BtoB Media Business - December 2007 - (Page 23)

Sales & Marketing Pursuing new people Media companies look past their traditional audiences to find new revenue streams BY MARIE GRIFFIN SALES & MARKETING AD VANTAGES Selling business information arion Minor is the CEO of M2Media360, a b-to-b media company with 16 titles in 10 industries. In 2002, the company acquired Adams Business Media’s adult beverage publications, resource guides and merchandising intelligence service. Additional Adams’ publications were purchased in 2005 BIO and 2006. Prior to MARION 2002, Minor spent 18 years in the infor- MINOR CEO mation services M2Media360 business. Media Business: How is the business information business different from the b-to-b media? Marion Minor: People come to the b-to-b media for timely information about the industry, but business information is more than just compiling a lot of data. We need to provide insight and expertise on top of the data. It requires an investment to launch a product in the business information space, especially when your user is going to use it to make decisions. So you have to do your homework, not only to find out if this information is wanted but also to find out if the information is valuable enough for the customers to pay more for it than it will cost you to provide it. MB: What kind of homework have you done at M2Media360? Minor: Right now, we’re working on something in our beverage group that would provide statistics and analysis beyond what our handbooks are providing. But because of the cost, we want to build it in phases, so we hired someone to interview people in the industry to see if this phased approach would work for them. We decided to go forward based on this research and we developed a threeyear strategic plan to bring this to market. We’re on track to roll out the first phase in the next month or two. O ne enticing challenge for business media companies is selling nonendemic advertisers. After all, pharmacists, truckers, accountants and network specialists also buy office supplies, use financial services, select cell phone networks and ship packages. But in spite of that, b-to-b publishers usually don’t benefit from this kind of business because advertisers have plenty of options among general business media that allow them to reach these audiences efficiently. Plus, b-to-b media companies won’t take valuable salespeople off tried-and-true accounts to hunt for business they believe they have little chance of getting. But, at a time when the Internet is siphoning off print advertising, more media companies are owned by private equity firms with strict financial goals and many b-to-b titles are battling industry-specific slumps, top b-to-b media executives say a new level of creativity is required now. Carr Davis, co-CEO of Cygnus Business Media, said, “We are focused on innovation. I really believe times like these call for exceptional creativity; and we have to go out there and create new businesses.” Eighty-six percent of the total audience of Cygnus’ media products—almost 1.7 million people—are owners of small and midsize businesses, in markets as diverse as aircraft maintenance, farming, jewelry retailing, kitchen and bath design, and machine shops. While many b-to-b publishers have created special lists and database products for the SMB market, Cygnus went a few steps further. To make it easy for advertisers to place ads across multiple publications and Web sites, Davis developed a corporate rate card. Then, to let media buyers know of its new SMB offering, Cygnus placed advertising with SRDS. Finally, rather than giving yet another job to Cygnus salespeople, Davis hired an outside rep force to execute the program. Although rep firms take a percentage of the sales in return for their services, Davis said, “I’d rather own 50% of a dollar than 100% of a dime.” Since the SMB program debuted in April, Cygnus has landed such major national advertisers as American Express Corp. and FedEx. “We will have our first full year in 2008, and we’re expecting very high growth,” Davis said. Steve Morris, exec VP at Advanstar’s Life Sciences Group, is wrestling with three years of diminished new drug approvals from the FDA. This has put a huge damper on advertising in most of the medical market. “If you like fast-paced change, this is an exciting market,” he said without sarcasm. For the past three years or so, Advanstar’s RN magazine has been offering a credit card to its nurse readers. “We get deep and specific purchasing data from 20,000 credit card holders,” Morris said. “We know, for instance, if nurses are shopping at Lowes [Home Centers] more than Home Depot or if they are using Wal-Mart [Stores] more than Macy’s—or visa versa.” With the data, Advanstar’s in-house sales team can then reach out to the suppliers of various products and services to create customized direct-marketing promotions based on the nurses’ actual buying patterns. Similarly, Advanstar’s Pharmaceutical Executive is expanding beyond its usual market to target financial firms. “We go to the CEO level, and we’re stretching the envelope to include banks and highly secured facilities where top executives can meet to discuss mergers and acquisitions,” Morris said. In some cases, b-to-b media companies have been able to take advantage of products and services their audience use, even if there’s no innate connection to the industry. Alan Robinson, group publisher for Reed’s EDN, Electronic Business and Electronic News, said electronic engineers tend to use shipping services to move components that are small, fragile and valuable. “We have built a microsite for Federal Express,” he said. “A lot of designers here have manufacturing facilities in China, for example, so Federal Express uses the microsite to talk about logistics and international services.” M mediabusinessonline.com | December 2007 | Media Business | 23 http://mediabusinessonline.com

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BtoB Media Business - December 2007 Contents Upfront Vertical Outlook Resource Guide Sales & Marketing M&A Events Production Online Circulation People Benchmarks Endnote

BtoB Media Business - December 2007

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