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Profiles Really Free?
By Carl Friesen
Published in "Marketer," August 2009 issue, a publication of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, Alexandria, VA
“I’m Janet Bloggs, editor of the Podunk International Business Journal,” says your caller over the phone. “We’re impressed with what we’ve heard about your firm, and we’d like to do a full-length feature profile.”
Where’s the catch, you wonder. Probably, they’ll want to do an article that’s critical of us. Apparently reading your mind, Janet goes on: “You’ll get full opportunity to review and edit the article. It won’t get published without your approval.”
Too good to be true, you think. How much do they expect to be paid for this?
“And it won’t cost you a cent,” Janet finishes triumphantly. “We’ll set up a time for the interview later, but in the meantime would please tell me about your connections to the business community, such as your vendors?”
It’s an “opportunity” that many AEC firms and other businesses are hearing these days, from magazines like my made-up Podunk example. Perhaps you’ll think it’s a great idea, and in the excitement of getting a profile published, you may not remember the editor saying that they’ll get in touch with your vendors to see if they want to “participate” through advertising.
Later, you learn that the magazine’s advertising sales representatives have contacted every one of your vendors and urged that they buy a healthy-sized display ad to go alongside your firm’s profile. The result may be stressed relationships with those vendors, who may now feel that your firm owes them some favors -- you received the publicity benefit, but it was they who paid for it.
A growing trend in publishing
There seems to be a proliferation of these “content-supported” publications – generally online-only, they are supported mostly by advertising revenue that comes from the business partners of the companies they profile.
The Internet has been a boon to these publications, as it allows them to distribute thousands of copies by e-mail at next to no cost.
Most of them make full use of software tools that allow them to display more than just the text of the article. The pages of the publication appear directly on the computer screen, so readers can “turn” the pages and experience the full impact of the page design and the advertisements. No need for banner ads with a tiny space for text – these are display ads up to a double-page spread in size, that look just like what’s on a printed page. In some publications, the ads are clickable with links that lead to the advertiser’s Web site.
Many of the magazines contain some of what I would call “real” articles on topics as diverse as Twitter applications for the workplace, money-saving tips on business travel, and profiles of business and political leaders. Often well-written and informative, these articles give the publication greater reader value and encourage readers to open the e-mail or click on the publication’s Web link.
Then there are the profile articles – two or three pages long, with a relentlessly sunny spin on each profile subject’s prospects. They are often lavishly illustrated with excellent photography. Like a Photoshop-tweaked portrait, the subject is displayed in the best possible light.
Around the profiles are the ads, which as with many publications, form the payload that makes all the rest possible.
Most such publications will prepare electronic reprints of the article, presented in a well-designed brochure format, which the company being profiled can use in its own marketing efforts.
Two sides to every story
I’ve generally recommended against participating in these “opportunities,” partly because most of these publications are broad-ranging and do not focus on the niche markets that many AEC firms need to reach.
Also, many AEC firms can easily publish contributed articles in niche publications that are read by the people with the ability to send them business, at no cost, that demonstrate their skills and knowledge.
But the question intrigued me, so as a skeptic I sought out and met two True Believers – Sara Kopamees and Michael Alexander-Jones, respectively the editor and publisher/founder of The Canadian Business Journal and the soon-to-be-launched International Resource Journal, based in the Toronto satellite city of Mississauga.
And they are indeed True Believers. They seem genuinely enthusiastic about what their publications offer readers, their profile subjects and their advertisers.
Bearing in mind that Canada has a population and economy about one-tenth that of the United States, Michael was pleased to report that The Canadian Business Journal is e-mailed each month to some 20,000 C-level executives across the country.
Then there’s the Web presence, and third-party-verified records indicate that in the most recent month available, March, there were 660,960 hits to their Web site, with readers spending an average of 5.6 minutes on the site. Of those, 77.53 percent open the magazine itself, and 11.45 percent clicked on past issues. With some 200 million active Web sites in the world, his is in the top five million and among the top 200,000 visited Canadian Web sites.
Do these readers get good information in exchange for their time? Michael thinks so, and is particularly pleased that The Canadian Business Journal recently featured an interview with Brad Wall, the Premier (equivalent to a US state Governor) of the western province of Saskatchewan, in its issue focusing on that province.
To editor Sara Kopamees, the articles’ positive spin offers readers a welcome change from the doom-and-gloom in much of the business media.
How about the advertisers? Michael said that they approach a profile subject’s vendors only with permission of the company being profiled. It’s not a hard sell, he said, but rather an “invitation to share in the exposure,” and only about one in ten vendors his sales reps contact, end up buying space.
To find out what it’s like from the other side, I contacted Jim Rentz, General Manager of Wisconsin-based Nodland Construction, which was recently featured in the US-based Exec Digital online publication. He hadn’t heard any reaction yet to his company’s profile, but said he likes the ability online publications have to target specific markets. He didn’t feel that his company’s vendors had any obligation to buy ad space, and out of about 25 vendors asked, only one bought space.
A good opportunity for your firm?
What should you do if approached by a publication such as this, with a “profile opportunity?” Check to see that the publication’s circulation claims are third-party verified or audited. See if your firm needs to reach their readership – or if you’d be better off seeking coverage in a more niche publication. Consider the time involved, particularly the time of senior management who will be interviewed by the publication’s writers. Also, check with the members of your firm who manage vendor relationships if they’re okay with having an ad sales rep approach those vendors using your firm’s name.
If you’re invited to participate through some ad spending around a client’s profile, evaluate it as you would any other advertising opportunity. If the publication reaches your target market, then maybe; if it doesn’t, don’t. Also, don’t worry that your client will think worse of your firm if you don’t buy an ad. Your firm is likely one of many vendors that the publication has approached, and your “no” cannot be thought of as having destroyed your client’s chance at fame. There may be better ways to build the relationship with that client, such as investing in a joint marketing effort that benefits both parties.
Online content-supported magazines are a new wave in publishing. With the decline of the advertising-and-circulation driven model that has sustained printed magazines and newspapers for centuries, this may be a glimpse of the future. The key is to evaluate it as you would any other marketing vehicle, and take a ride only if it meets the larger objectives of your firm.Carl Friesen, MBA, CMC, is an Associate with emerson consulting group inc., a company that helps people with expertise to offer become recognized as thoughtleaders. He has an undergraduate degree in Geography from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada; a graduate degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada and an MBA from the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Since 1992, he has helped build to media profile of many professionals in accounting, actuarial science, architecture, consulting, engineering, environmental sciences, law and other professions. His focus is in helping clients author and publish informative articles in magazines read by potential clients. He has also helped clients publish informative books. He is author of many articles on the marketing of professional services, has given over 40 presentations throughout the United States and Canada, and is author of two books himself: “The Fame Game,” published by the Society for Marketing Professional Services of Alexandria VA, and “Writing Magazine Articles,” published through Xlibris of Philadelphia PA. He is based in Mississauga, Canada, he can be reached at tel. 289.232.4057; .