Many businesses can overlook the “unsexy” trade press and chase local and regional business press instead, with the goal of raising awareness of their skills base within a geographical remit. This approach is spot on, IF and it is a big IF, that is your route to market and your customer base is largely regional.
For Better Languages, there is certainly an audience to inform here but I would strongly advocate a push in the trade press. This area, which can boast some comically bad titles, as seen of Have I Got News For You such as; Parking Review, Bee World and Fancy Fowl (all of them genuine) is a goldmine of editorial opportunities.
The titles are often so niche that there are few experts around who provide the reliable and informed comment that the editor craves. Your focus, i.e. packaging, labelling, retail and food, is pretty well served in terms of trade press and yes, The Grocer is the bible here but don’t let that be your only goal – spread the load and spread your voice.
It would be unprofessional to give you email addresses and contact details of the various trade editors here but I would happily give you some pointers over email Mike. There is plenty to go on and I would suggest that your focus for the PR should be educational.
Explain why accuracy is so crucial.
Give examples of where things have been done well and done badly and show the readers how to ensure they get it right first time.
Point out and explain the impact of current and future legislation to the readers of each target journal and don’t use broad brush strokes with your editorial - keep it relevant to that magazine – the editor will appreciate your efforts and reward you for it.
You should certainly mix it up between offline and online but I think you will find that most trade journals already provide an online presence so this should not be too much of a stretch if you optimise your press releases as well as you can.
With regards specialists PR companies, well, why don’t we have a chat on Wednesday at Business Clinic LIVE and you can get a feel for that then?
Meanwhile, great to hear about your Australian order. There will be a press list for that market too if Australian Goat World is anything to go by!
