Our Thought Leader this week is Tim Fixmer, CEO of CCI Media, who talks about B2B media’s crucial role in business information delivery, and the unique management strategy that he employs to give his audience what they want.

MGS:  CCI Media has been in business for just over 6 years, and in that time has recorded some impressive growth numbers using a unique management strategy.  Tell us a little bit about CCI Media.

Tim:  We started the company in 2010 with seven employees who were industry veterans that had previously worked for competing media companies, and completed our first acquisition in 2011 -- CabinetMaker+FDM and its affiliated brands.  Things were looking dyer for B2B media companies at the time.  An industry colleague had told me he had lost his vision for B2B media because of the proliferation of business information sources on the internet.  But we believed then, as we do today, that business professionals were flooded with information from so many sources that they needed B2B media experts to help them separate the wheat from the chaff.  We have served our audiences by amalgamating, interpreting, prioritizing and presenting the information they tell us they need, with media products delivered in the ways that they want. 

CCI Media is a small company, but we have grown to nineteen employees and have experienced nice audience and revenue growth in the short time we’ve been in business.  We have added to our portfolio of products that serve industrial woodworking communities, and now offer two print publications, a robust website with 300,000 pageviews per month, twelve weekly e-newsletters, four events and single-sponsor custom digital publications.  Our database has more than doubled, now including 92,000 woodworking professionals.  Print brings us 52% of our revenue, and events and digital bring about 24% each.  As media delivery strategies evolve, we are committed to following the readers and finding ways to make a profit by giving our audiences what they want.

MGS:  Tell us about your management model.

Tim:  CCI Media is a totally virtual company.  There are no bricks and mortar.  All of our employees work from their home offices in seven states.  We use web-based tools for all aspects of the business – from communication, to accounting, to audience development, to training, etc.  The team comes together for three standing weekly meetings, an issue-preview meeting for cover-to-cover reviews, and at other times as needed – all via GoToMeeting.  We use a sophisticated web-based accounting system tool which has worked well for us.  And we have had great success in audience development and engagement tracking using an incredibly effective software package that fully integrates our data files.  We can track all the ways our audience members engage with our products.

Though a number of our team members have worked in different environments for competing brands in the past, the team has risen to the challenge of coming together to make the process viable.  Working from home has made the team more productive and is an attractive benefit, especially for our younger people. 

MGS:  Have there been surprises along the way?

Tim:  Our audiences’ preference for print media has been a big surprise.  We thought there would be a lessening demand for print and an elongated growth in digital products.  But the demand for print has been high while the demand for digital has subsided somewhat.  Our data shows that the industrial woodworking audience wants print as well as digital media and we’re advising our advertisers of that fact.  We’ve seen a 12% growth in print this year and we’re budgeting for 15% growth in print and 12% in digital next year.

MGS: What do you see in the future of B2B media and do you have any advice for your colleagues in the media industry?

Tim:  B2B media has a brilliant future, but the speed of change in the industry will not be decreasing.  Don’t rely on everything the guys with the crystal balls are saying.  Instead, make it a priority to follow the readers.  Find out what they want, and then come up with ways to make a profit by giving it to them.

MGS:  Thanks Tim.  We’re looking forward to hearing more about this strategy at MediaGrowth Summit 2018!