Years ago, I was at a TCA function presenting on a panel. There was a discussion about industry papers in North America. We are fortunate here in Canada to have a couple of top shelf publications and we have a good relationship with them. After the presentation a man came up to me and said, “With all of your contacts and connections we should start our own paper.” I never gave it much thought at first, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense.

Would it work? Not sure. We could give it a try. Our first effort was a joke. We had a distribution of about 3,500, the layout was not bad but the typos and content had something to be desired, and quite frankly I was embarrassed. Since the first edition there have been many changes. We grew the paper on both sides of the border and we’ve had the support of many great people and organizations. The Rear View Mirror has been represented at many industry events and we are truly pleased with it to date.

Fast forwarding, we are into our 8th year now. Our last distribution was about 12,000 and we have come a long way. Over the years we have recruited some very reputable industrial people to write for us and our focus remains education, advocacy and recruitment. We have graduated to an online paper through our website.

Moving forward, when looking at the current conditions of news print and magazines from our perspective, it only makes sense to move to a complete online version of The Rear View Mirror, and starting in 2013 that will be our focus.  There are a number of reasons; the cost of news print and mail distribution is getting too expensive, we want to remain competitive in the pricing, and also offer up some services and opportunities that we feel our customers and the industry will embrace.

We’re very happy to be partnering with Bruce Outridge Enterprises in our new endeavour. Bruce has been a leader in our industry for many years and we value his expertise and commitment to excellence. Along with our outstanding staff it will be a good partnership. Our new look will feature great bloggers and promotion of the trucking world. It will also give our customers an opportunity to promote their products and services 24/7 with a target to their marketplace. Individuals wanting to subscribe to The Rear View Mirror will be able to do so online or by phone, and it will be delivered right to your computer.

Something we are really looking forward to is our interactive videos that our customers can get involved with. Along with their advertising, a customer will have the choice to add video ads to their marketing campaign with The Rear View Mirror. So whether your recruiting top talent or you want to interactively show off your company or product, the online Rear View Mirror is something you should consider.

Of course we are embracing all of social media, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Our distribution schedule will be monthly and content will be fresh. I believe the new look and approach will be well received and we are all looking forward to continuing to promote this great industry. This industry is one of the greatest fraternity’s going and we look forward to serving it for many years to come.

About the Author

Kim Richardson is the Publisher for The Rear View Mirror and President of known industry brands such as KRTS Inc. and Transrep Inc. For more information on Kim please visit their individual websites.