Q-media: Better marketing through stronger presence

FROM ULRICH SCHWARZ*The publications of the trade and special press fulfill important functions in the professional environment as information, communication and advertising media. Thanks to their content focus on specialist and thematic areas, their editorial competence and credibility, and their role as opinion leaders with high reader loyalty, they are an important link in the specific market. Quality is also the key success factor for the trade and special-interest press in the tough competition for readers and media budgets. In order to make qualitative standards of trade and special media comprehensible or verifiable and also easier to communicate, the Association of Swiss Media has created the "Q-Publication" quality seal as a genre marketing platform. With this seal of quality, the publishers of trade and specialty press that are members of the association have created an independent label for these publications.How do I get the media buyer's attention?Most media buyers in agencies do not usually work with the usually elaborately designed rate data sheets - they already have all the details necessary for booking in the software system. All other background information - such as market-relevant facts about the target group, readership and affinity - does not reach the buyer in the first place and is therefore not taken into account in the buying decision. In personal communication with customers and agencies, of course, things are different: Facts can be highlighted and information can be handed over in the form of brochures and sample copies. But the facts are best kept where the booking process takes place, namely in the media buyer's system.Important media information always at handQualiant is a software provider from Austria that offers special solutions for agencies. After a 25-year presence in Switzerland, Qualiant is clearly the market-leading "outfitter" of media agencies. Qualiant has been supplying media agencies for years with the LEADING MediaBase Switzerland - the leading Swiss database for print information. It contains media information on about 2500 titles, which are maintained by a busy team on a daily basis.For the handling of ad bookings LEADING Media is the leading system in Switzerland. More than three quarters of the sales of all Swiss media agencies are processed with the program, making LEADING MediaBase Switzerland the de facto decisive point of sale (POS) for advertisements in print media in general and for trade and special media in particular. Around 98 percent of all currently certified "Q publications" can already be booked via the media database.Media database: synergies for publishers and agenciesFor this reason, the Swiss Media Association approached Qualiant in May 2014 on the recommendation of a very large agency: The publishers were looking for ways to raise awareness among advertisers or media managers of the high-quality trade and specialty media or to market them better. The invitation to consider a joint action in the field of genre marketing here was charming, but it had to be of benefit to Qualiant's customers, especially the Swiss media agencies.Open for marketing ideasFrom now on, "Q-Publications" can present themselves to planners free of charge as particularly user-friendly: In future, they will be highlighted in the LEADING Media- Base Switzerland media tariff database. From this, the planner or buyer can recognize that it is conveniently possible to call up additional information for this title. To ensure that the media information is always up-to-date, it is taken directly from the publishers' websites. It has not yet been finalized which additional information can be offered to the agencies by the publishers. Examples of possible additional information: the cover of the current issue, the original PDF rate sheets with information on performance values and target groups, and also special topics. Attractive suggestions from the publishers or media are welcome. The labeling as "QPublication " should also become a promise here. Due to the highlighting, media buyers recognize in these publications that further information can be easily retrieved. Possible expansion stages for "Q-Publications" in the coming year could include the presentation of additional information and highlighting in the public online database at qua- liant.com. For about two years, an excerpt of the Swiss database has been available free of charge at www.qualiant.com/mediabase/switzerland.php available to the public. Agency customers of Qualiant dispose with daily maintained information.The article as PDF is available here: Department_Q-Media