Business-to-business (B2B) magazines are a vital marketing investment for companies promoting their products or services to businesses. Other media can often perform a fruitful role within the media mix; the internet in particular is an invaluable complementary medium, but it is the printed page of the business press which is outstanding in its capacity to serve as the foundation of a B2B promotional campaign.

I have studied the available research on this area for a report commissioned by the Periodical Publishers Association, called The Vital Investment and this article summarises my conclusions.

A central function of business magazines is to enable readers to keep in touch with their own industry or profession in a general way. In research studies readers often say they couldn’t work properly without B2B magazines.

The other core function of business magazines is to keep readers informed about highly specific job-related topics of particular interest to the individual reader. The kinds of topic mentioned in research include technical information, new products, information about prices, company news, sales leads, people in the industry and the state of the job market. Few readers are equally interested in every one of these, but almost every reader has one or more kinds of must-have specific information which the business magazines provide. Some of it comes from the advertising.

B2B magazines reach all the levels of decision makers within the purchasing chain. Moreover, the magazines’ readership is tightly targeted, concentrating only on the defined industry or profession each title serves. This makes each magazine a well-focused and relevant editorial product that readers value.

The fact that magazines are printed on paper brings many advantages. Users appreciate being able to dip in and out, and to carry the publications about. They find their magazines comfortable to use, flexible, and responsive to their needs. Readers feel in control – and like it.

B2B magazines are regularly shown to be readers’ No. 1 information source when comparisons are made with other media. In rankings featuring B2B magazines, the internet, national newspapers, direct mail, conferences, exhibitions, television and various other media, B2B magazines consistently emerge in first place, usually by a wide margin. This applies whether the criterion is regular use, thorough coverage of your sector, news of product launches or new suppliers, jobs, useful advertising, or a summary measure such as helping you to do your job better, or overall usefulness in your work.

The internet has rapidly established itself as the other most important B2B medium overall, after magazines. Decision makers perceive these two as complementary, each enhancing what the other can do on its own.

Publishers have used the internet in order to extend their own editorial offering and product range – introducing archive retrieval, supplementary editorial, e-commerce and electronic newsletters. The sites are also used to expand the publisher’s audience beyond the print audience by creating online users who are new to the brand. Publishers can provide added-value for print advertisers by offering web advertisements as part of a package.

Advertisers’ websites work with B2B magazines in a different way. Magazine readers can use the URLs published in the advertisements to go straight to an advertiser’s website and obtain the latest product specifications, prices, contact details and other kinds of information. The magazines have become great drivers of traffic to advertisers’ websites. To the advertisers, these are all genuine sales leads. The web has significantly enhanced B2B magazines’ already impressive ability to generate sales leads.

Since business magazines are so targeted to the readers’ specific industry or profession, the advertisements in them are of great relevance to readers.

Advertising in business publications builds brand awareness. Research shows that the greater the weight of advertising, the greater the awareness is likely to be. The greater the awareness, the stronger the brand preference tends to be. Good advertising can also enhance the target group’s perception of the brand’s quality.

There is also powerful evidence that advertising in B2B magazines creates sales and profits. The more the advertising pressure, the greater the sales and profits.