Tuesday Marketing Notes (Number 51—September 19th , 2006)
A B2B Marketing Newsletter for BMA Members
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B2B Print Advertising (Part 4: B2B Trade Media Choices: Where to Advertise?)
by Eric Gagnon
Here’s a common B2B marketing situation: You’re working on a product launch for a new market, or you’re in a start-up, or you’re faced with the task of developing an advertising program which takes you outside the comfort level of the industries and markets you know.
How do you locate the publications that serve an industry or market? How can you compare these publications against each other to determine which are the best picks for your advertising program? At some point in your career you’ll be faced with the task of deciding where to advertise your company’s product, and this boils down to finding and evaluating the best trade publications.
According to the Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS), there are over 9,300 individual publications in the vast constellation of trade and vertical-industry media. Reach—where to place your company’s advertising to generate the greatest sales impact, can be an especially critical issue if you have been assigned the responsibility of marketing to a new and unfamiliar industry, or if you must launch your company’s product in a new industry or market and you need to scout around for the best advertising opportunities there.
Trade Media Placement in Your Industry: Usually, Two Publications Rule
Experienced marketing managers know there are usually no more than two most-read, top-pulling trade publications in any industry. And between these top two, there is always a longstanding number-one trade publication, followed by a close runner-up.
This “two-publications rule” seems to apply to most any industry or marketplace. In banking, it’s ABA Banking Journal and American Banker; in IT, it’s Computerworld and CIO. While there are exceptions to this rule, a publication’s first-mover advantage and length of time in the industry usually lead to a condition where two publications dominate the field.
This fact also greatly simplifies your media selection decisions as a marketing manager or agency professional. Big circulation bases and must-read status among your prospects mean that the top two leading publications in your industry also make them the two best-pulling publications for your company’s advertising in terms of sales response to your ad placements in these publications.
This also means that, while you or your ad agency will be contacted by ad sales reps for several other second- and third-tier publications in your industry, sales response from ad placements in these also-ran publications is likely to be lower than for placements in your industry’s leading publications.
So, there’s always less risk in going with the biggest trade publications in your field, and holding off with advertising in the smaller ones, at least until you’ve proven that print advertising works for your company, product, and marketing program.
Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS): The Go-To Guide for Trade Media Selection
The fastest and most efficient way to research your trade media advertising choices is by using Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS) publication directories.
Standard Rate & Data Service (SRDS) directories cover all U.S. magazines, trade publications, newspapers, direct mail lists, and TV/radio/cable outlets, sorted by standard industry classifications. The SRDS Business Publication Advertising Source lists over 9,300 trade publications for every industry classification, from “Air Conditioning” to “Wire and Wire Products.” SRDS is the standard reference used by media buyers at advertising agencies across the U.S.
An SRDS listing contains all the information you need to begin your media planning process, presented in a standardized format, and without the usual ad space salesman’s marketing hype:
• Publication name and contact information;
• Circulation base and demographic characteristics (such as job title, or responsibility);
• Display advertising space rates and ad closing dates;
• Special regional editions and editorial features
SRDS is an indispensable publication research tool for planning your company’s advertising campaigns. Although its hefty annual subscription fee (up to $700 or more per year, per directory) makes it rather expensive, you can often find the latest issues of SRDS in the business reference sections of most larger public libraries.
Use SRDS as your primary reference for targeting the key publications in your industry, and for locating the best publications in those new markets your company may decide to enter in the future. You should familiarize yourself with the entire range of SRDS directories, but the Business Publication Advertising Source (for trade publications) and Direct Marketing List Source (for mailing lists) directories are the most important for business-to-business marketers.
Here is a sample page from the SRDS Business Publication Advertising Source print directory:
How to Select Publications
As you research various publications in SRDS, and request media kits for publications, pay close attention to factors such as circulation and audit status for the publications you’re evaluating.
Circulation is generally the most important factor when evaluating publications as potential ad placement opportunities for your company or client. You will not only see that the highest circulation rates seem to cluster around two (and sometimes three) leading publications in an industry, you will also see references to two different types of circulation: “Controlled” vs. “paid,” and it’s important for you to know the differences between each type of circulation.
“Controlled” circulation: Publications with “controlled” circulations are mailed free of charge to business subscribers in an industry. To receive their free subscription, a subscriber must first complete a lengthy survey card that provides the publisher with important marketing information about the reader, such as job title, number of employees, type of business within the industry, etc. In this way, the publisher “controls” the circulation of its publication, sending it only to those individuals who actually work in the industry. These publications are commonly referred to as “controlled-circ” publications.
“Paid” circulation: A publication with a “paid” circulation has a base of readers who pay an annual subscription fee to receive the publication, just as people subscribe to most ordinary newspapers or magazines.
A controlled circulation publication generally provides you with far more extensive detail on its subscriber base than a paid publication, because readers must provide this information to the publication to receive their free subscription. This aspect of “controlled-circ” publications can be especially valuable when renting subscriber mailing lists from these publications, since list selections can be made from these publications in many very useful ways.
A publication with a paid circulation base is generally regarded as having “higher quality” readers in its subscriber base, and is therefore seen as a better choice for advertisers, since, as you would guess, there is greater perceived value among advertisers for readers who actually pay money to receive a publication.
However, either type of publication can work well for advertising your company’s product, provided you have selected the industry leaders with the largest circulations, and that the circulations of these publications have been “audited” (see below).
BPA Audit Data: Business of Performing Audits (BPA), a service of BPA Worldwide, is a non-profit organization that provides objective standards and independent measurement of subscriber circulations for trade publications across all industries.
Founded in 1931, BPA is the most trusted source for objectively verified circulation data for business, trade, and industrial publications. Most leading publications in any industry have been “BPA audited,” and provide their BPA-audited circulation figures, which are also included in the publication’s SRDS directory listing.
A BPA audit provides advertisers with independently verified information on a publication’s circulation base, a more reliable figure than circulation numbers claimed by non-audited publications. As the “gold standard” for circulation data, if given a choice between a publication that is BPA-audited and one that is not, you should always select the BPA-audited publication.
Media Kits and Sample Issues
Once you’ve selected a list of publications that look like suitable candidates for your company’s advertising program, call them, or link to their Web sites, and request their media kits, and (most important), a few sample issues.
A media kit is the publication’s own sales information kit containing additional data on the publication, such as results of subscriber market research surveys, profiles of subscriber job titles and purchasing responsibilities, and additional survey data on the companies where their subscribers work, such as number of employees, annual sales volume, etc. Much of this data is market research paid for by the publisher, and, as you would expect, presents the publication in the most favorable light.
Evaluating sample issues: However, aside from information provided in the media kit (mostly duplicated from the publication’s SRDS listing), it’s more important to make a close study of as many sample back issues of the publication as you can. The publication will usually only send you a few recent issues, but 1-2 years’ worth is ideal if they’ll send you this many issues. Here’s what to look for:
Number of ad pages: Take note of any change in the number of pages in each issue of a publication occurring over several months, or a year. Successful publications maintain a pretty steady level of ad pages per issue, and a substantial decline in ad pages is sometimes an indicator of a more serious circulation problem.
Aside from general industry conditions, other factors leading to circulation drops may include changes in editorial focus, or the rise of some other, more competitive publication in the industry. Bear in mind, however, that in recent years there have also been some very severe recessions in the publishing industry, and during these periods even successful publications will experience declines in their ad page counts;
Your competition: Do your competitors advertise in the publication? This may tell you that your company should advertise there, too, if it’s not already doing so. While it’s true your competitors can waste their money on bad advertising placements just as well as your company can, if you notice several of your competitors’ ads repeating month-to-month in a publication over a long time period, you can make a fair assumption that their advertising is working for them in that publication;
Repeat advertisers: Following the above, if you notice advertisers who are repeating their ads month after month, this is a good sign that their placements in the publication are working for them. It may also be a good sign that their ad layouts may be pulling especially well, too, so take note of any aspects of these ads, such as sales copy benefits, promotions, ad size, page placement, or layout that may “influence” the execution of your own company’s advertising layouts.
While reviewing various publications in your industry, ask each publication’s ad space sales rep to put you on their “comp” (complimentary) subscription list. These free subscriptions will help you keep on top of what’s happening (and who’s advertising) in your field, and will be a constant source of new ideas for your own company’s advertising programs.
Next week, we’ll cover important points about print advertising frequency, timing, positioning, and publication editorial schedules . . .
In response to our Part 1 TMN of August 29th on print advertising, Kit Sprague (kit@bedcheck.com) writes:
Eric -
I appreciated your commentary on this subject, but have a question I'll bet you cannot answer. Near the end of your article, you state that if an ad campaign cannot generate either direct sales or sales leads, it should be terminated. Specifically, in the sales leads paragraph, you state, "Can your advertising program generate quality sales leads, and will you be able to measure the response from each ad placement? "
I have been in the b-to-b marketing field for 23 years now, and am presently with the third company in my career who sells through independent distributors. Therein is my question. For the third time, I (we) have come to the conclusion that it is essentially impossible to force good feedback from distributors regarding the quality of the leads we send them. It has gotten to the point that we simply forward the leads we receive to the distributor for that territory, and that's all. No follow up, no wheedling and cajoling of the distributor to tell us what became of the lead. It was hours of effort and much corrspondence (e- or paper) for naught. It frustrated us and the distributors. Now we just send leads out and drop the matter. As a result, all I can track is the quantity we get from a given source - not the quality.
Other marketers I talk with about this seem to agree. If you sell through independent distributors, we see no way to ever get enough lead feedback to be of any use. If you have any suggestions, I'd sure like to hear them. It wouldn't bother me to say to a distributor, "If you don't give us the feedback we need, we'll give leads to another distributor who will." But then playing hardball like that is not conducive to good business relationships, which is why someone else is the Sales Manager instead of me. He is more tactful and patient than I am.
I'd be interested in hearing from you (or anyone else) on this. Thanks for a good article, and in advance for your reply.
Dear Kit:
Thanks for your note, and your comments. You have hit on what's probably the toughest advertising problem around—tracking sales response in advertising via distributors.
The only suggestions I can give you on this would be to give your prospect list to your downstream distributors and ask them to merge/purge this list against their list of prospects who became buyers, and to send you back just a count of buyers, not identified by name (to protect the distributor's relationship with their buyer accounts). At least you'll get a rough count of buyers you can measure against prospects to get a handle on how many prospects become buyers from your advertising program. While you're doing this you may also be able to get the distributor to rate these buyers by sales.
When dealing with distributor networks I also work to get very close to the needs of their sales reps who are actually calling on their accounts and new prospects. It's very important to listen to what these folks say they need to help them do a better job of presenting and selling your company's product. Usually this comes down to deliverables like better/more focused brochures, spec sheets to target specific prospect concerns, competitive issues, etc., and on-site presentations and seller/prospect education ("show what you know").
The closer you can get to your distributors and their reps, the more they'll trust you and put more effort into getting you information that helps the both of you. Ultimately, the information you are trying to get from these distributors only helps them sell more of your products, but despite this fact the distributor's short-sightedness only hurts them. Again, this is one of the toughest problems in B2B marketing, and whether or not you can solve it ultimately depends on the quality and professionalism of the distributor— have found the better distributors know your problem, and will work with you to solve it.
The schleppy distributors, who are many, don't care that much, and that's why you need to be more closely tied to their reps, if you can get to them.
Comments? Questions? Send them to me at: eric@realmarkets.net
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Eric Gagnon (eric@realmarkets.net), is president of GAA (www.realmarkets.net), a sales and business development consulting firm, and is the author of The Marketing Manager’s Handbook, the master study guide for the Business Marketing Association’s Marketing Skills Assessment, Skill Builder, and Certification (MSA/B/C) programs.
For more information on The Marketing Manager’s Handbook, available to BMA members at a special discount, link to:
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