Tomorrow's Cleaning March 2010

TOMORROW’S CLEANING MARCH 10
Without getting technical, hence never sent them the release. Having
magazines no longer make four investigated this I find that they have another
colour separations of each photo trade magazine in front of them and are
– pages are scanned which costs phoning all those who are featured.
only time.
Another scam is to first phone the PR firm and
The result of this scam is that when turned down because their title stinks,
clients have realised that the they contact the client’s PA with an
‘seps scam budget’ has become unbelievable offer to get money by
a major item of marketing circumnavigating the consultancy.
expenditure. The marketer has to
Other scams include accidentally invoicing
find this from somewhere and
twice or invoicing the client direct also.
that is usually the advertising
budget. The advertising budget
The salesforce of the worst publishing
now becomes the ‘seps scam’
scammers I know always opens the call with
budget and now have a shortfall
“Good morning/afternoon could I speak to the
of advertising revenue.
person responsible for your marketing?” If you
Nobody wins.
get that one do as I do, cut the call. I have asked
30 times not to be called by this publisher.
‘Publisher’s statement of copies’ is worthless.
I knew of a publisher who was so under-
capitalised that the stairs to his flat was piled
This eliminates blisters on your fingers when
with magazines he could not afford to post but
trying to read magazines on a BlackBerry!
operated with a ‘publisher’s statement’ and got
Getting that call
away with it.
Picture this, a busy client receives a cold call -
This is the tip of the iceberg. Space does not
the magazine name sounds impressive and
allow me to say more and possibly best not to
appears to cover a wide field. The introductory
without getting beaten up, but if you become
offer price is too good to be true BUT a decision
one of my clients, you will be well protected
has to be made TODAY. The client thinks it is a
from these scams.
bargain and bingo, another one is fooled.
Scams to watch out for
Simple solution
Scams galore
The dodgy, sorry I should say ‘some
unsubstantiated titles,’ have a number of tricks
The best advice is to focus PR spend on media
Now that the new title has taken £XXXX of the
you should watch out for. Here are some:
with a recognised ABC circulation. If you are
budget from other reputable magazines, these
really interested in an un-audited new
are now short of revenue so how can they earn
There are business newspaper publishers who
magazine ask for a certificate of posting or a
some money quickly? The solution is the colour
send ‘researchers’ out to exhibition press
printer’s certificate of copies printed.
separation scam – or editorial blackmail.
offices. They take one of every press release
Scammers hate that request.
and return to work. You then receive a call
When I submit editorial material to magazines
every hour from one of their ‘very general
The golden rules are “If in doubt – don’t”
I provide a photo to illustrate it. Enter the seps
magazines’ – ‘Business and…’, ‘Modern
and “if you don’t know, phone a friend –
chick, let’s call her Milly. Milly is commission
Industry...’ type of titles. The reps from each
or call your PR advisor.”
based and has to fill 10 pages of editorial with
magazine pass on the press kit to the next. It Contact Peter at peter@prman.co.uk
paid for news releases. So, you get a long
matters not whether the product is relevant -
sales pitch about the editor liking your copy
www.vezeyconsultants.com
it’s the ‘seps’ sales that pay the commission.
and wanting to publish it in a good position
(usually the graveyard at the back just before
The next scam call says “I have received your
the classifieds) but unfortunately there is a
press release on X, Y and Z and the editor...”
charge for colour separations.
My reply is that I have never heard of the title,
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