More life, more reads and more revenue

Online advertising can generate a substantial revenue. That’s the message from Right Coast Cars, who successfully made an online version of their print title. Not only did the publisher boost their revenue from additional advertising offers, but the decreased workload and production costs allowed for more frequent publishing.

For Right Coast Cars, who specializes in promoting automotive events, the hard copy of their glossy magazine did well. But it didn’t do great, and with the income from advertising slowing, they decided to expand their business to the digital platform. But what about their core audience? Is the 45+-year-old male ready to look for classic cars online? The demographics raised the requirements for ease of navigation.

After investigating the options in the market, Right Coast Cars chose Zmags as their preferred digital publishing provider. According to Rob O’ Connor, Publisher at Right Coast Cars, the online magazine is not just a digital copy of the print version: “The online version is much more interactive. Our readers want pitches of the cars – they are photogenic and we can support that in the online magazine. In addition, we are burdened less on the production side. With print, we only do one version per year, but right now we publish online on a quarterly basis, which potentially could go to bi-monthly.”

Online magazines generate revenue

A central part of the online strategy was to generate revenue through online methods. Right Coast Cars knew it would be a challenge, as there is a learning curve to embrace online magazines – especially for advertisers. So they mass-mailed their media kit with new digital advertising offers. To support the incoming requests for setting up link ads, flash ads and even video ads, Right Coast Cars already had the capabilities in-house.

“The key is to keep it simple for advertisers,” Rob O’Connor stresses. “We found that bundled packages with print and online ads worked great for our magazine. Offering a link to the advertiser’s website in an online ad has been the bargaining tip in several cases. Advertisers know what they get already, so we need to take small steps to make them comfortable with the online format,” O’Connor states. He has also seen a slight increase in demand for video ads among their largest advertisers.

ROI on the very first issue

The bottom line speaks for itself. With a well-working online magazine solution, Right Coast Cars saved print costs while earning money from increasing their advertising program.

“With print, only two parties made money - the printer and the post office. With our online magazine strategy, we made money from the very first issue and did actually return our investment as well. We honestly did not know what rates to expect at first, but it is really clear that online advertising can generate substantial revenue to the business,” O’Connor says. “My advice to other magazine publishers would be: Don’t be afraid to jump in. It’s intimidating at first with a lot of unknowns, but the learning curve is short, so you will be up and running in no time.”

About Right Coast Cars

Right Coast is an automotive event promotion company focused on fun, safe, family oriented events up and down the east coast of the US and Canada. Right Coast’s largest event, called the DuPont Syracuse Nationals, annually draws over 7,000 classic cars and 80,000 spectators to the NY State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY, every July. The DuPont Syracuse Nationals has grown to be one of the largest classic car shows in the US, with cars arriving from 40 states and 5 Canadian provinces.

Right Coast Cars online magazine advertising offers include a variety of ads with links, Flash animations and videos.