A couple weeks ago, one of the most formidable publishers of trade magazines in the U.S., Reed Business Information (RBI), announced the closing of 23 of its publications including both print and digital formats. Some of the shuttered magazines (such as Restaurants and Institutions, Professional Builder and Hotels) were the biggest names in their industry and at one time, thriving from an advertising revenue standpoint. Since RBIs announcement, there have been rumblings that new potential buyers are now surfacing to resurrect the closed publications. Stay tuned for news of this nature in the coming days, weeks and months.

As I understand, the closing announcement really didn’t come as a shock to those employed at RBI. The publisher was actively trying to sell off many of its titles throughout the last year, and Folio reported that RBI issued an ominous New Years Eve letter to employees informing them that certain titles that weren’t soon sold would likely collapse. In other words, layoffs loomed on the horizon.  

However, it was heavy news to me personally since I worked for RBI as an editor for a combined 6-plus years at two of the now-defunct magazines, Converting and Graphic Arts Monthly, and provided freelance editing services to Packaging Digest (which thankfully survived the cut as it was recently sold to Canon Communications). In addition to being a loss to the industries these publications served so well through the years, it’s a loss for the many RBI employees who have now presumably been added to the country’s burgeoning unemployment rolls. Many of whom I remember fondly from my days at RBI, especially my former boss Converting’s Chief Editor, Mark Spaulding. I was delighted to read the news online in the aftermath of RBI’s announcement that Mark plans to continue his “Converting Curmudgeon” blog sometime soon in cyberspace. 

Which actually brings me to the marketing-related point of this blog. With severely diminished ad revenues, rising mail costs and the shift from print to web dramatically shrinking the number of trade publications (and newspapers), how does this impact the way we conduct public relations for our clients? Has the traditional press release—once the stalwart method of disseminating client news—gone the way of the dinosaur?  I think the answer is yes and no.

There’s still a place for the traditional press release in the mix of public relations tactics especially if it’s distributed through online services. But it’s become a significantly less effective and less timely vehicle for informing your audience and driving sales. While it’s nice to see your press release in ink on the pages of a trade magazine, realistically the time from distribution to print is typically 2-3 months. By that time, readers have likely already seen your news online and moved on. In this age of immediacy with web publishing, it just doesn’t make sense any more to limit yourself to a printed press release when news about your company and competitors is right at our fingertips on the web.

As a result, social media and self-publishing have become critical components of the “new” public relations. And we’ve seen just how effective it is for our clients who have embraced blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Twitter, online Q&A forums, RSS feeds, etc. Sure, the credibility factor of having your news published by an objective third party such as a trade magazine still exists. This requires self-publishers to self police (or rather, their agency should play cop) and make sure the content of your news doesn’t cross the line into blatant advertising. If it does, your digital audience will likely turn and run, making your foray into social media far less effective.

Initially, the B2B arena that trade publications serve was slow to jump on the social media bandwagon, believing it was more suited to their B2C brethren. But that’s no longer the case as more and more B2B companies become active in social media and now consider it a vital part of their public relations mix.

What is your company doing to get your news in front of your customers and prospects in the wake of folded trade magazines and their digital properties? 

-Steph Haugan