By Princess Jones
Trade magazines are niche publications, but their readership is so specific that they often have a better reach than some of the bigger publications. And if you do any business-to-business (B2B) sales, trades are more than just industry news. They can be an effective sales tool.
But getting featured in trade magazines isn’t always easy. If you want more page space in your favorite trades, you have three ways you can get it.
Buy Ads
Trade magazines offer ads in their publications and on their websites. Return on investment (ROI) of these ads may vary by publication, depending on audience and reach. Generally, wholesale businesses and adjacent industries do well with these ads.
That said, an open secret in the trade magazines is that they source a lot of content from their ad buyers. Even if the publisher doesn’t have a specific policy of including its advertisers, your name will be familiar to the editors and writers of the magazine. You are more likely to be included in roundups, features, or quotes.
Use the Editorial Calendars
An editorial calendar is the plan of what content a publication will be publishing for the year. Generally, it just covers the themes and is found on the website. It helps the editorial team make content decision throughout the year. But for your purposes, it tells you when your brand might be relevant to the trade magazine’s publishing strategy.
If you’d like to be featured in a magazine, check out its editorial calendar. Pick out two or three issues you think your brand would be relevant to. Then send a pitch to the editor that explains why you think your brand would make a good feature for those issues. Make sure you give the editor a three- or four-month lead time with your pitch so they have plenty of time to review it.
Follow Editors and Writers
Social media is for more than cat pictures and memes. Many content creators use it to find sources or leads on stories. Consider following or connecting with the ones who work for your preferred trade magazines so you can keep up with them.
Unlike consumer magazines, trade magazines are more likely to have their content created by the same staff each issue. Between the editors, the staff writers, and the contributors, you can have a good idea of who is going to be working on the stories of a magazine for the year. Just check the website or the editorial page in the publication to find their names.
If you’re a Twitter user, there’s an option to add the staff to a private list. This way, you can check for any calls for interviews or check on activity without actively following them. You can use third party apps to do it with Instagram, too. On LinkedIn or Facebook, you’d have to mutually connect, though.
