I was speaking with a magazine ad salesman the other day and we were discussing how technology is changing how we all get our information. We reminisced for a brief moment on how advertisers could judge the effectiveness of their ad by the number of leads they received from the ‘bingo’ cards the magazines included. The internet did away with the ‘bingo’ cards. Once the magazines realized their readership wanted to find information while at their computer (instead of pouring through a pile of magazines), they all started their own websites.
The internet allows magazines to offer additional advertising opportunities. Besides their website, they can also send out e-mail ‘newsletters’ to their readership. They can promote ‘white papers’ their advertisers create as a means of getting attention for those customers. One of the latest trends is webinars. This is usually a 20 to 60 minute video presentation that includes a power point visual along with a live audio presentation. At the end of the presentation, the viewers are allowed to ask questions.
One of the offshoots of the webinar is a ‘virtual tradeshow’. This is where the organizing company (sometimes a magazine), puts together a number of their advertisers to present a video presentation on a specified date and time. The ‘virtual tradeshow’ will occur on a pre-set date and the advertisers/exhibitors are given a specific time slot to fill. At that time they give their live presentation and accept questions at the end. The advertiser/exhibitor must announce the topic of their presentation in advance so the potential visitors to the ‘virtual tradeshow’ can plan on which times they want to visit the ‘virtual tradeshow’ to see the presentations they feel are worth their time. The virtual tradeshow may someday eliminate real tradeshows. They save everyone a tremendous amount of time and money to accomplish much of the same results as a real live tradeshow.
The final trend I see now that can alter the way we all advertise in and read trade magazines, is the new e-readers. These are hand-held devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle, or Sony’s Reader. Magazines will soon start to offer downloads of their latest edition on these readers so that busy business men and women can have the convenience of carrying their reading material, including magazines in their pocket. Public transportation commuters will be able to catch up on all the latest news articles while in route to the office without having to carry a stack of magazines.
Technology is definitely changing the way we all live and work. In business we need to keep abreast of these changes as quickly as they occur, or be left behind by more technical savvy competitors.
The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage,
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