On a daily basis, via e-mail, phone, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, or face-to-face at conferences, in restaurants and even in the streets, we editors face the eternal question: What do I have to do to get into Black Enterprise?
Loyal B.E. readers know that this is far from an impossible dream. While we occasionally feature famous business people and industries (such as sports and entertainment) driven by celebrities, we’ve never been a celebrity-driven media company. You have a far better chance of being featured in the magazine if you are a viable small business owner, a successful executive or a typical black family, than you do if you’re a recording artist, actor or pro athlete.
All you have to do is look at the issues of B.E. published in 2009 to see this. Yeah, we had President Barack Obama on our March cover. (What can we say? He flies off the newsstand.) And our February cover featured several of the “100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America”; admittedly, not an easy club to get into. However, the covers of the January, April and May issues feature young business owners, a family and a young investor–people just like you. And the vast majority of the people inside the magazine are also like you or like people you know. Why not you?
Starting this week, I will begin giving you some answers to that question, in a regular blog called “How to Get Into B.E.†I’ll start out focusing on entrepreneurs, but in the weeks and months to come, I’ll cover what we are
looking for when it comes to stories ranging from career profiles to the families featured in our monthly Wealth for Life features. I’ll be bringing you insights straight from the editors of our magazine and website, as well as the producers of our television shows and national networking events. I’ll cover what we look for in a segment for Our World with Black Enterprise, or what we have in mind for our “Entrepreneur of the Week†segment of the Black Enterprise Business Report. I’ll also provide insight into how we select speakers and panelists for events such as the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference.However, the fact that we are not celebrity-obsessed doesn’t mean it’s exactly easy to get into the magazine. Along the way, I’ll also cover some of the things that you shouldn’t do and that
will not work, if your goal is to be covered by B.E. (Publicists and public relations professionals, please take note.) While some of this insight will be specific to B.E., much of it will consist of basic rules of engagement in dealing with any media outlet. For example, if you want your small business to be featured in B.E., it would help if you actually knew who the small business editor is. It would help even more if you took the time to spell her name right–after all, all you have to do is look at one of the more than half million copies of the magazine printed each month with her name in it. (Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine. More on this topic in a future blog post.)Finally, we’ll draw many of
the topics we address from you; so feel free to ask questions, offer input, raise issues and even challenge our editorial approach. Our goal is to create a win-win-win: You increase your odds of being featured in B.E., we gain access to better story subjects and ideas, and our audience continues to have access to the best advice, strategies and examples of business success their money can buy.Check later this week for my next post on “How To Get Into B.E.â€, where I’ll share some of the things entrepreneurs need to bring to the table to get our attention.
Other posts in this series:
How To Get Into Black Enterprise: Entrepreneurs, Take Note