Let’s pretend you have $10,000 to spend promoting your organization.
You have two choices. Buy an ad in the local daily newspaper. Or co-sponsor one of several events hosted by the local business journal.
Which would you choose? Paul Furiga says the decision is easy. If you want to get in front of a business audience, sponsor the event–and you might have to spend only $5,000 to do it.
“Co-sponsoring an event with The Business Journal is going to get you on every letter that goes out every time that event is marketed,” says Paul, former editor of the Pittsburgh Business Times. “A typical business journal has 10,000 subscribers. Typically they’ll mail twice or three times. You’re going to be on 10,000 to 30,000 pieces of paper associated with the local business journal. In the minds of the audience you want to reach, you are gaining the credibility of being positioned with them.”
The second reason, he says, is that The Business Journal will advertise the event in its own publication.
“Think for a minute how much it would cost your organization to advertise in the local business journal,” Paul said. “Co-sponsor one of their events means you’re going to gain the value of that advertising as well.”
If you’re a co-sponsor, you’ll probably be able to invite most of your staff. Many business journal reporters and editors will be there, too. That means lots of chances to schmooze.
I agree with Paul. We teamed up during a teleseminar a few years ago to highlight the dozens of ways you can tell your story through the more than 40 business journals throughout the United States and the Crain’s newspapers in New York, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. Business journals even cover schools and non-profits because they are important to the local business community.
During the teleseminar “How to Use Business Journals to Tell Your Story,” Paul explained how to find your way into these business newspapers, which can be publicity gold mines–and much more effective than the business section of your local metro newspaper.