Brand Awareness: Testing & Quality Assurance

With shipments of cutting tools on the decline since April — as reported by the September Cutting Tool Market Report — it’s more important than ever for Cutting Tool Engineering (CTE) to reaffirm its commitment to the metalcutting and grinding audience.

Since 1955, this magazine has informed you, our readers, about new and existing technologies while providing expert-driven guidance to help you maximize the performance of the machines, cutting tools and related equipment you rely on to succeed. Today, CTE accomplishes this with a multimedia approach that includes this magazine — in both print and digital forms — a weekly newsletter sent via email, and a website updated daily with product news, articles, webinars, videos and podcasts.

Between our magazine and newsletter, CTE reaches more than 97,000 unique subscribers each month. Additionally, our website generates about 45,000 visitor sessions monthly.

As essential as our digital media audience has become to CTE’s success in this industry, I want to take a moment to highlight the enduring value of our magazine. Of our 64,000-plus direct-request magazine subscribers, 94% are involved in selecting and/or purchasing products for their companies, according to our most recent readership study conducted by Signet Research Inc., a leading provider of advertising measurement studies. This makes sense, given that nearly 29,000 of our subscribers work in corporate management roles. When you include engineering managers, production managers, and purchasing personnel, that total grows to nearly 44,000 — about 70% of our magazine audience.

These statistics are crucial for advertisers seeking to connect with decision-makers, especially given the current market challenges. For instance, the Institute for Supply Management’s October Report on Business reported a 46.5% Manufacturing PMI, indicating a clear market decline (a PMI below 50% reflects contraction).

While digital advertising remains an understandably popular choice, marketers who overlook magazine advertising — especially in print — risk neglecting a significant portion of their target market. Consider this: Of the 44,000 decision-makers who subscribe to CTE, over 24,000 prefer the print version of the magazine exclusively. That’s roughly 38% of an advertiser’s target audience.