The ABC's of a strong ABP

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 15, 1995 by Sal Marino

This article is adapted from a speech delivered by the author during his tenure as chairman of the American Business Press. A few years ago we said that the specialized business press was losing support from advertisers. We said that we needed to make our product exciting and dynamic again. We needed programs and ideas - things that we could do, not just things we could say to put ABP back on top.

We have fallen too much into the trap of thinking that the advertiser is our major customer and our primary mission is to sell ad pages - not serve the needs of the reader. We must revisit why we do what we do as publishers.

I believe that unless a business magazine has an easily defined and easily understood publishing concept, it has no reason for being; that a business magazine exists for the reader, not for the advertiser or the publisher; and that advertising must add interest and usefulness to the magazine - otherwise, it should not be included.

Twenty years ago, it was fairly easy to match the advertisers' communications objectives to the media that offered the most nearly compatible publishing objectives. Today it is not so simple, because the advertiser has many choices. The person we are trying to sell now can use integrated marketing, sponsor events, make a splash at a trade show, buy outdoor advertising, even rent a blimp.

To compete in this crowded media environment, we need to clearly define our niche so that media buying of our magazines becomes simple once again. So, here's the central premise upon which the ABP - and your own business - should proceed: "If you are not considered an important source of business information, you are probably considered a less effective place to advertise." Simple. Powerful. Undeniable.

The strengths of ABP are unique:

* No other organization has nearly 800 specialized business publication members who employ more than 8,000 editors to communicate with more than 60 million important business customers.

* Or has the special kind of relationship with businesses and the professions that its member publications have.

* Or can say that their publications are "must" reading.

* Or has members who are in a better position to spot and report trends.

* Or has members with better entry into their information markets, or better control of them.

* No other organization has members with more diverse and effective ways to transmit business information to potential users - by print, electronically or in person. And no other organization makes audited circulation a condition of membership.

Given all that how do we get the advertiser's attention? By promoting these strengths.

If we make our information visible and important, we make our publications visible and important. We need to tell the world that we own vital information - the kind of information business and professional people need and can't get anywhere else, that professional people need to get an edge on their competitors, that's critical to their business success, and that's accurate, reliable and credible. If we communicate this concept convincingly, creatively and continuously, advertisers will buy the idea that they should place their advertising where our readers (their customers) are looking for business information.

All publishers may be created equal, but the smart ones don't stay that way. We must promote our unique differences by identifying our magazines as ABP members, making ABP membership the differentiating factor that gives our publications a halo effect and makes them appear superior to other magazines.

Unlike some folks, I am uncertain about the impact the information highway and other electronic media will have on the business press. I am convinced, however, that the possibility of electronics replacing print on paper may not be our most serious future problem. Competitor-bashing, entrenched self-interest and a penchant for piddling around with puny problems are the more serious dangers.

Let's look at declining ad pages. Some falloff is economically driven. But much is the result of bad-mouthing competition. Every time one of us spreads poison about our competitors, we are spreading poison about the business press. We are practicing an infectious kind of genocide that is becoming, instead, an insidious kind of suicide.

Here's more. We are the owners of the world's largest and best business information resource. It demands that we stop treating our editors like second-class citizens and invite them into full membership in ABP. At our meetings there are guest speakers from management, advertising, agencies, the political arena, radio, television and newspapers. But I can't remember when we ever had an editorial guest speaker from our own medium.

At Magazine Publishers of America meetings, editors play a key role in meeting programs. We should feature our editors, as well.

Here's an idea that will help us sell ourselves as a powerful, vital resource for business information: Create an ABP editorial affiliate organization - a society of American Business Press Editors. And make it responsible for the editorial segments of our marketing agenda. I have known a lot of editors in my day. Most are technically competent; some are highly creative and inspirational. Some hit like jack-hammers and others get equally good results with the fight, repetitive but persistent blows of a tack hammer. A brilliantly edited magazine simply cries out to be read. And brilliant magazines are the brainchildren of brilliant editors.