Journalists, writing from company press releases, are not business people and marketers should take what they write with a grain of salt. Magazines like Ad Age and Adweek are not serving their readers by writing corporate propaganda.
Like most marketing people I tend to read a lot of trade magazines online. Their recent articles leave a lot to be desired and don’t question stupid ideas like Coke thinking it can win back lost customers by airing a Super Bowl commercial.
The same can be said for some research organizations that hire people right out of school and call them “analysts”. These are the people that basically write from free online research reports telling us what the charts already tell us.
So what should you look for?
(1) Has the author ever worked in a business environment for a brand?
(2) Does the author understand marketing 101?
(3) Does the writer have a good track record if they had worked in marketing?
When I talk to reporters I make it a point to talk about my experience working in the industry and my accomplishments. It’s too bad that too many take what is written in business magazines as fact and don’t question what journalists have written.
