Finding the Right Trade Publications for Your Product

A well-written announcement sent to the wrong place is wasted. An average one sent to the right editor, who happens to be looking for exactly this, can do a great deal. The difference lies in finding the publications that serve the people you want to reach.

For makers, this is often the least glamorous part of announcing a product, and one of the most useful. This guide explains how to find trade publications in your field, how to judge them and how to build a short list you can approach with a clear conscience.

What trade publications are

A trade magazine or journal is a publication aimed at people working in a particular industry or profession. It carries news, product information, analysis and advice for that audience. Today the form includes print titles, websites, newsletters, podcasts and video channels, as well as the publications of professional associations.

Their readers are specialists. They want to know what is new in their work. That is why trade titles are valuable to makers: a short mention to the right readership can matter more than a large audience of the wrong one.

Start with your customer

The best guide to where to look is the person you serve.

• Ask your customers: What do you read? Which newsletters do you subscribe to? Which sites do you check on Monday morning?
• Ask your sales conversations: Where did you hear about us? What else do you follow?
• Look at your analytics: Which referring sites send visitors?
• Ask your advisers and mentors: Who in the field is respected?

Write down every name you hear. The same ones appearing repeatedly are your core targets.

Where else to look

Competitors and neighbours

Search for competitors' announcements. Which publications covered them? Which quoted them? Neighbours, products in adjacent areas, also give clues.

Trade bodies and associations

Professional associations usually publish journals, newsletters or websites. They also list sponsors, partners and events. Their members are a defined readership.

Events

Conference and trade-show programmes show the topics of the moment and the media partners. Media partners are publications that cover the event.

Search in the field's vocabulary

Use the trade's own terms to search for news, "product news", "new releases" or "suppliers", and note which publications appear repeatedly. Our guide to naming your category in trade terms helps with vocabulary.

Directories and listings

Directories of media and trade publications exist in many fields, some free and some paid. Treat their data with care, as contact details go stale.

Social and professional networks

Editors and writers often post what they cover. Follow those in your field, and note what they share.

Podcasts and video channels

Increasingly, trade coverage lives in audio and video. Check which shows your customers listen to.

Assess each candidate

Make a table. For each publication, record:

• Name and address.
• Readership: who, and how many if known.
• Type: magazine, newsletter, site, podcast.
• Frequency: daily, weekly, monthly.
• Coverage: do they cover new products? How are items presented?
• Editor or relevant writer: names and contact routes.
• Submission guidance: do they say how to send news?
• Tone and style.
• Fit: high, medium, low.
• Recent items similar to yours.

Then judge them.

Fit

Is the readership your target? A publication for large enterprises is wrong for a tool for sole traders. A national title may reach too many of the wrong people; a niche newsletter may reach exactly your customers.

Quality

Signs of a respected publication:

• Named editors and writers.
• A stated editorial approach and a corrections policy.
• Clear separation of editorial and advertising.
• Consistent, accurate coverage.
• Recognition among practitioners.
• Regular updates.

Warning signs:

• Anonymous content.
• Pay-to-play coverage dressed as editorial.
• A flood of low-quality items.
• Errors that are never corrected.
• No sign of readers.

Advertising and editorial

Many publications sell advertising and sponsored content as well as publishing editorial. That is legitimate if clearly labelled. Advertising rules in many places say that marketing content must remain recognisable as such, even when it is designed to sit comfortably among editorial. UK guidance on native advertising says it may look at home among editorial but must not appear to be editorial when it is not, and the US Federal Trade Commission's guide on native advertising makes a similar point about disclosure.

Treat any offer of guaranteed coverage for a fee as advertising, and expect it to be labelled. Never pay for something to be presented as independent editorial.

Reach and cost

If you consider paid options, compare cost per relevant reader, not just total audience. Ask for audience data from the publisher's media pack, treat figures as claims and ask how they were measured.

Reputation among your customers

Ask three customers what they think of the publication. Their answers are worth more than a rate card.

Build a shortlist

Aim for five to ten publications at first.

• Core: two or three that almost certainly reach your customers.
• Adjacent: two or three that cover neighbouring fields.
• Local or regional: if place matters.
• Wildcard: one that is larger or less obvious.

Rank them by fit and likelihood. Start with the core, where an item is most valuable and most probable.

Read before you write

Spend time with each.

• Read the last three issues or a month of posts.
• Note the length and structure of product items.
• Note the tone, formal or chatty.
• Note who writes.
• Note what they do not cover.
• Note if they prefer exclusives, early notice or embargoes.

Then adapt your announcement to their style: length, angle, vocabulary, image shape. A brief written to match their pattern is easier for them to use.

Make contact properly

• Find the right person, the one who covers your area, not the general inbox if you can avoid it.
• Check the submission guidance and follow it exactly.
• Send a short, personal note referring to something they published.
• Make the first lines count.
• Include everything they need, briefly.
• Do not mass-mail. Individual messages to individual people.
• Respect lead times. Monthly titles plan weeks ahead.
• Follow up once.

Our guide to how a trade desk sorts announcements explains what editors look for and how to make the first lines count.

Keep a media list

A media list is a working document. Columns might include:

• Publication.
• Person and role.
• Contact route.
• What they cover.
• Dates of contact.
• What you sent.
• Response.
• Notes: preferences, lead times.
• Permission to contact.

Keep personal data to what you need and keep it secure. Rules on personal data apply to contact lists, and professional contact details for work purposes still deserve care. Update the list regularly and remove people who ask to be removed.

Think beyond press

Not all useful coverage is from traditional publications.

• Newsletters written by individuals with loyal readerships.
• Community forums and groups in your field.
• Professional associations' member communications.
• Directories and launch platforms where products are listed.
• Podcasts.
• Blogs by respected practitioners.
• Customers' own stories.

The same principles apply: fit, honesty, relevance.

Respect and long-term relations

Editors remember how you behave.

• Be accurate. Correct mistakes quickly.
• Be reliable. Meet deadlines.
• Be honest about exclusives and embargoes.
• Do not pester.
• Say thank you.
• Give editors things they can use even when they are not about you: a useful quote, a data point, an introduction.

Over time, you become a trusted source, which is worth more than any single mention.

Review every year

Publications change: new ones appear, old ones close, editors move. Once a year, review your list. Ask your customers again what they read. Remove dead entries and add new ones.

A short worked example

A founder of a snagging app for site inspectors asks ten customers what they read. Four name the same monthly magazine for building professionals; three name a weekly newsletter run by an experienced site manager; two follow a trade body's journal. She finds that a rival was covered in the magazine and the newsletter. She reads three issues of each, notes that the magazine runs product briefs of about a hundred and fifty words and the newsletter prefers a short personal note with a demonstration offer.

Her shortlist has six names. She writes a brief for the magazine, a short note for the newsletter writer, a more technical angle for the trade body journal and holds the rest for later. She keeps a list, follows up once and writes a thank-you to each editor who runs anything. It took a week, and it was the most productive marketing week of the year.

Common mistakes

• Sending to everyone.
• Not reading the publication first.
• Choosing by size, not fit.
• Paying for coverage and calling it earned.
• Using stale contact data.
• Pestering.
• No record of what was sent.

On this site

The categories page shows the subjects readers browse here, the launches page shows how short product items read, the search page helps find similar products and the submit page starts an entry, whose announcement makers then write from their account. The blog has more guides in this series.

The short version

Find trade publications by asking your customers, then check competitors' coverage, trade bodies, events, vocabulary searches and directories. Assess each for readership, frequency, coverage, quality, separation of advertising from editorial and fit, and build a short list of five to ten. Read before you write, tailor each message, contact the right person, follow up once, keep a respectful media list and review it yearly. The right readers matter more than the biggest audience.