Business-to-Business Magazine Winners

Circulation Management, August 1, 2004

GOLD

Plant Engineering Reed

Business Information

Plant Engineering magazine executed a dramatic improvement in the quality of its subscriber base in time for the June 2003 BPA statement.

The objective was to create a new 100,000 qualified subscriber file by removing all 17,200 two-year subscribers and those who did not specify products, while adding nearly 3,000 one-year name product buyers.

Their strategy was "Just remember 100"! That meant they were to deliver a community of 100,000 subscribers, 100% buyers, 100% one-year qualified and 100% of the manufacturerswith 100 or more employees.

This was accomplished through aggressive email and fax renewal efforts to the two- and three-year subscribers, and with targeted messages to small numbers of non-buyers on file.

Next, they implemented new-name and pass-along-email efforts to subscribers who renewed their subscriptions, along with multiple pass-along email efforts to increase circ at plants where they already had subscribers. By May 2003 the results were astounding. They had delivered 100,000 qualified one-year subscribers who were product - buyer - specifiers, and in the process, nearly doubled the number of Internet source subscribers through consistent and creative use of email campaigns.

SILVER

CRN and VAR Business

CMP

The audience development team at CRN and VAR Business has created dynamic modular web functions that have revolutionized workflow and made it possible to achieve some pretty impressive cost reductions.

The team works on both publications and has developed Web solutions to work in tandem, allowing them to capitalize on shared demographics.

Some of the highlights include ... subscription Web pages, cross-promotions, marketing promotions, personalization and tracking. Questions displayed and redirects for print mailings and cover wraps can be changed with a click of a button, saving on IT and service bureau charges. They also can continue to test on the back end to determine how the reply device of the Web effort performs, thus reducing subscription costs by 15%. And new reporting facilities cut telemarketing costs by 11%, while increasing the response rate by a healthy 19%.

SILVER

Information Week

CMP

CMP Management was determined to have Information Week become the foundation of the new Information Week Media Network, which was designed to maximize effectiveness of the brand across the various media products.

The network was launched to benefit all the publications within the network, and also the corporate database. As part of this effort, audience development was charged with research and development of at least one additional publication.

Results included a cost savings by leveraging the Information Week direct marketing promotions for smaller publications and managing all files under one collective database. This allowed for targeted promotions for sister publications. They also creatively used a wide variety of web based viral marketing techniques within extremely efficient budgets, and developed more than 12 new pipeline custom products and newsletters at little or no cost.

BRONZE

Institutional Investor

Euromoney

Institutional Investor's goals were to increase the one-year renewal rate and reduce the cost per qualified subscriber by introducing new channels and removing reliance on telemarketing. They also sought to improve marketing materials and ownership as well as communication between departments.

Prior to June 2002, there was no email marketing for controlled circulation. By January 2003, the magazine began sending emails to all controlled records directing recipients to an online request form for a free subscription. The names were re-qualified quickly and inexpensively, and the information was easily up-loaded to the fulfillment system. All emails were coded and tracked for each campaign, making it easy to evaluate list effectiveness. An extensive campaign of list swaps provided names at a reduced cost. Over a five-month period, 145,000 emails were sent, generating a 3% response rate.

Email was also used effectively with a cover-wrap re-qualification process, doubling the response rate from 4% to 8%.

Replacement of telemarketing for both new subs and re-qualification with email programs and use of a Web site registration form reduced controlled circulation costs by $275,000.

50,000 TO 100,000 CIRCULATION

GOLD

Equipment World

Randall Publishing Company

Equipment World's goal was originally set six years ago by their late chairman, H. Pettus Randall, III, when the company acquired the information provider Equipment Data Associates, a firm that collects Uniform Commercial Code-1 filings.

The goal was to integrate their buyer information into the magazine circulation so the BPA statement could document equipment purchases made by subscribers. This would make Equipment World the only publication in its field that could prove the volume of equipment purchases made by subscribers.

The merging of the EDA database with Equipment World's circulation also made it possible to reach the exact demographic categories their advertisers were targeting. EDA documented subscribers increased to 40%, with almost 209,000 pieces of equipment purchased.