I opted to go back to editorial fulltime after that year, not because of any lack of success (ad page sales rose 13 percent), but simply because I found the sales life was not my speed, and I missed running the magazine terribly.

Still, I wouldn't trade my year as publisher for anything. It was like a sabbatical–stepping out of my regular role to learn about another side of the business. I learned a number of lessons that year, which I shared with the folks at IMA.

–I am a brand manager these days, not merely a magazine editor. While our weekly newsmagazine remains the foundation of NU's brand as our flagship product, as an editor it's now my job to integrate the information NU puts out on a variety of platforms, including brand extensions such as the Web version of our magazine, our daily online news service, Web-seminars and live events, as well as special projects such as conference dailies, award programs and proprietary research projects.

–News may be a commodity these days, but NU's content will not be commoditized as long as we focus on providing value-added perspective about how events shape the industry. The way for business-to-business media companies such as NU to remain relevant to readers and advertisers alike is to go beyond the news and offer in-depth reports on trends in markets, legislation, regulation, litigation and technology. We then back that up with expert commentary provided by our stable of star columnists, who are all “brands” in their own right. That's what will keep NU unique and invaluable.

–Micro-editing is a key component to remaining relevant to our diverse readership and ad base. Target editing is critical given the fact that NU is read by the entire property-casualty insurance community–insurers and reinsurers; agents, brokers and wholesalers; risk managers and other buyers (giving us a rare consumer component).

Having all these readers under one roof is an enormous competitive edge, but to keep their attention we must provide specific content of interest to each. We accomplish this by running dozens of special reports, slicing and dicing the various markets, business management challenges and technological opportunities facing each audience segment. That's also why we have so many niche channels off our Web page, so that nobody feels left out.

–Joint ventures can be executed with companies trying to market to the insurance industry without violating our editorial integrity. Companies looking to provide what's called “thought leadership”–to establish themselves as experts, not merely product and service peddlers–benefit by working with NU on independent research projects that produce insightful, proprietary information for readers.

–As we've explained to prospective advertisers many times, selling content (buy an ad, get a flattering article) not only turns off readers (who are no fools), but undermines the credibility of the publication running such puff pieces, as well as tainting the message the advertiser is trying to send. The last place a company should want to advertise (or be written up) is in a vanity press, where savvy readers realize the subject bought their way into a publication. Better to earn your coverage the old-fashioned way–by generating legitimate news that will help readers improve their competitive position.

I concluded by saying that it's a very different world out there for those trying to target this industry. It's a moving target, and we've all got to keep moving with our increasingly sophisticated readers to keep up. But the bottom line is that as long as we respect and cater to the intelligence and needs of readers, publications and advertisers alike can remain relevant and profitable no matter what the future holds.