Survey reveals shocking news about trades

Journalists turn to blogs nearly as often as trade publications for industry information

Public relations professionals are challenged with information overload. To provide proper context and counsel to our internal clients, we must understand the trends shaping a myriad of industry segments, the strategies of market leaders and emerging vendors, and how our company fits into the mix.

The social media era has made the content tsunami worse. Personally, I’ve added a host of blogs, Twitter feeds and LinkedIn group discussions to the periodicals and journals I read on a weekly basis.

Yet, regardless of how many blogs I add to my Google Reader I still consider trade publications such as Computerworld, InfoWorld, CIO, Network World and InformationWeek must-reads. Their writers know the markets they cover better than general business journalists, and they tend to provide reliable and well-researched insight and analysis.

In fact, I have had editors at mainstream outlets such as BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes ask me to send a client’s trade clips before they would seriously entertain developing a story about the company. I had to prove the client was the talk of its industry because the trade media typically sniffed out companies that lacked substance.