Word Out: Changing Course

Mike Leahy
JM Leahy Associates

The new look and new name for the quarterly CONNSTEP magazine reflect a change in CONNSTEP's mission to now also provide Connecticut businesses, outside of manufacturing, with continuous improvement and growth strategies enabling them to become more competitive.

By broadening its audience in this way, CONNSTEP is better positioned to support the growth of the state's overall economy. And, as we all know only too well, Connecticut's economy needs all the help it can get.

But before making the change, CONNSTEP did what any good sailor would do before lifting anchor for new waters. They made sure the trip they were plotting was based on sound navigation and a favorable tide.

In this case, sound navigation meant contacting readers of The Manufacturer, the longstanding CONNSTEP newsletter, and benefi tting from their input. This input was obtained in two steps. Step one consisted of one-on-one phone interviews with 17 member readers for the purpose of obtaining qualitative feedback and insight to help in the design of a questionnaire to be used in the next step.

Step two, more quantitative in nature, was an e-mail questionnaire to 357 C-level executives in Connecticut in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing. Both the qualitative and quantitative steps probed for perceptions of The Manufacturer. What was good, what was not so good, what about the format, how about the content, layout, frequency of issues, etc.

Fifty-eight c-level executives answered the e-mail survey (a very respectable 16% response rate). A summary of the results that led to the new look and new name you see here:

• The Manufacturer too limited as a title; name needs to be broader
• Needs to be more visual
• More case histories
• Magazine format preferred by largest percentage of respondents
• More sales/marketing, state/federal legislation and workforce development coverage

The new name, CONNSTEP Advantage, speaks to a much broader audience and communicates to that audience that there are advantages to be realized by associating with CONNSTEP. It provides a springboard to a dialogue about how CONNSTEP can provide the most important advantage of all…becoming more competitive.

Going from a newsletter to a magazine format not only dovetails with respondent's input, it also serves as a higher quality vehicle for CONNSTEP to leverage its brand and get its message out.

So please have a closer look at this new magazine and don't hesitate to let CONNSTEP know what you think!