Editor's Roundtable

Three veteran aftermarket editors provided insights on how to better serve their needs during a lively panel discussion. There was no shortage of opinions when it came to the subject of news releases. Dave Doucette, editor of Auto Trim & Restyling News and Truck Accessory News, says he prefers to receive releases via e-mail with the option of "images available." Doucette says e-mail saves him the time of re-keying the text. Bill Cannon, editor of Motor Age, said e-mail should be limited to your most important releases. He prefers to receive a "turnkey" release in the mail that includes a photo. Brian Cruickshank, editor of Counterman, said many press releases are not useable because they don't pass his test: "Would the reader care about this?" He says you should think about the target audience for the publication and whether your news release is relevant.

All three editors agreed that phone calls should be limited. They advised that calling and asking: "Did you get the release and will you be running it?" is a waste of time. Cannon says a better question to ask is "What are you looking for right now?"

Cruickshank says, "Use phone calls to develop relationships with editors." Everyone agreed that phone calls should focus on helping meet the needs of busy editors, not pushing your agenda. A number of other topics were covered during the one and a half hour session, including the state of today's aftermarket, the challenge of OEMs taking a greater share of aftermarket business, the impact e-commerce is having on the industry, how editors prefer to work with companies at AAIW, and the future of AAIW in Las Vegas.

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