When reading any editorial about specific products in any magazine, brochure, or catalog it's a good idea to remember that the products featured in the editorial (if a magazine) are, many times, only included because the product's manufacturer advertises in the magazine.

This is the nature of the print media. It costs a lot of money to print out these cumbersome, instantly dated, aqueous coated piles of yesterday. Not all magazines are guilty of this, but when the content is limited to only those who advertise in the magazine, and then limited to only the good points of the product or manufacturer, completely wiping out any of their weaknesses, what kind of value is the reader getting? This is a rhetorical question, but I'm going to answer it. Very little. To start, the reader may only get information about 10 percent (or less) of the products or manufacturers that would ordinarily fit in the category of the editorial. Then to top it off, the reader is usually only getting 50 percent of the information about the product or manufacturer (only the good or positive info!). So, 50 percent of 10 percent that is available. That doesn't sound like a lot of information, let alone value for the reader.

Perhaps that is one of the many reasons that many smart companies continue to reduce their print advertising efforts and focus on something that is more, let's call it, conversational. Online and digital sources of information are where many smart consumers are beginning to look for information, especially those that allow consumers to report and comment to everyone about their own experiences with the product or company. 

I suppose that for many companies, the idea of customers sharing their experiences about their products or services scares the heck out of them. And perhaps, those companies will continue to be the ones having a one-way conversation about themselves through some form of print media. 

My wife inspired this post because of her relentless need to research nearly every product we buy (she especially loves the user reviews sections of websites). I realized what she was doing when I would hand over a catalog, brochure or magazine ad about anything that we were considering purchasing (you name it: lawn tractors, patio furniture, baby toys) and she would say to me "yeah, it has this widget, it comes in this color, and this company has been in business since nineteen blah blah blah, but what do other people think about it?". She then proceeds to tell me that "Joeschmoe123" who lives in Name your City and has similar interests and needs for the product as I do, really hates the John Deer Lawn Master, but "ben_round_here" really loves it. And because of their reviews she can also tell me why they love or hate it. You know what, that's a really powerful thing! 

Whoa, where am I going with this? To get back to the moral of the story. Don't always believe all of the hype in a magazine editorial about a particular product or company as many times the company is paying to be included in the editorial. Now anytime I come across an article about "What Type of Product Works Best" or Who Manufactures the Best, I'll jump online and do a little research and 90 percent of the time I can find the missing 90 percent of the products or manufacturers who were excluded from the editorial, and 100 percent of the time (usually through user reviews) I can find the missing 50 percent of the information that was left out of the editorial.

If I was a manufacturer trying to either sell myself or sell my products, I would take most of my money traditionally spent on print advertising, and use it to make the product better. Then I would use the rest to find a way to get others to discuss it in an open forum for everyone to see (good or bad), because many times, people don't trust companies, they trust other people who have already dealt with the company or used it's products.

Of course that's just me and I'm just saying...;)