While the trade publications your customers, or even your employee reads, can be tool to build stronger relationships, you must consider some of the problems with most B2B trade publications.
Often trade publications promote confusion over an understanding. Packed full of jargon and terminology designed to keep you in the dark, primarily so you hire expensive consultants (or visit advertisers.) Articles often are grammatically poor, bias in nature, and hardly provide the value promised.
At least that is what some people might say. In truth, a few B2B trade publications must cover a large array of topics -- this makes a close study of specific topics difficult.
Understand there are wonderful B2B trade publications, and as much as this article discusses their problems, it outlines the traits of great publications.
Most trade publications don't pay their writers. Often trade publications bring experts on board to contribute materials in exchange for media exposure. This means anyone with some consistency can get their articles published and in front of a generally targeted audience.
Trade publications need fodder for advertisers. Often less than quality materials make it to publication because it enhances the value of a particular advertiser. Content should advance a readers interest, but publications have to pay their bills too.
Limited budgets mean fewer editors to proof materials. While I'm not an expert in grammar and often make mistakes in that area, trade publications need to do a better job of screening content for errors. They need to look at readability and jargon. Too often trade materials are difficult to understand, even cryptic.
Magazine audiences are diluted in on-line formats. Often the on-line version of a business-to-business trade publications are watered and less demographically dense in comparison to their print version. So much effort goes into targeting the print audience, but it seems they publish just about anything in digital.
Trade publications don't maintain their own area experts. Due to budget constraints, most B2B trade publications don't have a resident expert for each topic they cover. They rely on an editorial board or just don't screen articles as well as they could. Often advertisers shape content, providing a disservice to the reader.
Often content contributors skew advice around services offered. Since publication editors are not experts in the field their magazine covers, content is often accepted that is heavily slanted to a specific method of solution. This steals time from the reader by misleading them. If at all possible articles should remain neutral.
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