April meeting: Conducting effective industry research

Speakers: Lynn Adelmund, director of marketing research for Prism Business Media, and Marjorie Troxel Hellmer, vice president of Cypress Research Associates

Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.

Date: Wednesday, April 12

Location: Private room at Cinzetti’s Italian Market Restaurant, 7201 W. 91st St. (west of 91st and Metcalf behind Border's and Bob Evans)

Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members (Not a member? To find out more about joining the ASBPE, click here.)

RSVP: To reserve your spot for the luncheon, e-mail Amy Fischbach by Monday, April 10.

Editor's digest (#3)

The latest and greatest from the web:

Web first, print later from mediabistro.com
What position does your website hold? David Hirschman says websites are no longer just the dumping ground for old print. Visitors are looking for new material. On an interesting note, my publisher is contemplating redesigning our website and then basing both our print magazines' redesigns off of that. Talk about web first...

The bottom line on blogging from The Kansas City Star
The article by David Hayes focuses on the big Kansas City companies venturing into the blogospehere. The most useful bit, in my opinion, was a sidebar on considerations before starting a company blog. The questions include:

• What is your goal?
• Does it have support from the head honcho?
• Do you have an internal blog champion who will promote the blog inside the company and keep it going?
• What will the ethics policy be for company bloggers?
• How will you integrate your blog into the company? In other words, promotion, promotion, promotion.
• How will you engage readers and make the blog interactive?

And one more important suggestion from Hayes, "Network. Visit other blogs that talk about your business or industry. Comment. Link to those blogs, and to prominent customer blogs."

How to get people to talk to you from mediabistro.com
This article focuses on the hard-to-get interview, but also offers great tips to apply during any interview.

Stealing inside the blogosphere from asap
While getting mentions on other blogs and links back to your blog are great ways to grow, beware of the copiers. Are you showing off your Creative Commons license?

The wonderful world of digital recorders from MBToolBox
Internet phone options offer the ability to record conversations. A handy tool for all of you phone interviewers.

Question of the week (#5)

What are some of the ethical issues involved with placing editorial content online?

Most magazines have websites, though their aims are different. Some offer information on the web only after it has appeared in print. Others write new pieces just for web readers.

Whatever the copy is, do the ethics rule that apply to print apply to the web? What are the rules for magazine websites? Is this an area where editorial staffs are more ethically lax? Is this a venue where advertisers can have a freer rein? Should they? And what about those regurgitated press releases — shunned from print issues — that have found homes on magazine websites?

Links:

• Last week's question: Should editors permit advertisers or sources to review articles prior to publication?
• Past questions of the week to ponder
• The meeting recap on editorial ethics

To offer your comments, click on the comments link below.

Question of the week (#4)

Should editors permit advertisers or sources to review articles prior to publication?

At the editorial ethics meeting, some editors said that they call sources and read the quotes to be used and the context they would be used in. Others said that they didn't allow review at all. No one said that they allowed advertisers to review articles.

What are the issues here? Where are the potential pitfalls? Are there benefits to allowing sources or advertisers to preview articles? Or is this something that ethically should always be avoided?

Links:

• Last week's question (Does your magazine solicit ads based on the mentions of potential advertisers in articles?) stirred up a bit of discussion. See what was said, and leave your thoughts.
• Past questions of the week to ponder
• The meeting recap on editorial ethics

Editor's digest (#2)

The latest highlights from the net:

Converting stakeholders into shareholders from B or not 2B
Your stakeholders (aka readers and advertisers) want something far different from your publication than your shareholders (publishing company owners). So, what if your stakeholders were your shareholders? How would that change your product?

What I told the French from MagazineEnterprise360
Paul Conley: “Magazines don’t need to start a blog, although there are many reasons why they may choose to, but they do need to become more bloglike.” This along the lines of what we heard from Don Ranly and Sharon Bass at the ASBPE-MAP 2005 Magazine Boot Camp.

Ranly says that the introduction of a new media changes all media. Blogs will change print.

And Bass followed in her discussion. Write in chunks and bites. Readers of blogs don't want to have to scan down further than what is viewable in the window. Her advice is to apply that same philosophy to print.

Exercises in grammar, usage and Associate Press style from Newsroom 101
If practice makes perfect, these free tutorials will make our chapter members the sharpest pencils in the ASBPE box.

Writing tool #29: Report for scenes from Poynteronline
Break out of your standard storytelling style. Don't just give your readers the facts. Paint them pictures.

Power tools for professional interviews from Absolute Write
The head says it all. Improve your interviewing skills; read the article.

Question of the week (#3)

Does your magazine solicit ads based on the mentions of potential advertisers in articles?

When articles come in that mention advertisers or potential advertisers, some writers send these articles to sales reps. They then contact the advertisers to let them know a certain advertiser will be featured in an upcoming issue and solicit ads. They don't show them the content or give them too many details on the article. Is this ethical?

Links:

• Past questions of the week to ponder
• The meeting recap on editorial ethics

Editor's digest

Here are the latest highlights from the net:

Dignity is deadly, part two from Passionate
Outlines the differences between start-up and corporate culture. This isn't b2b, or even magazine, specific, but I think it offers some insights into how our publications can drift from bold to blah.

A brief blogging lesson from B or not 2B
A short, to-the-point reminder for bloggers on keeping readers.

Advice for students: Writing by hand from Lifehack.org
A good reminder on the benefits of the pen and pad over the computer.

Newsroom bosses with weblogs: A list from Blue Plate Special
Leaders in newsprint offer insights online. These are newspaper guys and gals, but their blogs may offer you some ideas for your publication's future blog.

The 50 best Web sites from Hypertext
This list is compiled by the Chicago Tribune team. It covers broad categories. And don't spend too much time in the celebrity and kid sections. Fun as they may be, you may never reach the information and media and news sections.

Note: This list is merely a collection of tidbits I've gathered from the web recently. Please feel free to comment and add your own or email me.