Industry-specific magazines offer a wealth of information on your business and your market. Business magazines are an important source of business information. Aside from the major general-interest business publications (Business Week, Wall Street Journal, etc.), there are many specialty publications that look at specific industries. Specialization is an important trend in the publishing and Internet businesses. Dingbats and Widgets may be boring to the general public, but they are exciting to Dingbat and Widget manufacturers who read about them regularly in their specialized magazines. The magazines are an important medium for industry-specific advertising, which is important to readers as well as advertisers. The editorial staffs of these magazines have to fill the space between the ads. They do that by publishing as much industry specific information as they can find, including statistics, forecasts, and industry profiles. Paging through one of these magazines or visiting a website can sometimes produce a great deal of business and market forecasting, and economic information.
If you don’t already know what magazines focus on your business area, then the best place to start looking is on the Internet. For traditional printed directories, several good reference sources list magazines, journals, and other publications. They also offer indexes to published articles which you can use to search for the exact references you need. These will be kept in the reference section of most libraries. Once you’ve identified the right magazines, contact the editorial departments using their website, fax or phone number and published contact information.
Many industry-specific magazines publish statistical editions and market reviews at regular intervals. Another good idea is to contact the magazine staff. Start with the managing editor, who is normally the highest journalist in the publication. Find a convenient time to ask him or her for a few minutes of expert advice. The journalists who cover your industry are frequently very knowledgeable.