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Advertising is knowing what to say; marketing is knowing where to say it. Here’s where to learn where to say it. A brief look at three directories—and how to find and reach your markets in each.
Burrelle’s Media Directory/Magazines and Newsletters
Burrelle’s Media Directory/Magazines and Newsletters is an excellent reference tool for researching markets—and figuring out where to place your hard-earned advertising and PR dollars. It’s designed to be an easy-to-use reference tool from the get-go, with information presented clearly, concisely, and in a logical format. It’s in-depth coverage at its best.
Even though the book is big, over 1,400 81/2″ x 11″ pages containing over 12,000 magazines and newsletters, you can find a particular market you are searching for in about a minute, faster if you have a little experience. Subjects or markets are arranged alphabetically. Looking for ‘B’ankers? Well&ldots;that was easy. All the magazines going to the banking industry are found in the market index under B.
The listing for each magazine contains the following data: publisher, address, phone, fax, e-mail, editors’ names, circulation, cost of ads, frequency of publication, and my personal favorite—whether or not they accept publicity material. Burrelle’s also gives a short description of the market the magazine serves and its editorial slant. This tells you if you’re barking up the right tree when searching through the ground pulpwood for the correct magazine.
In addition to the subject index—where markets appear alphabetically by market name—there is an index of magazines listed alphabetically by magazine name. In this index, you would find a magazine under its proper name. American Banker—check under A. Hey, that was easy, too. All in all, if you can remember the alphabet, you can find your markets pretty darn fast in Burrelle’s Media Directory/Magazines and Newsletters.
Burrelle’s actually publishes a five-book set of in-depth media directories: Magazines and Newsletters, Newspapers and Related Media (2 volumes), and Broadcast and Related Media (2 volumes). Once you spend ten minutes or so figuring out how to use each, an incredible amount of information is at your fingertips and accessible in seconds. The staff at Burrelle’s is approachable for questions (yes, even tough marketing questions) and is exceptionally friendly and helpful—a big, big plus that sets the value of the product (and the firm) at the very peak of the information industry. Five stars for directories and customer service. Magazine and newsletter directory, $225 and worth it. Burrelle’s Media Directory/Magazines and Newsletters, telephone 800/USMEDIA for a free descriptive brochure. We use this directory in our own office.
The All-In-One Directory
Gebbie Press publishes the All-In-One Directory, which includes sections on magazines, newspapers, and electronic media, all in one book.
Magazines and journals are shown in a tight 25-to-a-page format. But the folks at Gebbie Press cram enough information into their list of 3,000 business, consumer, and farm publications for you to be able to send a press release campaign to the proper magazines.
Each listing contains the publisher, the main editor, address, phone and fax numbers, circulation, and a short description of the magazine’s audience. This is bare-bones information, but enough to find the correct market, locate the magazines that serve it, and direct a press release to the editor by name. It is also enough information to call the editor and inquire if your product will fit well in their particular market.
The newspaper section is contained in the center third of the 6″ x 9″ spiral-bound directory and includes over 7,500 entries of news syndicates and daily and weekly newspapers. Newspapers are arranged by state, and listings show name, address, and phone and fax numbers, along with circulation figures.
The final third of the 500-page All-In-One Directory is all electronic media and includes listings of TV network headquarters, news services, and over 1,200 television stations. The bulk of this section follows with the data for over 7,000 radio stations. As you would suspect, all the necessary data is shown so you are able to find a station, then send them a press release or inquire about placing an ad. A good value at $85. Gebbie Press, 914/255-7560.
Bradley’s Guide to the Top National TV Talk Shows
What if you’re not looking for depth, but just need the names of, say, the top 100 national TV news, talk, and magazine shows? Well, for $75 and a charge card you can get just that from Bradley Communications in Lansdowne, PA.
No fancy anything—just a spiral binding and a nicely laid-out book. If you are looking for just the top 100 shows, why buy anything else? The talk show market is hard to break into, but with enough phone calls, an incredible amount of persistence, and a good hook, perhaps someone, somewhere, will bite. You never know what’s going to turn on a producer. Bradley’s Guide to the Top National TV Talk Shows offers listings of show name, address, phone and fax, contact person for pitch, hosts, times the show runs, and subject interests. Also included: pitch angles that the show’s producers like. It shows some suggestions on how to get in, and where and how to send your story.
While Bradley’s Guide to the Top National TV Talk Shows does not contain the deepest of listings, and limits its listings to the top shows in the country, if you think you’ve got the right stuff, here’s how to get to the country’s hottest top show producers. For $75, can you afford not to try? Bradley Communications, telephone 610/259-1070, orders 800/989-1400. Bradley also publishes a wealth of reference publications on public relations, publishing, and selling books. Call for a free catalog.
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