Sales and Marketing Publications for Beginners

Using sales and marketing publications as resources for your business

By Kate Esposito
If you work in advertising or you need a new strategy to promote your business, it's a good idea to look at marketing publications. These are what the sales insiders use to help them get their ideas to try to promote products and services.

By gaining a working knowledge of sales publications, you can keep up on the latest trends in promotions as well as the launch of new products. This can help your business stay competitive and on top of the latest developments in commerce. If you're new to sales and marketing publications, for beginners you should check out the following three types:

1. Popular sales and marketing magazines that are trusted by industry insiders;

2. Newspapers and newsletters put out by the trade associations;

3. Journals that contain more scientific takes on current sales statistics.

 

Become a connoisseur of the sales and marketing magazine

When considering which publications for marketing to read, don't just pick up any old magazine off the shelf. You want to read the ones that your competitors -- or their marketing agencies -- are likely to look at.
Try: Pick up a copy of Advertising Age, a Crain Communications publication. This weekly is the Time Magazine of the advertising world. Everyone who is anyone reads it. You can order it in print or in digital form. If you're interested in marketing at trade shows, the next magazine you should take a gander at is Exhibitor. This monthly magazine is the premier source for trade show trends. It contains case studies and other practical information.

Check out marketing and sales publications in newspaper and newsletter form

Newspapers and newsletters are also useful business marketing publications, although they don't have as high a profile as the magazines usually do. The important thing here is to make sure these publications come from reputable sources so you can trust the information they contain.
Try: DM News is an excellent publication to look at if you are interested in direct marketing, which is targeting your advertising straight to the consumer. If you want to learn more about marketing on the Internet, look at the Web Marketing Association's free newsletter, Interactive Briefing. You can learn about upcoming competitions and trade shows related to your field.

Seek out sales and marketing journals

If you want deep analysis from your publications for sales, marketing journals may be for you. These journals contain long, in-depth articles and studies on sales and marketing subjects.
Try: The American Marketing Association publishes out the Journal of Marketing Research each month. Its focus is on market research, which includes ad concepts and new product development, with a concentration on the business side. Another interesting journal to look at is The University of Memphis' Journal of Advertising, which focuses on ad theory.