CHRIS BIDDLE MEDIA The Hall 4 New Street Salisbury Wiltshire SP1 2PH
CURRENT ISSUE
TURF PRO AND SERVICE DEALER
Two great magazines now together
DECEMBER 2012 / JANUARY 2013
FEATURES :
DUTCH MASTERS: Imants and Vredo
SERVICING: Getting the best out of your equipment
BTME HARROGATE, Preview of BIGGA turfcare show ALL TERRAIN VEHICLES: What's new? December / January issue of Turf Pro/Service Dealer is being published w/c 17 December
FINE AND DANDY? Thoughts on how we plan to extend this newsletter
Fine and Dandy? No it’s not! The comic that sustained us in our formative years with adventures of Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan ceased being available in print this week and has gone digital-only. Thus following Newsweek now digital only, and the likes of the Evening Standardand Time Outwhich are now given away free but have online editions.
Horses for courses, but in every conversation I have with readers, the over-riding view is that people still like a printed magazine to supplement all the information available online.
But unlike the days when readers waited for copies of their monthly magazine to catch up on industry news, it is now delivered to them more regularly - and with the ability to find out more with the inclusion of links and interactive copy.
And this statistics stuff freaks me out! We know that over the past 6 weeks, our e-mails are opened and read by an average of 39% of recipients, that they spend 4.43 minutes reading each issue and open and read 21% of the articles. We also know that 83% are read on desktops or laptops, and 13% on tablets or smartphones.
So there is no doubt that new media has been a game changer for publishers.
Our magazine, Turf Pro incorporating Service Dealer is now in the experienced and capable hands of Scott MacCallum and Tim Moat. Its market is those who buy, own, manage and use turfcare machinery and equipment. It carries industry news, features and product reviews and is thus ideal for dealers, manufacturers and suppliers who want to reach end-users. Its newly launched website www.turfpro.co.uk also now incorporates a digital edition of the magazine.
But I realise we have left a gap. A publication that addresses the day-to-day business of running a dealership.
Most dealers are family-owned. They operate in a weather-influenced industry, operating in a fragile economy. Coordinating sales, service and parts management is a constant challenge. They also like to know how their fellow dealers are faring on a regular basis in order to 'benchmark' their business.
So in welcoming Steve Gibbs, who from this week will be assisting me in the production of this weekly industry news feed, we will be telling you more next week about an extension to this newsletter in 2013.
