Since 1981, readers have trusted Lessiter Media to deliver the latest and most critical information through our magazines, newsletters, websites, email newsletters, books, reports and events. With knowledge being your most important tool, we provide valuable ideas to help you exceed your goals and objectives. A content-driven company, we leverage leading-edge technology to deliver the necessary information everywhere our readers want it: In Print, In Person, Online and On Demand.
09/23/2025
We celebrated a mountain-moving level success here at Lessiter Media with the completion of the 148-page Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) history book, sent to the printer yesterday afternoon! As we've detailed in past updates, we've been hard at work seeing this project through — interviewing, transcribing, original writing, editing, photo selection, image corrections, layouts, etc. With 100% final approval from FEMA, we took to the celebration bell to recognize everyone here for their involvement with this book, but especially wanted to give appreciation to Christopher Nielsen. He took full ownership of the project's success and was a tireless workhorse making sure that whatever it took, he'd do it to an exceptional degree. Whether it was 11 hours on a Sunday or late nights at the office (he worked on this project 53 hours in the final week alone on top of his daily responsibilities), his mettle was inspirational. He was gifted a token of our appreciation, and is also being "grounded" from the office Friday (thanks to Art Department teammates Jeff Lazewski & Lewis Horn for taking on projects that day) so he can enjoy some much deserved R&R.
Additional shoutout to the front-line members of our team working on this project, including Kim Schmidt, Audrey Woods, Michelle Drewek, Jeff Lazewski and Joe Kuenzle, as well as everyone who contributed to interviewing, writing and shuffling workloads to help each other out. People would actively raise their hands to pitch in anywhere needed and added to their own full plates, proving that team work is not just something we say around here — we show up. 🤝
Also, a huge "thank you" to the FEMA staff for their work helping us make this happen. They worked after-hours and on weekends to help us anytime we needed, and their commitment to the association's members is unmatched.
Mike Lessiter sent us home early yesterday to enjoy the beautiful afternoon, and we'll be enjoying an outing later this week to cap off this historical project. 🥳 ☀️ Cheers everyone — well done!
09/22/2025
09/19/2025
Ever noticed those different cover images for your favorite Netflix shows?
It’s more than just a visual update — it’s part of a personalized marketing strategy based on your watching habits.
Curious about how Netflix makes each experience feel unique? Check out Kiran Kashif’s breakdown of their approach and see how you can apply these tactics to your own content.
See how Netflix uses personalized visuals and data to create tailored viewer experiences — and how you can apply the same strategy to your content.
09/17/2025
ON THE FINAL LAP — Farm Equipment staff is hard at work at Lessiter Media in the final stages of the 146-page book commemorating the history of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association (FEMA) on its 75th anniversary. This project has been a true team effort and these laid out pages are a testament to the time and dedication being put in to make this truly special. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞! Michelle Drewek from our team will be doing a full-day proofread of this historical book from cover to cover tomorrow, bringing us around the final corner toward the finish line.
09/12/2025
Mistakes in marketing aren’t always bad. Learn how “typo marketing” turns errors into attention-grabbing strategies with real campaign examples.
Discover how intentional errors in advertising—known as typo marketing—can grab attention and boost brand engagement.
09/10/2025
"Pressure creates diamonds, but it also crushes cars. Learn from the mistakes when you make them — own them. Mentor from the mistakes when your teammates fumble — grow them." Michelle Drewek unpacks 7 key business takeaways inspired by the blockbuster film F1 Movie:
Takeaways Slowing down will speed you up. A high-functioning team is nimble, adaptable and positive throughout the process. How you respond to mistakes is more crucial than the mistake itself. By Michelle Drewek, Digital Media Manager Mike Lessiter and his dad, Frank, have a movie night every week t...
09/05/2025
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's logo redesign wiped out millions in market value—and customer trust. Branding succeeds when it evolves, not overwrites. What’s your brand built on? By Michelle Drewek
Cracker Barrel’s logo redesign shows how poor branding can break trust, damage authenticity, and cost millions in market value.
09/02/2025
ROUNDING THE CORNER ON HISTORY... Farm Equipment & Lessiter Media editors & designers huddled up today for the final push on a special 75-year history book we’re creating for the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association and its landmark convention this October. Project includes 700-plus pages of interview transcripts – assembled over nearly a decade. We still have room for GREAT photos – historical up to the present age – for this special compendium. Email your images, captions & memories to [email protected]
08/29/2025
We tested HTML vs. plain text emails — and the winner might not be what you’d expect. See which style drove higher click-throughs and the pros and cons of each in this
Our A/B test revealed plain text emails outperformed HTML in click-through rates. See the pros and cons to guide your email strategy.
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While Lessiter Media’s official birth certificate says 1981, the company’s real beginning took place 18 years earlier, when Pam and Frank Lessiter exchanged their wedding vows ... and brought together deep, family-founded passions for farming, writing, photography, education and business.
Frank was the son of a fifth-generation Michigan dairy farm father and ag engineer and whose mother, a high school English teacher, influenced his love of storytelling. Pam, a business education graduate, was the daughter of an elementary school teacher and an industrial education professor. Graduates of Michigan State University, Frank and Pam met on the MSU campus, where both were employed in the university’s information services offices.
On March 6, 1981, Frank and Pam hung out their own shingle upon acquiring a magazine, trade show and newsletter (with a staff of 5) from Reiman Publications (now part of Reader’s Digest), where Frank was executive vice president and chief editorial director. With a new company formed at the onset of the worst farm recession ever, their first decade in business brought challenges, yet also forged and annealed a foundation for what would become a very different kind of publishing company. And principles that would serve it as it evolved still several decades later.
Through those lean years and the period of growth that followed, the name “Lessiter” (which at one time depended solely on paid-subscriptions), became synonymous with words like “actionable, meaningful, practical and relevant” for the content it delivered to its highly targeted audiences. Not fluff, not advertorials nor PR-speak, but rather unbiased, independent information that its subscribers and attendees could weigh, and act upon. “Where content becomes knowledge” began to be woven into the fabric of the Lessiter name.
The decades that followed attracted new talent, and brought launches, acquisitions, new events and digital media channels. And yes, a few divestitures, too, as the company focused on the segments in which it could most make a difference. But the content-first approach has never wavered since that day in 1981 and Lessiter Media impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of subscribers, marketers and employees — as well as their families and ensuing generations.
The small company launched an independent, unbiased conference for farmers when Monsanto was going to control the message to farmers. It unearthed lightning-rod topics that had be addressed when others didn’t want to “rock the boat” —unscrupulous practices affecting equine health, attempts at governmental regulation of farriers, and the brand purity and other “unwritten” tactics taking place in the farm equipment industry. On more than one occasion, the company elected to walk away from business rather than yield editorial independence.
“We’ve refused to compromise on editorial quality as we deliver practical, ‘meat-and-potato’ content in everything we do,” says Lessiter. “This means delivering content that readers need to advance their businesses and lives. This has allowed us to achieve number-one status as the information source in each segment of the Niche Markets we serve — because the needs of the audience are placed first.”
The family company is now in its second generation under Mike Lessiter, who joined the firm in 2003 after 12 years of prior trade publishing experience in Chicago. He became president in 2007 and as a second-generation ag editor, retains his editor/publisher role today. Following the firm’s move into modern and new collaborative-style offices in the spring of 2015, the firm was renamed Lessiter Media to better reflect its evolution beyond only the print channel — and into social media, video, broadcast, webinars, search and mobile access.
“Any company in this business is only as good as the people who make it happen,” says Lessiter. “Our group of over 40 hardworking professionals, and all those who came before whose shoulders they stand on today, have set the bar high. By working together and bringing our best every day, we’ll continue to share solutions in each of the niche segments we serve.”
Still residing in their same Brookfield home they’ve been in since 1972 and just a bike ride away from the new offices, Frank (who continues as chairman and editorial director) and Pam (retired CFO and company director) are also the proud parents of three daughters (Debbie Hansen, Susie Grabow and Kelly Fitch - all professional educators) and 14 grandchildren.
Learn more about Lessiter Media at lessitermedia.com/about/history.
