TOCA President Ed Hiscock

By Ed Hiscock, TOCA President

That’s it. I can’t read any more. Each day I receive a number of publishing industry communications, including e-newsletters, blogs and other sources of gloom and doom telling me that the profession I’ve been in for more than a couple of decades – journalism - is headed down the chute into oblivion. And it’s not too much of a leap to buy into all of it.

Cities are either losing their newspapers (or in some cases home delivery) or papers are printing a product so downsized that it doesn’t last through the morning coffee. Print magazines are shutting down or morphing into denizens of the Web only, and whole editorial staffs are being sent out into the cold night with pencils and tin cups. It would be easy to have a journalistic midlife crisis about now, whether you’re 55 years old, 45 or 25. Add to that the current meltdown of the rest of the economy and you may be ready to move to the country and try to grow your own vegetables.

But drop those carrot seeds and don’t give up hope just yet. What appears to be happening in the print/Web communications shakedown is that well-run business-to-business operations – the type most TOCA members are involved in – are among the more insulated in today’s down economy. There’s a reason for that. It’s value.

The value of a strong editorial/advertising/public relations package for publishers is never so evident as in times of economic turmoil for advertising clients who have the intestinal fortitude to increase market share while others cower in the corner. TOCA members form the foundation of those opportunities for their clients, providing quality editorial content, advertising and recognition options, and strong personal relationships with the industry’s movers and shakers.

So wrestle any despair you may be feeling to the ground long enough to look around at the opportunities you are supremely qualified to offer your clients. They’re looking to you for ways to rise when others are falling.

Peers in the industry can, of course, be mentors, and there’s no better way to meet your peers than at TOCA gatherings. The next one is the New Members Breakfast at the Golf Industry Show, Feb. 6, from 7 to 8:30 a.m. at the Hilton Riverside. The breakfast is sponsored by PBI/Gordon, GCM and GCSAA, but you didn’t hear that from me.

And be sure to register early for the 20th annual TOCA meeting May 12-14, 2009 in Puerto Rico. It will be held May 12-14 at the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. A special thanks here to Jared Bodnar and his crew at Canyon Communications for the great design of the TOCA 20th anniversary logo.