BtoB Media Business - September 2011 - (Page 7)

are getting away from the old model where you had one dominant source of revenue, which was display advertising,” he said. “Now, you’re still depending on revenue that comes from marketing but moving away from print advertising [alone] and going after smaller revenue opportunities— but more of them. The revenue mix, instead of being one 800-pound gorilla and a lot of little monkeys, is one or two 200-pound gorillas and a lot of 50-pound monkeys.” Peter Goldstone, president of Atlantic Media Co.’s Government Executive Media Group, may have the most ambitious investment plans in all of b-to-b media. “I was hired March 1 with a real focus to double the business at Government Executive, to focus on the purely b-to-b platform and to really accelerate its growth and double the business, top line and bottom line,” he said. Goldstone said the Government Executive management team is developing a fiveyear growth plan. It will start with print and investing “six figures” in the redesign of Government Executive, beginning with the October issue, Goldstone said. Next, Government Executive will rework its website and its digital approach. Currently, it has a horizontal approach to the federal market, covering news important to executives across Washington, D.C. The brand aims to expand its coverage by delving deeper into verticals, both by audience and by topic. “We’re going to ‘niche the niche’ in a lot of different ways,” Goldstone said. He added: “We’re investing in content so we can ensure greater engagement with our audi- ence. You can’t do that on the cheap.” Goldstone also plans to continue investing in the Government Business Council, a research business that also supports ad pages. “We are in major growth and investment mode,” he said. Ziff Davis Enterprise, publisher of eWeek, is also investing in its business. Steve Weitzner, chairman-CEO, said he sees a renewed interest among tech marketers in “We’re going to ‘niche the niche’ in a lot of different ways.” Peter Goldstone, president of Atlantic Media Co.’s Government Executive Media Group online display advertising, and his company is working to create new formats for online branding. “From an investment standpoint, we’ve beefed up our programming staff, and they’re spending more time on turning out new products,” he said. Exceeding expectations At EH Publishing, Moyes showed the ultimate confidence in b-to-b media last year when he acquired Peerless Media, a group of logistics brands formerly owned by Reed Business Information. “It’s very, very solid,” Moyes said of Peerless Media’s performance. “It has exceeded our expectations. Their revenues are up 15% or more from when we bought them.” Moyes is continuing to invest in EH Publishing as a whole. The company has added 10 new positions this year, for a total of about 100 employees, and expects to add 10 to 15 more by December, he said. In addition to investing in digital programs, EH Publishing is expanding one of its trade shows, Worship Facilities Conference & Expo, by adding regional versions. Bruce Morris, exec VP-managing director of SourceMedia Inc.’s professional services and technology group, said the stock market gyrations in the wake of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S.’ debt, haven’t affected business. “We haven’t seen any cancellations,” he said. “It’s pretty much business as usual.” Morris added: “We continue to develop our nonadvertising revenue streams.” Specifically, his division has boosted its research business. The unit conducts research for marketers looking to learn more about their marketplaces. “The beauty of this business is that we’re not cannibalizing advertising dollars,” Morris said. The group is also spending more on creating custom content for marketers. For example, SourceMedia produces a quarterly magazine for TD Ameritrade. CFE Media, another company comprised of former Reed Business Information publications, said its print revenue is up 15% this year on top of 20% growth in 2010. “Companies are coming back to marketing,” said Jim Langhenry, group publisher at CFE Media. Langhenry said CFE has invested in more expensive paper for its publications, such as Consulting Specifying Engineer, and in boosting its editorial-to-advertising ratio. CFE is also creating a new event related to Consulting Specifying Engineer, which will debut in the fall. “Sponsorships are going very well,” Langhenry said. Edgell invests in system to integrate content management, lead gen dgell Communications President Gerry Ryerson has recently overseen the installation of a content management system that’s paired with a new lead-generation platform. But Ryerson and Edgell, which publishes RIS News, aren’t stopping with just those new platforms. The company plans to continue investing in software. “Our next adventure,” Ryerson said, “is a full CRM system. It’s a CRM on steroids for our entire business.” Ryerson isn’t just installing the customer relationship management system for his sales staff to keep track of ad- Ryerson vertisers and prospects. The system will also track Edgell’s subscriber database. “It kind of dawned on me,” Ryerson said. “Why do I want to keep my audience database and marketing partner E database separate?” So after assessing a number of different CRM systems, Edgell has decided to install Salesforce.com. Ryerson said the system, in addition to streamlining customer management for the sales team, will enable, for instance, more targeted invitations to attract subscribers to conferences and other events. The system also promises new, as yet undefined, opportunities. “I can now begin to find links between my advertisers and their customers and prospects,” Ryerson said. Now comes the hard part: Implementing the Salesforce.com system and making it pay. “Did we make the right decision?” Ryerson asked. “Time will tell. It’s a significant investment.”—S.C. mediabusinessonline.com | September 2011 | Media Business | 7 http://www.Salesforce.com http://www.Salesforce.com http://www.mediabusinessonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BtoB Media Business - September 2011

BtoB Media Business - September 2011
Table of Contents
Outsell report bodes well for b-to-b media
Companies plan for growth amid economic uncertainty
Dealmaking picks up, raising hopes of a comeback
Sales & Marketing
Events
Audience Development
Production
People
Benchmarks
How SourceMedia transformed its operations

BtoB Media Business - September 2011