are not. Be prepared to give papers or presentations also. Network like crazy and document everything right down to the sale. If you have any contracts closing, try and invite your client to "close at the show" as both parties get valuabe publicity at the exhibition.

None of this is effective unless it is undertaken with the commitment of the sales teams to follow up. You must have a coherent plan of action to exploit your articles or adverts or whatever. You must train them, provide sales materials, hand hold and enforce a plan of action.

"Vanity" publishing dimishes. But when done properly, the benefits are tangible.

Writing generic articles is a challenge, finding something new to say can be a challenge. But, put your mind to it and do it well and you will get a real buzz from the results.

It can be a waste of time or it can be the best value for money activity you can do, especially as it is "free" but there is real value in running "advertorials" i.e. linking your article with an advertisement. Don't under-estimate the professionalism and effectiveness of the trade press. We all want to make money but guess where it comes form? the client. Succesful magazines are providing a real service. All of them.

JMW

http://www.viscoanalyser.com

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[Fizzhead]

Well said jmw! I give you a star for that. You are absolutely right, just writing an article and sending it in is not of that much value, but can certainly help when combined with a little old fashioned elbow grease!