I started my career in daily newspapers 20 years ago and until 1994 had never heard of trade media (now known by the more fancy name of business-to-business/B2B media). Trade media didn't feature in our curriculum at the time and maybe we weren't all that interested because as journalism students, we all thought we'd end up in television or at the old Rand Daily Mail and change the world! Business-to-business media, like community newspapers and community radio, is, however, one of the best places to start in media as smaller operations mean you get to be more hands on and tackle the big stories. You also get to try your hand at being a specialist and making a real difference in your industry with news, information and education. At Bizcommunity.com we know we also help build businesses - our clients tell us so. Problem is, B2B media in particular receives very little support and resources from any mainstream media organisations or Government. It is in fact, when done properly and ethically, a large contributor to the economy, trading in vital information and helping build knowledge assets - the currency of any well performing industry sector. So it is very heartening to us when the international B2B media organisation, TABPI, chooses South Africa as its first Editors' Chapter outside of the US to support and promote journalism excellence in this sector. We will focus on training and research through TABPI SA, supporting and liaising with existing regulatory industry organisations for the betterment of the B2B media sector. This is a call for all B2B editors to sign up to the database and assist in building a relevant organisation. Email myself, (louise@bizcommunity.com) or Natalia Thomson, managing editor of Now Media (nataliat@nowmedia.co.za), TABPI SA joint co-ordinators, to be added to the database. All input welcomed and encouraged.
Have a great week! Louise Marsland, editor: editor@bizcommunity.com. All marketing news to: marketingnews@bizcommunity.com. Responses to this column welcome on our blog: http://blog.bizcommunity.com.