How to create an ABC in your country?

Go through the checklist above. Identify the following players:

• Advertisers.
• Advertising agencies, media brokers.
• Media companies.
• Media organizations, such as publishers, other media, news agencies, newsrooms.
• Media research (opinion poll) companies.
• Chambers of commerce.
• Local branches of the global advertising industry bodies: IAA (International Advertising Association), WFA (World federation of Advertisers), WAN-IFRA (World Association of Newspapers), FIPP (International Federation of the Periodical Press), etc.
• Printing houses.
• Press distribution companies.

Be sure to add the following information (classifications):

• Local versus international companies.
• Top/key (influent) players versus lower profile players.
• Top executive (decision-maker) name, position, and full contact data.

Finally, make sure you create and maintain a database with all this information – it will be of great use.

In order to be able to build the right organization, with a good service, it is essential to understand the structure, level of technology, and legal background of your market. Therefore, make sure that you assess the following information:

• Industry ownership (structure)
• Legal framework, with the focus on not-for-profit, association-type of organizations. Does your legal environment permit the formation of privately owned associations? What are the registration and establishing protocols, documents needed, etc? How much will these cost, and how much time will it take to register an organization?
• What infrastructure is printing of the newspapers and magazines in your country? Are these produced in the publishers own printing facilities, or rather on a commercial (outsourced) basis?
• How is the press distribution structured in your country? Is your market single copy sales driven, or rather subscriptions-driven? Are there significant differences of the subscriptions to single copy sales ratios between newspapers and magazines?
• How much of the supply chain is owned by the publishers, ad how much is independent? Are the major suppliers state-owned? Do you have any (state) monopoly over any of the supply sectors?
• How do the suppliers of the printing press (printing houses and distribution companies) operate in terms of response time to the publishers, accurate figures, clear reporting, etc?
• Is there a significant black-market (no papers, cash-based) trade within the supply chains?
• How good (business-friendly) are the relationships between publishers and their suppliers? Are these partners open-minded, pro-active, cooperative, or not?