I spoke with Dan Lagani, president of the Fairchild Fashion Group, this week about checking your circ list for hidden nuggets and wrote it up in min’s b2b. I don’t want to give away the entire kit and kaboodle, but I will give out some practical advice based on our discussion and my conclusions.

Take a look at what markets you’re magazines are in. If you’re in one of the following B2B verticals, read on. If you’re in manufacturing, or shipping, or engineering, sorry, this isn’t for you…stop by and read my next blog post:

- Fashion

- Design

- Interior Design

- Architecture

- Building

- Kitchen & Bath

- Information Technology (includes security, developers, etc)

- Telecom

- Travel/lodging/hospitality

- Some food verticals (yes on retail, no on manufacturing)

- AV

- Advertising/marketing

If your book is in one of these verticals, take a closer look at your circulation list. Now, filter out all the subscribers you’d expect to be there: the industry CEOs, buyers, decision-makers, etc. Who do you have left? Well, of course, you’ll have some parts of your circ that is undesirable: people who have left the industry, people who aren’t in the industry, people who are too low-lever, and maybe some people who have died. But, if you’re lucky, and I know many of you will be, you’ll be left with two different kinds of people that you should treat as gold: journalists in the industry; and tastemakers.

For instance, I bet if you look at the circ for Nielsen’s Kitchen and Bath Business, you will find some interior design journalists. You will also perhaps find some tastemakers in the interior design industry who are influencers to consumers. Let’s say you have 50 journalists on your circ. How many people do these journalists reach on a weekly, or monthly basis? How many people do those influencers influence? Think about that, and make it part of your sales story. It’s not just 50,000 or 100,000 qualified subscribers, it’s also 50 or 100 journalists and tastemakers that touch 100 million worldwide consumers. If you can make that case compellingly to your clients, I’m sure they’ll reward you. Call your aud dev manager. Today.

Ps - I think this strategy should especially pay off for the IT books.

Every first Monday after New Year’s Day, a press release comes from on high, from the office of S.I. Newhouse himself.  He doesn’t live in the North Pole, but he does tell you who has been naughty, and who has been nice, and then sprinkles presents and coal down on his Conde Nasties (as Keith Kelly, media reporter for the NY Post calls them).  This year, nine top executives at the company became three, as Mitch Fox, Sandy Golinkin and Amy Churgin all left the company.  Promotions (or, sort of promotions) for six others.  This is just to catch you up.

What wasn’t discussed in the released was Dan Lagani.  Lagani is president of the Fairchild fashion group, which is home to, among others, Women’s Wear Daily, one of the biggest and best B2B media brands (and new to our min’s b2b Boxscores).   Talked to Lagani yesterday; turns out he’s going nowhere and will be reporting directly to Chuck Townsend; which means he’ll be working closely with John Bellando, COO of the company.