A Winter Break Makeover

Coaxing a four-year-old into putting a winter jacket over her princess costume on Halloween is not exactly at the top of my list. And when the first Wisconsin snowfall of the year hits in October, one thing is for certain: by the time December rolls around, it’s hard to feel the love for Bing Crosby and his weather-related crooning. For the record, I’m NOT dreaming of a white anything at this point.

So, what do you do when you’re already burned out on winter and you still have several months to go? Luckily for me and the rest of the staff here at IEN, we have things to do.

That’s because our publisher, Industrial Media, recently made a strategic acquisition of several titles reaching the industrial supply chain — and you’ll probably recognize some familiar names like Manufacturing.net, Industrial Distribution, IMPO, Food Manufacturing and Manufacturing Business Technology.

So instead of cruising into the end of the year, we’re hitting the gas and, starting December 2nd, will be officially relaunching these brands with fresh websites and e-newsletters.

So, what does that mean for you as a reader of IEN? Starting in 2020, we’ll be adding some content to the print magazine to help more frequently target specific areas like food & beverage and industrial MRO. We want to make our new readers feel more at home and, at the same time, offer some added value to our current readers.

Outside of that, IEN remains largely the same, but with one, measurable advantage: our reach along the industrial supply chain has expanded significantly, affording us access to hundreds of thousands of additional industry stakeholders whose insights can help guide us in producing better, more targeted content.

Likewise, as we add to our editorial staff to help support our new markets, that means more videos, webinars, blogs and research, all produced with the needs of our 800,000+ active readers in mind.

And since it’s freezing cold outside, what else is there to do but hunker down and get it done? But I do have one request: Check in on use once in a while, especially when you see that the temperatures are beginning to dip below zero, even if it’s just to say we’re crazy for living in Wisconsin. Even better, drop me a line with ideas for stories or insights on the industry. We’re always glad to hear from readers, old and new.

Happy holidays from IEN!