Michael Ference Fluid Power Marketing

I professionally refer to myself as the Publisher of Fluid Power World Magazine and digital media network.  Well, what exactly is a digital media network? Let me explain how it is evolving.  At WTWH Media, our philosophy is to reach our audience of engineering and other technical professionals with useful and interesting fluid power content in the format that they prefer to receive it.  It starts with our print publication, Fluid Power World, with seven issues published and mailed to our audience. That print edition gets mailed out to about 13,000 qualified readers but it is also sent out digitally to another 80,000 or so digital recipients and that is the start of our "digital media network."  Every reader on that list can access every issue of the print magazine and make inquiries directly to our advertisers. With regard to content, let's take a step back an look at our five websites:   Fluid Power World, Pneumatic Tips , Mobile Hydraulic Tips , ...

I have heard a lot of discussion this week at the FPDA/ISD Summit about the future of sales and the supply chain.  One of the topics within that discussion is about using technology to communicate, including social media.  In the past, face-to-face selling and follow ups by phone and mail were the standard.  Those were the tools of the trade for field sales people in most every industry. Obviously, things have changed and continue to change in the area of communication.  I have even heard that communication trends have changed the actual need for field sales representatives.  Outside of serving existing customers, some experts feel that the value of face-go-face selling is declining, especially because so many people prefer to be contacted electronically. When I started in the business world several decades ago, the briefcase and telephone were two of the key tools of the trade for sales people. Ok, I am really dating myself here but you get the po...