ElectroPages launches new website
Electropages the online news resource for engineers and designers, has launched its new look for its website, offering more focus on Manufacturers news, as well as highlighting Paul Whytock’s Blogs as more of an important feature on their site.
Electropages has taken it one step further, making essential changes to the way their site presents itself on mobile phones. With readers continuing to move into the digital world, this was a clever move for Electropages, as it ensures their users have the best possible browser experience from their mobile device, without having to download the Electropages App.
ELEKTRONIK REPORT celebrates 40 years
Congratulations to the team at ELEKTRONIK REPORT, who are celebrating 40 years of the publication with issue 6 this year (published on 14th November).
It has been a good year for the publication, with new hires in the editorial and advertising team. In a year when we've seen anniversaries for Power Pulse, Bodo's Power and Markt & Technik, it's good to see this Austrian publication also hit a major milestone.
Research shows conventional publishers are missing out on digital advertising budgets
If you talk with any of the European electronics publications, you'd think that they were doing really well from the switch to online digital advertising, but research shows that it's not conventional publishers who are benefiting, but rather it's the internet giants Google and Facebook.
An interesting article cites Jason Kint, CEO of the trade organization Digital Content Next, who states that
“The collective analysis shows that the duopoly of Google and Facebook took more than 100% of the incremental growth in digital advertising for the first half of the year."
"More than 100%?" This means that the research showed the two internet giants taking existing share away from other publishers as well as grabbing all the new money moving into digital advertising. One of the main reasons for this, in Jason's opinion, was the incredible volumes of data that these two companies gather about internet users:
"The situation is only growing worse as it's tied to the unique ability of these two companies to collect data across the Web, apps and contexts"
Can this really be true? It's certainly true that the two companies are grabbing a huge share of the digital advertising market, although previous studies have suggested that there is some room for other players. For example in April, Morgan Stanley was suggesting that the big two were taking 85% of the growth in online ad spend. That's still a huge, scary number for publishers.
What's going to happen? With no look-in for internet darling Snapchat, nor ex-darling twitter, it might seem that there is no chance of publishers being able to fight the two giants of the online advertising industry. But I don't see it this way. I believe that there is a fantastic opportunity for publishers to gather incredibly detailed data about the interests of engineers, and cut it at a level that broad advertising companies just can't cope with. If they can do this, then publishers will not only endear themselves to readers, who will get highly relevant advertising, but they'll also deliver outstanding results to advertisers. Frankly with CPMs and CPCs much higher for trade publications that for Google or Facebook advertising, the publishers are going to have to get smart about profiling the interests of their readers if they are to maintain the premium they attract over mainstream platforms.
LinkedIn launches conversion tracking
LinkedIn has introduced their first conversion tracking tool for sponsored content and text ads. The feature allows marketers to determine if a user converted after clicking or viewing an ad on LinkedIn, whilst also helping marketers identify factors influencing ROI.
LinkedIn overhauled most of its marketing infrastructure and product strategy to lay the groundwork, in order to support further additional marketing features, such as retargeting and custom lists.
As a digital platform that has been lagging behind its competitors, such as Facebook; It is nice to see LinkedIn beginning to make steps to improve their marketing tool set. LinkedIn claims they can now innovate far faster and speed up delivery of new ad products, with many more appealing features in the pipeline. As an agency that uses LinkedIn for our own business development, as well as for clients' campaigns, it is encouraging to see their improvements, and I am truly intrigued to see where they go next.
Brand storytelling - the GE model
The Science and technology Company: GE, has been thinking outside of the box, as they introduce ‘signature stories’ that communicate core strategic information about their firm and its strategy.
Recently, during a talk at the June 2016 ANA conference on Masters of B2B marketing, GE explained how it communicates its strategic message through the use of a story.
Their story followed the movements of GE’s DNA, the founder Thomas Edison, and how this DNA, is reflected by imagination, creativity and always being in motion. Relating to the core strategies and core message of GE.
This is a clever, yet original approach to B2B storytelling. GE’s authentic narratives, surprise, intrigue and involve the audience while also being informative and entertaining. GE provide nine storytelling areas including getting personal and adapting to the media.
This creative and unique technique, highlights the importance of storytelling, as from professional and engaging stories, GE manages to educate yet entertain their audience, in a wonderful, yet unusual way.
Survey shows B2B and B2C social media are less different than you'd expect
American agency Clutch conducted an interesting survey that shows a remarkable similarity between the social media channels used by B2B and B2C marketers. The graph below shows the number of marketers using each of the main social media channels in their campaigns:
The differences between the two disciplines are remarkably small, and even LinkedIn has less than a 10% difference in adoption between B2B and B2C campaigns. This is surprising as you'd expect LinkedIn to be much more of a B2B social media platform than for consumer. Equally Facebook shows only a 2% difference: although Facebook is clearly a channel that will perform for B2B, you'd expect that the general principle that "Facebook is where people choose to go to waste time" would mean that there was a more significant skewing of this channel to consumer marketing.
There are a number of possible reasons for this. Certainly there is some truth that all B2B customers are consumers, so there should be some similarity in the approach, but I'd suspect that some of the similarity is also accounted for by the cross-posting of content from one channel to several others.
Best Social Media Content
The survey also asked what content performs best on social media (this covers both business and consumer audiences). Not surprisingly, the most effective is video. We were, however, interested to see a real lack of enthusiasm for infographics: there are still a lot of marketers who believe inforgraphics are great content for social media. Although we don't believe that the results of the survey mean that it's a waste of time creating an infographic, it clearly shows that simply creating one does not guarantee social engagement, particularly if it's not of the highest quality.
Click to get more information about our social media services.
Dickon Ross warns the publishing industry to hold on to their seats
In a recent blog post, Dickon Ross, editor-in-chief at Engineering & Technology, warns publishers that, “In terms of disruption, what’s gone before will soon seem like a drop in the ocean. Far greater upheaval awaits us.”
Despite the massive changes that publishing has undergone, and Dickon’s assertion that “Technology has totally and utterly changed the editor’s job,” he asserts that magazines have been less affected than industries based around other media.
“Yet in other respects, it’s surprising how slow the digital revolution is in magazines – compared to say the music industry or photography.”
This is probably true, despite Dickon’s title, Engineering and Technology now making more money onlline than in print, perhaps a surprising fact because nine out of 10 readers of E&T would choose print over all other formats.
Although he believes that print will continue, he strongly believes that in the future technology will have an even bigger impact:
“For other magazine brands, the remarkable thing is how slow the change is coming. Print will always hang on for some magazines but the digital revolution has barely begun. The Internet of Things, fast communications, haptics and other new user interfaces will usher in a new media revolution. These technologies often begin in the games industry first but they will spread and will in turn become new ways of telling stories as well as doing business, enjoying entertainment or even saving lives.”
Still not convinced? It’s because of the way we look at technology:
“We tend to overestimate the impact of new technologies in the short term and underestimate the impact in the long term. So the future never arrives on time. But when it does arrive, it makes a grand entrance and upsets everything we know. The combination of new technologies like the Internet of Things, VR and haptics will make the arrival of the internet look like the digital watch or pocket calculator – an important landmark but just one small stepping stone.”
This post is a fascinating look into the possible future of publishing and a great read for anyone who would like to know what changes the PR and marketing industry may be dealing with in a few years’ time.
Aktuelle Technik shakes up editorial team
Congratulations to Eugen Albisser, the new editor-in-chief at Aktuelle Technik, and Mirek Spicar as the new editor.
Eugen was previously editor- in- chief at the magazine ‘Technica’ for several years, whilst Mirek previously worked in the automaton field as an engineer, occasionally editing news and stories for Aktuelle Technik.
We wish them both the best of luck in their new roles.
UK H/WExpo and Device Developers Conference announce dates for 2017
The UK’S Device Developer’s Conference will take place at Cambourne on the 26th and 27th April 2017, with the main focus on embedded systems and realtime software.
The shows throughout this event include H/WExpo 2017 - Hardware Developers' Conference, An Informative and Productive Event for Engineers Seeking New Solutions, Workshop Software Debugging for Automotive Developers and New BioMon Sensor IC Detects Heart Rate and Pulse Oximetry Presentation.
All shows are co-located and provide an excellent forum for exploring new development technologies, and meeting industry experts who can provide solutions to current design challenges.
EMS-Anbieter.INFO: The new platform for EMS companies
All-about-TEST has launched its latest website www.ems-anbieter.info. This new platform helps electronic companies find suitable manufacturing partners for their products from a huge selection of EMS companies.
The concept of this website was introduced last November at productronica, and with over 260 EMS companies, this new website stands out from its competitors, and is already attracting more than 500 visitors per month.
This site covers Germany, Austria and Switzerland and has an easy, yet fast selection to provide a list of top matching EMS companies. There are many parameters for selection including, industry sector, services, manufacturing technologies, certifications, country, company size, and proximity search. These lists also provide detailed information about each EMS company, providing as much information as possible for their visitors.
Basic entry is free of charge for EMS companies, and the use of the website is also free of charge for electronic companies, with display advertising on the site paying the publisher’s bills. It will be interesting to see how this site grows: the directory is a great way for EMS companies to promote themselves, and manufacturers to find a suitable supplier.
eSAME confirms conference date for 2016
The organisers of eSAME (embedded Software and Micro-Electronics), the event previously known as SAME, have announced that this year’s conference will be held on 1st December 2016 at Campus SophiaTech in lovely Sophia-Antipolis, France.
The theme of this year’s conference will be “Connected objects for smarter life”. The conference has been branded a “Plateforme Conception”, and the organisers promise attendees a unique opportunity to learn more on future trends & new technical challenges within a high level technical environment.
This year, eSAME will be co-located with two other shows:
- JRE (Journée Régionale de l’Electronique): The 4th JRE show is a business oriented exhibition gathering more than 40 booths, discussion forum and live demo.
- S-Cube 2016 : The 7th EAI conference on Sensor Systems and Software: a single track forum for research on system development and software support for embedded sensing (held on 2nd December)
DATE 2017 to include focus on European projects
the organisers of DATE 2017, which will be held on 27th to 31st March 2017 in Lausanne, Switzerland, have announced that they will again have an extra section of the Proceedings dedicated to European Projects. Paper submissions of up to six pages presenting preliminary ideas, work in progress or lessons learned from the project are invited, and must be submitted before October 14th 2016 via the DATE website. Papers will be peer-reviewed and selected based on innovation and originality; in particular, the organisers will prioritise papers addressing DATE topics.
Call for papers: PCIM 2017
The organisers of PCIM 2017 have issued a call for papers. All submissions that are accepted will be published in IET Inspec-Direct, Compendex, Scopus and IEEExplore, as well as the PCIM Europe Proceedings, and there are also young engineer and best paper awards to be won at the conference.
The organisers are inviting submissions on a rand of topics, including:
- Power Semiconductors
- Thermal Management and Packaging
- Control and Drive Strategies in Power Converters
- Electronic Power Converters
- Power Electronics in Automotive, Traction and Aerospace
- Motors and Actuators
- Control Techniques in Intelligent Motion Systems
- Applications for Drives & Motion Control
- Motor Drives in Automation
- New and Renewable Energy Systems
- Energy Storage
- Smart Grid & Communication
- Power Quality Solutions
- Power Electronics in Transmission Systems
- Software Tools and Applications
- Passive Components and New Materials
- Sensors
- Metering and Diagnostics and Standards
- System Reliability
Don’t delay as abstracts are due by 18th October 2016.
Power Electronics News gets off to a promising start
We reported on the recent launch of Power Electronics News, and have just received their initial traffic figures. In roughly one month (from mid-August to mid-September) the site achieved:
- 34,562 page views
- 15,124 user sessions
- An average time on page of 2:14
Given that the official launch of Power Electronics News wasn’t until 1st September, this is a promising start that shows there really is no limit to the number of titles that can address the power design sector.
More information about webinars
The editorial webinar series that were promised will be presented by Chris Richardson. Up to five sponsorship slots will be available, which will sponsors to showcase their brand, and provide access the list of registrants for lead generation programmes. Power Electronics News has also signed a partnership with Bodo’s Power, who will also promote the webinars, providing greater reach and hopefully driving greater volumes of traffic.
Enginuity Europe introduces interviews as paid 'Sponsored Content'
From October Enginuity Europe will be offering native advertising (they’re calling it “Sponsored Content”). Initially the only paid content offered will be interviews with client company executives, which would be carried out over a Skype video call. Phil Ling, editor-in-chief of Enginuity Europe tells us that the interview would last around 30mins, but the final video will be edited to a maximum of 4 minutes to provide viewers with an easily accessible video while giving clients the chance to put their story across, in their own words.
This option is designed to be easy, with all video post-production carried out by Enginuity Europe. Phil anticipates that the fact that the interviews don’t require any additional content to be created means many companies will use this Sponsored Content as value-add to any new release or other marketing activity. The interviews can cover a broad range of topics, focussing on technical innovation, business developments or expert views on the engineering industry, although new product introductions are something Phil believes are particularly suitable to the video format. It’s even possible to outsource the entire video to Enginuity Europe if no company spokesperson is available for interview.
Once completed, the video will be uploaded to the Enginuity Europe website and their social media channels (the equivalent to a Social License for regular content). In addition, all Sponsored Content will also receive an initial boost on Facebook to reach a minimum of 1000 views across an engineering audience. Other social media platforms can be included on request, as Enginuity Europe has profiles on all the main platforms.
Although Enginuity’s normal Social Licensing costs are based on the type and length of content, Sponsored Content is being offered at a fixed price. As Phil anticipates a high level of demand, it will initially only available through recognised PR agencies (such as Napier).
It’s great to see a creative approach to native advertising. There’s a dearth of video interview content in our industry, and I hope this initiative will drive an increase in engaging video for electronics engineers.
Andrea Gillhuber moves to MM MaschinenMarkt
Andrea Gillhuber has left Elektronik, and has moved to be editor at MM MaschinenMarkt. Her subject areas have been shared around, with Harry Schubert looking after the important topic of power. Although it’s sad to see an journalist move to another sector (even though it’s related to electronics), we wish her all the very best in her new role.
Call for papers: Smart Systems Integration 2017
The organisers of Smart Systems Integration 2017, which takes place from 8th to 9th March in Cork, Ireland, have issued a call for papers, inviting abstracts on the latest developments, applications and trends of innovative smart technologies and materials as well as to their production for the conference in 2017.
Submissions for the conference must be in English, and should address one of the following topics:
- Applications , including smart mobility, health and energy
- Hardware/Technologies, including design of smart integrated systems; manufacturing of embedded micro and nano systems; and smart test and reliability of components and systems
- Software for smart integrated systems
- The business of Smart Systems, including market trends, ecosystems and success stories.
The deadline for abstract submissions is 5th October 2016. The conference committee, headed by Prof. Dr. Thomas Otto, Fraunhofer Institute of Electronic Nanosystems (ENAS), Chemnitz, Germany,will select the best contributions in November 2016. The Call for Papers submission requirements and further current information are available online at smartsystemsintegration.com/callforpapers.
Google to Penalise Companies for Pop-Up Ads
Google has announced an interesting change to their services, to help frustrated users access content on their mobiles more quickly and easily, without having to face intrusive interstitials.
Google announced the upcoming change to their mobile search experience on their blog, explaining how intrusive interstitials provide a poorer experience to users, rather than other pages where content is immediately accessible. Mobile devices often have smaller screens and, interstitials are often problematic and frustrating for mobile users. This is why Google have announced an update to their algorithms, used to rank their mobile search results, penalising offending pages by ranking them in lower placing.
The update will be in place from 10th January 2017, with the aim to improve the overall mobile search experience. It is worrying how this change will affect publishers' advertising revenue, as ads will inevitably be limited in size, affecting the amount of money publishers can get, and attention that advertisers can grab on mobile search sites.
It will be interesting to see how this will impact publishers, and whether penalising websites will in fact improve a mobile users experience, or whether companies will continue to find new ways to advertise, whilst avoiding the use of the dreaded pop-up ads.
Power Electronics News is Ready to Go
It was discussed extensively at PCIM, and now the wait is over, as AspenCore have officially launched their new website, Power Electronics News. With the objective to deliver the latest news, new products, and technical articles, to cover the ever-changing global electronics industry, from power supplies to thermal management, this website aims to provide the latest information needed, for customers to develop their next design.
The website presents ‘The Editor’s Perspective’ column, written by Paul O’Shea, while also producing company and market news, product news, white papers, webinars, videos and a parametric search tool. As a site which will be easy to navigate on any type of media device, Power Electronics News is keen to be accessible to their audience, encouraging interaction and feedback, from all over the world.
Webinars will be an important part of the content mix, with the editorial team creating a series of webinars about power supply design that will launch in September. Among the planned topics, is a step-by-step explanation of the design of buck and boost topologies in DC-DC switching regulators.
Power Electronics News, is being managed by the Germany- based publisher ICC Media. They were acquired back in 2015 by AspenCore, which helps ensure the website also has a keen European focus, even with content being driven by an American Editor. This means, geographically, the site will focus on events in Europe and in America, ensuring the key movers of the power electronics industry are covered, and helping build relationships with significant manufacturers that can ordinarily be missed by other news outlets.
EIU Magazine partners with Mouser
Electronics Industry Update (EIU Magazine) has teamed up with Mouser Electronics in Europe in a sponsorship deal that sees the magazine (and the Android and iOS apps) renamed as Mouser’s EIU Europe, starting in September 2016. The move will dramatically increase circulation as Mouser adding their database of people who have requested updates from the distributor – around 100K names – to the title’s circulation. After deduping, Black Dot, publishers of EIU, expect the circulation of the magazine to be around 150K, and the 80K users of the apps should bring total circulation beyond 200K.
EIU is a digital title, but we are promised a print edition for electronica, which Mouser will be distributing in their “goody bags” at the show.
Although Mouser will obviously influence the content, we were pleased to hear Donal McDonald, publisher of EIU, tell us that, “Mouser were emphatic that they didn’t want just their own content as they felt that wouldn’t bring full value to their customers.” In reality this means that the magazine will be able to cover manufacturers who are not Mouser lines. Unsurprisingly, there won’t be any space for other distributors in the title.
As the content won’t be directly driven by Mouser, there are still opportunities to contribute editorially, and the title will continue to offer the same advertising opportunities.
I think this idea is fascinating. With Arrow on the acquisition trail, buying up publications, particularly in the USA, it’s not surprising that one of the other distributors has reacted. I think the real question will be whether the sponsorship model is seen as more credible by the readers: given the amount of money they have spent, I think it’s going to be harder and harder for Arrow to keep their publications independent. Although Arrow is claiming that the publishing business is somewhat separate from their distribution business, it’s probably inevitable that the distribution side of the company is paying at least part of the editorial teams’ salaries.
Will the approach taken by Mouser and EUI Magazine be any different? I think it will, as although Mouser have a significant amount of influence over the title, they are clearly separate business, which should ensure greater editorial independence. The big question is whether readers will see this as significantly better quality.
Weka to publish SPS/IPC/Drives 2016 show daily
Weka will again publish the official daily for SPS/IPC/Drives in 2016. Content for the daily will be generated by the editorial teams at Computer&AUTOMATION, Elektronik and Markt&Technik, providing a broad range of stories covering all aspects of the show.
The daily will be published on 22nd, 23rd and 24th November, and it provides a great opportunity for exhibitors to get high-quality coverage that will generate more attention during the show. In addition to advertising opportunities, don't forget to pitch news about products that will be launched at the show prior to the event: writing the daily is a huge undertaking so if journalists can get stories under embargo, it gives you a better chance of coverage.
New hires at Elektronik Report
A couple of new members of the team at ELEKTRONIK REPORT. Martin Schmaddebeck is a new addition to the editorial team, while Andreas Miksik has taken over advertising sales.
It's great to see this Austrian publication doing well, and recruiting new members of the team, particularly as they are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the publication later this year.
PRINT advertising revenue grows in Germany
This is going to be hard to believe, particularly for anyone who has watched the decline of the US print media, but the latest mediaskop advertising statistics from Vertriebsunion Meynen show that the German print advertising market in the electronics segment grew during the first two quarters of 2016. That's right: people are increasing their print spend in Germany!
The research showed a modest but significant growth of 2.1% across the market, with Markt&Technik, benefiting from an impressive 4.6% increase in their advertising revenue, which kept them as the number one title. The second spot in the ranking was taken by sister publication, Elektronik.
Fellow Weka title, DESIGN&ELEKTRONIK, also did exceptionally well from the growth in print advertising, registering an increase of 7.4% over the same period in the previous year.
Although it's not fashionable, it's clear that advertisers in Germany still believe that print works. Whether it's the German culture, the quality of publications, the attitude of local suppliers or the strict privacy laws affecting online marketing, it's clear that print is not dying any time soon in Germany. Although I'm delighted to see a strong print advertising market, it's also clear that a single six-month period doesn't define a long-term trend. However, with 2016 being an electronica year, it's reasonable to assume that we will also see another rise in print advertising during the second half of this year.
Weka certainly seem to be one of the main beneficiaries of the print boom in Germany. So congratulations to all three titles they publish: with their online portal, elektroniknet.de, also doing well, this publisher appears to be thriving in what is an incredibly challenging market for B2B publishers.
Process Industry Informer to run social media masterclass
Conventional media has a strange relationship with social media. Although social is a great way to distribute content, it’s pretty clear that reading headlines and summaries on your social feed isn’t going to drive revenue for the publisher. To be fair, it’s mainstream news that seems to have the biggest problem with social: the B2B trade press generally has a fairly productive relationship with Linkedin, twitter and the like.
There is still the concern that paid social is going to pull B2B advertising budgets away from traditional magazines and website, so even in B2B there’s an uncomfortable relationship. Ignoring the influence of social, however, isn’t the best approach, and so I was delighted to hear that Process Industry Informer is doing something positive and running a Social Media Masterclass.
The publication is bringing in social media trainer Jason Squires to teach the course, which they promise will help to improve participants’ knowledge, confidence and performance with Social Media for acquiring new customers, as the half-day course includes the following topics:
- How To Grow A Large Following Of Potential Customers
- The 3 Steps To Turn Those Followers Into Paying Customers
- The 4 Things Needed For A Successful Social Media Strategy
- How To Stand Out From The ‘Noise’ (And Your Competitors) On Social Media
- Why Businesses Fail With Social Media - And How To Avoid These Mistakes
- How To Use Social Media For 30 Mins Per Day - And Achieve Your Objectives
- How To Deliver A Tangible And Reliable ROI
The course will be delivered online on 28th September 2016. Hopefully it will make some money for the magazine, as the cost to attend is £99 (with an early bird reduction to £49 until 14th September).
It’s great to see PII taking a positive approach to the potential opportunity and threat posed by social media. They’ve got a strong base of advertisers that will provide the attendees, and I’ll be interested to see if they expand this model to offer training to cover a broader range of marketing topics.
Fare Elettronica launches new website
Following the recent sale of Fare Elettronica to Consorzio Tecnoimprese, the Italian publication has launched a new website. The site includes news and articles, as well as projects, which require a registered user login for access.
The website includes a blog that is dedicated to electronics design engineers (consisting of 100% technical articles), ideal for those who are always looking for new ideas and updates for their work. Articles are categorized and the publication closely follows the industry's top trends. Projects address a range of applications, including home automation, energy saving and lighting. The site also includes tutorials on various topics.
The site is clearly successful, and currently has over 8000 registered users and 125,000 monthly page views. Check out the new site at www.farelettronica.com.