'Zen' and the Fine Art of Media Relations

May 5, 2011
Getting to know and building relationships with industry journalists
A friend, connections, likes and thumbs-down. Tweets, Tweetups and YouTuber's-we're connecting, but really, we're not.

Can you tell raw emotion from e-mails, instant messages and short, intense bursts of information? Not likely.

Be caring, compassionate, mindful of the many challenges we all face in our fast-paced world. Shake a hand; give a hug; dial that number-say hello, say goodbye, but in-between speak your mind in a respectful way.

Build relationships for now and later

Talk, listen-hear the voices of the industry loud and clear and in a way you've never before. Think beyond today and envision tomorrow-what we need to do to feed success and move forward. Look at some of the innovation we've seen from companies and partner with others to bring out the best in all we do.

Get to know us media folks-we're honest, trained journalists with truth and First Amendment freedoms at our core; only it's in the B2B (business to business) world where we ply our trade, all with the same commitment to telling both sides of a story truthfully and honestly so the readers can make their own decisions on which to base opinions.

We're not Woodward & Bernstein of The Washington Post's Watergate fame but we pride ourselves to be in many ways on the same level, however with a gentler touch because after all-we're all in this together.

We don't want to be challenged or put down; we want to help you-everyone in the industry who cares about our future-make this industry on par with the IT businesses during the 'Big Blue' days or the cellular telephone companies in their formative years. We don't want to be disrespected with broad sweeping generalizations about the press or media. Instead, we want you to teach us what's important to know so we can in turn present it to our readers in an educational fashion. And I thank all of you who have honestly done that in my tenure and that of our 33-year-old magazine.

Don't demand press; get us interested by understanding who our readers are and what we want them to read. I repeatedly ask myself: "What do my readers really want and need to know?" Know the topics that installers, consultants, specifiers and others need to read to move more succinctly into the realm of Systems Integrator or Value-Added Systems Reseller. Analytics, the clouds, virtualization, wireless, converged physical and logical solutions, smartphone control, remote surveillance and more; when we can all understand it we truly have arrived.

A journalist's compassion and understanding comes from standing side by side with sources to understand their challenges and struggles and assimilate that in the written word, in print and online. At SD&I, that's our core mission. To resonate with words the subject matters that really matter most to you in the industry. American journalist Walter Lippmann once wrote: "A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society."

Do you really want to be friends? Call me anytime.

On the Road with SD&I

Follow SD&I magazine during our upcoming travels. We will be streaming live from PSA-TEC later this month (see us at booth C9) and next month at ESX in Charlotte (booth 117). See our preview of ESX in the news starting on page 12 and also on page 69. Check out our April edition and digital content: http://sdi.epubxpress.com for more information on PSA-TEC, page12.