Writing here I know that every reader recognises the importance of B2B marketing. But perhaps not everyone is as convinced of the crucial role that high-quality, editorial media play in that process.
If B2B marketers have any doubts about the role branded and editorially-led B2B media should play in their campaigns, it is down to us the media owners to stand up and make our case. Perhaps in the past our eagerness to compete with one another has got in the way. But now competition from outside is intense particularly from new online service-providers without our editorial pedigree.
So it is encouraging that established publishers have come together for a united strategic push. But this is just the beginning of a new chapter and we need to do more.
Previously known as the business division of the Periodical Publishers’ Association (PPA), we have now agreed on a fresh umbrella terms for our sector as a whole we call it Professional Media.
Our new body PPA Professional has launched a campaign conveying the power of professional media, particularly magazines, to advertisers and business decision-makers. The centrepiece is the largest-ever ad campaign to promote the sector. A 1000-page display campaign, valued at £3.2 million, is running in more than 330 professional magazines in the PPA membership until the end of the year. We estimate that the ads will reach 87 per cent of business decision-makers during 2005. This is a great sign of the new mood of cooperation, but I want to see all the professional media get behind the campaign.
These distinctive full-page ads remind decision-makers that professional media are an effective, creative and influential vehicle to communicate their message to customers. Professional media enjoy the trust and confidence of readers: for example, 72 per cent of business managers look forward to reading their professional publications regularly. Eighty eight per cent of decision-makers turn to professional media for product information.
The trouble is we have not done enough before now to promote this generically. Instead we have spent our time competing with each other. We have not directed enough effort into promoting the power, influence and effectiveness of our brands and the audiences they deliver. We have allowed new competition too much space. The Professional Media campaign is a public marker in the ground that industry is ready to fight back.
Another example of how this can be done is our Advocacy programme. We are training scores of ad sales people to engage with our advertiser customers from a broader perspective, to forge partnerships and to address their real commercial and marketing issues. This goes well beyond simply selling ad space. I hope that many of the marketeers reading this will be hearing from a professional publishing advocate soon. For this to happen, my fellow publishers need to throw their support behind Advocacy.
But it’s not just about showing the power of professional media as an ad medium.
We need to show that our journalistic heritage differentiates professional media from much of the new online-driven competition. Our industry enjoys a depth and breadth of talent, knowledge and excellence that has been undervalued by some critics.
The PPA Professional initiative will highlight our expertise, particularly among our journalists. Many are respected and recognised as leading authorities in their chosen fields and professional magazines are producing influential campaigning journalism. As the editor of B2B Marketing will no doubt confirm, professional magazines are produced by bright, innovative and influential people!
The term professional supports this notion. We chose it as an umbrella term as it embraces other descriptions for our media such as trade, business and B2B, while being more inclusive of the many less commercial audiences we serve such as social workers and HR professionals, to name but two.
Another good sign is the imminent publication of a new report that forecasts that the whole business information sector will have revenues of around £15 billion in 2005. The Connecting Business report, by NOP Business, is supported by the DTI and produced on behalf of the Business Information Forum, a consortium of various trade and industry bodies including the PPA, the Data Publishers Association, the Association of Exhibition Organisers and the Direct Marketing Association.
We are massive by any standard. Within the whole business information industry, professional magazines are valued at approximately £3.3 billion that’s twice the size of the whole UK commercial radio industry.
It’s time we started making as much noise and if we all pull together, we can.
