Global Editorial Placement for B2B – An Internet-based System

Getting feature articles published in the world’s trade press is a very effective PR technique for b2b companies. For global organizations, the key issues are; getting editor attention, tracking publication progress and maximizing usage of published material within the organization. Amazingly, it’s apparently the case that no one is systematically using the Internet to achieve these objectives. The one innovative exception is a UK-based niche agency called Minett Media, which has developed just such a system for its clients, which include (the British government’s inward investment agency, ITT Industries, Deutsche Bank, Ericsson, SKF, Sandvik and many other Swedish multi-nationals). In this article, its founder and owner, Dr Steve Minett, explains the benefits that the Minett Media system can provide.

Most PR professionals will agree on the value of getting positive editorial coverage of their clients published in targeted publications – brand building and legitimized sales material, to name just two. However, according to Dr Steve Minett (author of “B2B Marketing” ), very little methodological or technological innovation has generally been applied to this key area. His own agency, Minett Media, has spent the last 10 years developing a highly sophisticated, Internet-based system for globally delivering targeted material to trade press editors and reporting world-wide publication progress to clients. “The actual mechanisms for arousing editor attention and delivering material really haven’t changed since the emergence of the PR profession,” says Dr Minett. “What Minett Media has done, over the last decade, is to systematically apply the full potential of the Internet - which is very considerable - to this area of PR operations.”

Using the Internet to Maximize Benefits
What benefits can your Internet-based system deliver? “Two simple things; firstly, getting the simultaneous and immediate attention of thousands of appropriate editors and, secondly, making maximum, world-wide use of material that has been published. Achieving this second step requires on-line global reporting as to; a) what material is available for publication within the global organization, b) which journals, worldwide, are considering or planning to publish which articles and easy global access to copies of what has been published – and this is exactly what the Minett Media system can provide.”


The Problem of Editor Attention
Minett Media’s system is, firstly, a solution to the problem of getting editors’ attention, explains Dr Minett; “the obvious objective for communications people is to get your marketing messages placed in relevant journals. Achieving this involves overcoming at least three obstacles: firstly, editors have got to see your message as having news value for their readers. Secondly, the message has got to be well-prepared; meaning well-written, supplied with good quality pictures, etc. But the biggest obstacle of all - which has to be overcome before these are even considered - is to get the attention of editors. Essentially, this is a 'numbers problem': when looking at global publication, we have to remember that; there are thousands of companies in each business area, there are thousands of products continually being launched and there are hundreds of journals in each business area. When you multiple al this together it’s clear that the odds of getting through to editors via one-to-one, remote communication are astronomically high.”

Corner Store Vs Supermarket
So, how can PR professionals get editor attention? Dr Minett says, “The traditional/conventional method has been at the local level - a bit like a corner store targeting local customers. Either a local corporate office or a local PR agency will make an effort to develop personal relations with its relevant, local editors; phoning them, meeting them, etc. Minett Media, on the other hand, has built the first Global Supermarket for editors. And this has all the advantages that supermarkets generally have over corner stores, namely;

• A much bigger range of products - at any one time, we have hundreds of articles from more than 40 business areas
• A wider selection of brands - we've carried material from over 50 multi-national organizations
• And, the freedom of self-selection - being able to browse the shelves without the pressure of being personally sold to.”

The Minett Media System
Dr Minett describes how Minett Media's Global Editor Supermarket works. “We don't simply rely on editors coming to our website,” he insists. “We've created & maintain a database of many thousands of trade press editors around the world. Once a month we send them, via email, a 'shopping list' of available articles. (This monthly process, of course, ensures that we check the status and contact details of ‘bounced-back’ addresses.) We code the reports by business area to make them relevant to the particular editor and manageable in size. These lists contain short pieces of information - title, abstract, etc. If they're interested in an article, they click on its title which takes them through to the full article on our website.”


Feedback on Publication Opportunities
On our website, before they can access the full text of the article, they have to identify their journal and, its details are checked against our database before they can download the full text. (Again, a built-in up-dating of our journal database). This process automatically generates an email report back to the relevant client, telling them that this particular journal is interested in this particular article, or editorial item. We call this creating a Publication Opportunity. We then start electronically tracking this opportunity until the journal tells us whether they're going to publish the article or not. Ideally, we get a 'Decision to Publish' from them, which triggers another automatic email report to the client informing them that this journal is going to publish this article. Finally, we continue tracking the journal until we get a copy of the published version - so with our system, you don't need a clippings service! We ask for electronic copies, which we attach to a third email report to the client. In addition to sending these reports on the progress of individual publication opportunities, Minett Media also summarizes the situation for all of the client’s editorial items in an on-line, real-time report. This report can be accessed (via codes) on our website or, as many of our clients are now doing, directly on their company's Intranet.


Status Report on a Portfolio of Strategic Editorial Items
This status report starts by summarizing overall totals of Active Articles, Publications, Planned Publications, etc., and then displays the articles one-by-one. The articles & journals are interactive; for example, you can click on the article name and see the complete text of the article, plus its pictures & all other information about it. This means that anyone in the organization can see what's available for publication. Also, you can click on each journal for further information: firstly, basic information we have on it, geographic & functional coverage, circulation figures, contact details etc. If you want even more information, you can click through to the journal's own website, where you’ll find all the information which the journal chooses to make public there. We also include the published articles here, in their appropriate locations. These published copies are really one of the main pay-offs of our system because they provide the ideal sales material: they have all the credibility and legitimacy of editorial publication, which makes them far more effective, than, for example, company brochures. And, to make it easy for sales people to find an appropriate piece to take to their next sales meeting, we've included a key-word search. Here, for example, they can enter the name of a product, a business area, a country, a customer, etc., and find an appropriate published piece.”


Concept Only Articles
Minett Media’s system can also be used for three additional editorial service-products, which they've developed as a result of listening to suggestions from their clients: firstly, ‘Concept Only Articles’. “This is the idea of testing story ideas before you spend time & money producing the complete article. You insert a one-paragraph description of your story idea in our system - then you can find out whether - & which – journals may be interested in publishing it. Maybe an editor wants to write it, or they want you to get it produced - either way you know that you can get it published before you start work on it. And this takes us right back to our earlier point about newsworthiness - you can establish this before you spend resources on producing an article project. This method is also great for case stories; you can tell your, or your client’s, customer beforehand which journals are likely to publish it, which can help a lot in getting the customers co-operation to produce the final case.”


Expert Contacts
Secondly, Minett Media offers ‘Expert Contacts’: “Editors are always looking for technical experts they can quote & interview, so the idea is to enter a one-paragraph description of experts in your (or your client’s) company, giving their qualifications, experience etc. The editors can then express an interest in contacting them. This not only generates good publicity for the company but is a good way of motivating highly qualified personnel,” Dr Minett points out. The system provides two alternative responses to this type of editor interest; firstly, a ‘We'll-get-back-to-you’ response, which leaves the initiative with the client, or the system can give the contact details of a relevant communications person, who the editor can then & deal with directly.


Release Tracking & Full Editorial Activity Reporting
Thirdly, Minett Media has introduced a method to track the publication of press releases: firstly they send out the text of the release by email to the addresses in their appropriate business area lists. The formatted text plus pictures to illustrate the release are loaded onto Minett Media's website. At the end of the release text, editors are informed that high-resolution pictures are available for down-loading. “Those editors who do this will be captured by our reporting system and a mail to the relevant client will automatically be generated informing them that this journal is planning to publish their release. This will also appear on the client's Status Report, providing a list of the journals which are going to publish the release with pictures. Responses to Concept Only Articles & Expert Contacts will also appear in the Status report, providing full internal information within the global organization, in terms of what sort of article production is being planned & what sort of knowledge resources are available.”


Sales Material & Brand Building
Dr Minett concludes by summarizing the benefits of using Minett Media's service: “Firstly, we solve the problem of getting editors attention by using the power of the Internet to automate this process. Secondly, we provide complete information feedback both globally & locally, so that everyone in the global organization can; a) know what's going on with article production & publication progress, and b) can share the benefits of publication successes - which we make globally accessible to the whole organization. This complete information makes possible local/personal intervention to promote publications. And all of this together maximizes the results of your editorial efforts, which - as we said at the beginning - provides two major benefits; firstly, lots of ideal sales material, in the form of published articles, will be generated and automatically become available throughout the organization. Secondly, our system can significantly increase and maintain a regular global presence in the trade press – which will build brand - which is what gets b2b companies on the short list of suppliers when people are deciding from whom they're going to buy their equipment.”