The barometer is rising!
The other day while having my morning cup of coffee and looking over the usual avalanche of email, I started reading an article about the decline of business journalism and it’s impact on the ability of company CEOs to share their corporate stories clearly and accurately in the business press. What started out as a casual reading, however, became more and more intriguing as I read on.

The primary message being put across in that article was that with younger, less experienced staff increasingly replacing broadly experienced veteran reporters all across the business media landscape, “…it falls to public relations professionals to spend more time explaining how a company fits into a broader social or economic trend — articulating their company’s stories in a way that the reporters can understand and appreciate. In the past, news organizations provided this perspective, but that capability has been steadily declining for some time now.” 1

The article goes on to point out that it’s more important than ever for CEOs to develop core communications messages that go beyond the issue of profitability and stock price. The broader and still unanswerable question is whether the decline in the quality of business journalism will have an impact on the critical business issues of the day.

That got me thinking about the emails, abstracts and manuscripts we receive from potential editorial contributors to the magazine almost daily. Some of these come directly from the originating companies and authors, but today we see an increasing portion coming from – though not necessarily written by – public relations firms and communications consultants; and not only those from major corporations with PR firms on retainer. The fact is, we’re also starting to see more of these articles coming from PR agencies serving smaller companies, which also need (and deserve) professional representation for this vital business area.

I must say that I find all of this quite interesting; especially since it wasn’t so very long ago that it was almost impossible to find a public relations firm that could be of practical use to automation/IT companies. By this I mean the kind of automation and information technology companies serving the energy and utility industries – not consumer electronics companies. Why the distinction? Because being able to offer interesting insights about something as mundane as a sectionalizing switch for feeder automation is a much different challenge than putting a shiny purple MP3 player in the hand of an attractive, technologically hip model for a TV or magazine spot – even if your target audience really,
really likes cool sectionalizing switches!

Indeed, it has never been all that difficult to find a PR firm capable of handling consumer-centric technology products. But finding one that could grasp the applications and nuances typical of industrial markets used to be a rare find – and believe me, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find them over the years. Even in big media towns like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, PR firms with tangible technological skills and experience were relatively few in number, at least until the “dot com” explosion began in the late 1990s.

During that period, high-tech PR and commu­nications agencies were springing up almost everywhere – even here in New Orleans, where local firms have traditionally depended primarily on jewelry stores, restaurants, shipping and tourism to sustain them. Even the coverage by major oil and gas media consultants was mostly about finan­cial reporting and annual reports; not much at all on the technical side of the energy business. But as is often the case, that was then, and this is now. To be sure, we still don’t have the legion of PR choices that places like Atlanta and Dallas have at their dis­posal, but it’s definitely a lot better than it was.

Today, almost any major city (as well as a lot of smaller ones) offers a choice of PR firms ready to help craft and polish your image and your message. Perhaps one of the reasons more – and decidedly better – resources are available in our market space today is that the energy and utilities market is suddenly at the center of the universe when it comes to publicity; not just in the industry trade press, but across virtually all forms of media. But whatever the reasons, it’s easier than ever to portray your company in a positive light and get professional help in doing that

You’ve probably heard the cliché, “bad press is better than no press,” but why make that trade-off? While most of the editorial material we receive here at the magazine – regardless of the originating source – is quite good, there are still a few companies and individuals that have yet to fully grasp the basic concepts of business journalism. Keep in mind that the goal isn’t the Nobel Prize for literature – just some fact-based content; a coherent flow of information; a couple of interesting visuals and conforming to the basic format guidelines will do just fine.

Although by reading through the pages of this issue you can readily see that we get a lot of excellent editorial material, other submissions are rejected because they fail to present the information in a format that allows readers to easily absorb the salient points and value in an interesting (and non-commercial) way. There are some very good PR firms that can help you avoid the pitfalls and present your story accurately, stylishly and professionally. Seek them out, and you just might be surprised at the impact it can have on getting your material published – and read.

In conclusion, let me say that despite the glitz of the advertising component, I believe that editorial quality is the true barometer of the media business… and thanks to a new breed of tech-savvy communications and public relations resources, that barometer is rising! – Ed.