Trade Press Placement (TPP)

Activity available under: Marcoms Accelerator, Media Communications and Marketing Management services.

Scope: Placed with one publication

Credit value: 4

Description

There is great marketing value in having your articles and case studies appearing in trade publications (print, digital and/or online). Ideally, it will attract new customers (or even existing customers, unaware of something else you do / can do). Even if you don’t get an immediate response, establishing and maintaining your presence in high-profile industry publications is essential for ‘reputation management’ (part of your PR mix).

Definition

‘Placement’ is the provision of an article, case study or even a blog to a trade publication that then reproduces the material in print and/or online. A placement comes about in one of two ways:

  • During discussions with an editor (at a media briefing or them contacting us on spec, for example) a request might be made for an article on a subject they [the editor] knows to be of relevance to your technologies and/or markets. They are inviting you to appear in print / online to showcase your expertise. The article or case study is then written to a brief.
  • An article, case study or blog you have written, or which we have written for you, is offered as an exclusive to a publication (see process below).

The Process

For:

  • If you are not present when the request is made, we will provide details of the publication, its readership and the request being made (subject/theme, word count, deadline etc.). We will advise if the request can be met through the provision of reworked material or whether something will need to be written from scratch. You have the opportunity to decline (we’ll notify the editor) OR authorise us to proceed; which is to say we will be committing to delivering copy on time and to spec, on your behalf. The article or case study is then written to an agreed brief.
  • An article or case study is written with the express purpose of offering it to a publication. We use our Media Communications Database to identify the most appropriate publication (based on circulation, readership profile and forward features list) and the editor is given first refusal basis. If the editor is interested in running your article or case study, we will establish (and notify you of) the likely publication date. Note: editors do not take kindly to being offered ‘contributed editorial’ that has already appeared in another publication.

The Deliverable

Your article or case study appears in print and/or online. As ‘contributed editorial’ (whether delivered in response to a request or offered on spec) the editor has the rework the copy as they see fit; e.g. trim to fit a magazine page, application of house style. We cannot guarantee that every element of the submitted copy will be reproduced. Credits are only drawn once the material appears in print / online.

Last updated: 9th April 2026