An overall Marketing Toolkit

Messaging Strategy Advertising. Because you have a more involved (and presumably more targeted) audience, magazine ads can be built differently than newspaper ads. You can include more copy if required to tell the story, and get into more specific information than you can with a newspaper. If possible, you will want to use color to help draw attention to your ad. If the copy is longer than a few sentences, use subheads to break it up; try to make sure the headline and subheads tell the story, even if the reader doesn’t get beyond them.

Public relations. Pitch your expertise to help with stories the publication is creating; many magazines have editorial calendars that tell you when a story on a particular topic will run. Contact the editor or appropriate reporter at least two months before the story is scheduled to run. (Some publications have even longer lead times, so be sure you know the appropriate time to contact them.)

Many magazines also accept contributed articles, so check the Web site to see if you can suggest an article you will write for them. Generally, you are not allowed to mention your company within the article – it has to be what they call “vendor neutral” – but you can include a mention and your contact information in the “About the author” section at the end.

Finally, magazines (and their Web sites) are great targets for news releases.

Many are constantly posting news on their sites, and welcome contributions from businesses in their area of coverage.