Q: I want to make and sell candles. What’s my industry?
Q: What is a trade publication exactly?
Q: How do I use a trade publication to generate customer leads?
Q: I’m the only person making beeswax candles in my town. Why does it matter what’s going on in my industry? It doesn’t affect me here does it?
Q: What do I google to find my trade publication?
Q: What’s an example of a trade publication?
Q: How do I find free ezines to help me self-educate about my business?
Q: I want to make and sell candles. What’s my industry?
Ah, the industry identification can of worms. Life slows to a crawl at the census websites, but we still have to try. To identify your industry, we suggest you go to the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) website at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/naics-scian/2007/list-liste-eng.htm and test the search function there. Our quick search for “candles” has you identified as “339990 – All Other Miscellaneous Manufacturing – Candles, Manufacturing.” This industry lumps together a gallimaufry of manufacturers, from Artificial Christmas Tree makers to wigs and zippers.
To learn more about this, we suggest you visit Step 18: List Key Points About Your Industry
Q: What is a trade publication exactly?
A magazine focused on your business or industry. Here is a definition of “trade journal” from Wikipedia. “A trade journal or trade magazine is a periodical, magazine or publication printed with the intention of target marketing to a specific industry or type of trade/business. The collective term for this area of publishing is the trade press.”
Q: How do I use a trade publication to generate customer leads?
There are a number of ways to generate leads from a trade publication, including:
- advertise your products and services in the publication
- Write and publish articles in the publication
- Letters to the editor, responding to key issues in your business or industry
- Read articles and ads in the publication to pick up names of potential customers
- Scan advertisements in the publication to note who your competitors are targeting
- Use the publication to stay current with key industry events (conferences, training, grand openings, networking, etc.), and attend those events where possible
Q: I’m the only person making beeswax candles in my town. Why does it matter what’s going on in my industry? It doesn’t affect me here does it?
Q: What do I google to find my trade publication?
Great question. We had immediate success with the following Google searches.
trade publications for training business
free ezines for training business
training business publications
Searching just gets easier and easier. Google has a wonderful function – after you do a search, check the bottom of the results page for “Searches related to…” and you will find a wealth of potential keyword searches to try. And don’t forget to try other search engines as well, such as Bing, Yahoo, and Clusty.
Q: What’s an example of a trade publication?
There are so many, rather than a specific example we refer you to a couple of links that offer many links to get your search started. Entrepreneur magazine has a great database of trade publications at http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradepublication/category/index.html and another of trade journals at http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/index.html– click on the left sidebar to search for examples by industry or category. As well, Wikipedia has a great and growing list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trade_magazines
Q: How do I find free ezines to help me self-educate about my business?
There are millions of ezines available via the Internet today, most of them free. It is easier than most people think to locate ezines. You are probably just a couple clicks away as you read this FAQ.
For example, suppose you are starting a dog training business and you wish to become more knowledgeable about the dog training business and the industry.
We suggest beginning your search at http://www.google.ca/ with simple keyword search. For this example, we’ve chosen to use dog training business ezine, but you can apply a similar string of words for your own business or industry category.
For us the top ranking link was to an ezine article at http://ezinearticles.com/?Start-a-Dog-Training-Business&id=2284650 To a probing mind, there’s a great deal to be learned from this page.
• The article itself offers information on starting a dog training business. The article might lead us to a dog training business ezine.
• A glance at the resource box (author’s link at the bottom of the article) tells us the author of the article and links to the authors website. A search of the author’s website might bring other dog training articles or links to ezines. At a minimum, if you happen to be a mom working from home, this link might be useful.
• The article lives at ezinearticles.com which is one of the oldest and most successful ezine websites on the web. Further searches of the EzineArticles website is sure to bring all kinds of dog training articles and links.
• The ads by Google link to several other articles and websites pertaining to the dog training business and industry. These ads are placed by entrepreneurs who are in business and obviously serious about marketing their products and services in the dog training business and industry. Many of them most likely publish ezines for both marketing and customer service purposes. Although the ‘ads’ scenario changes, at this viewing we count 5 ads/links at the top of the page, 8 ads to the right of the article, and another 11 ads in the left side panel.
• Toward the bottom of the page are a number of links to other potential articles – the “Other Related Articles” category appears particularly relevant to the dog training business.
Hitting the back button takes us back to the Google search results, where the first page shows links to Free Dog Training Video Newsletter and Waggin’ Tails Ezine, either one of which might be the publication you need to learn more about your business or industry. At a minimum, they will enable you to peek into your competitor’s world and learn how he or she is doing things.
Another search to try is dog training business newsletter. Search engines have made it easy to find information. You are never more than a few clicks away from whatever information you need to succeed!
Happy learning!
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