Business Spotlight: Under the Hood

It’s safe to say the 2008 auto industry crash is in the rearview mirror for MD Publications Inc.

In the last two years, the Springfield-based publisher of two automotive aftermarket magazines, several technical repair newsletters and an annual trade show experienced its first substantial growth since the 2008 national recession rocked the car industry from bumper to bumper. Highlighted by government bailouts of the Big Three Detroit automakers, the national financial crisis shook only the U.S. real estate market as hard.

Six years later, MD Publications President Michelle Dickemann says 2014 served as a pivot year, with 6 percent revenue growth.

“People are slowly putting their feet back in the water and deciding to spend money with confidence,” she says.

MD Publications’ writers and salespeople have a pulse on the aftermarket parts industry, and the business-to-business content caters to mechanics’ shops. Some 55,000 subscribers receive one or both of the monthly trade journals – Undercar Digest and Transmission Digest – for troubleshooting tips, the latest in technician tools and shop management advice.

“We’re all on a journey here,” says Ethan Horn, a subscriber as the service manager at Christian Brothers Automotive on West Republic Road. “There’s always a tip or a trick that can be picked up.”

The two journals, which account for 90 percent of MD Publications’ revenue, primarily are mailed to shops in North America, but Dickemann says readership is international. Led by print ad sales, MD Publications generated roughly $1.2 million in 2014 revenue, a slight uptick from two flat years prior.

Gone are the days of sales cut in thirds each year 2008–10. Dickemann now projects a 15-20 percent revenue increase in 2015, a forecast perhaps influenced by last month’s formal and profitable conclusion of the federal bailout program. Dickemann’s hopes are high on the Auto Tech Expo, with an anticipated 1,000 attendees March 12–14 in Jacksonville, Fla., and for returns on a circulation marketing effort the past 10 months.

From Muffler Digest
The publication business got its start in 1976, when Dickemann’s parents introduced Muffler Digest.

Les and Carol Langsford created the niche trade journal in response to their son Rokey’s frustrations as a muffler shop owner with little peer-to-peer support.

Dickemann didn’t chase after this line of work; she grew into it. From the start, Dickemann helped around the office emptying trash or stuffing envelopes.

“None of us kids were on the payroll, but a family business, you work,” she says.

While attending Drury University for a teaching degree, Dickemann stayed connected to the circulation and accounting operations. She taught in schools for eight years before a calling to return to the family business.

Her father died in 1993. Dickemann returned part time to work with her mom and says she became “mom’s right hand man,” especially on the financial side.

“Every time there was something to be done, it got added to my list of duties,” she says.

The extra worked served her and the business well when Carol Langsford died almost two decades later.

The Langsfords didn’t have a company succession plan, so ownership fell equally to the four heirs, with one stipulation: Unless all the siblings agreed to sell it outside the family, it had to be sold to one heir.

Dickemann stepped forward and purchased the family business in December 2012.

“I always say I bought a job,” she says.

Though the Muffler Digest title no longer exists – the magazine broadened to cover brake and chassis repairs in 1987 and was renamed Undercar Digest – the original publication is still remembered by the MD in the parent company name.

“I always joke because my initials are MD,” Dickemann says.

Next gen content
Wih printing by Publishers Press outside of Louisville, Ky., Undercar Digest today covers any under-the-hood repairs, with an emphasis on diagnostics and drivability.

In the day and age of do-it-yourself projects and YouTube tutorials, Dickemann says the publications’ technical editors solicit readers for their troubling issues and lean on a network of technician sources to provide solutions.

“You can’t learn it all on the Internet when you’re working with car parts,” she says.

They’ll also take new parts or tools to local shops, such as Rick’s Automotive and Complete Automotive, for their master technicians to test.

“What’s the end user think about it?” Dickemann says. “You’ve got to get their point of view versus just the manufacturer’s point of view because it’s all roses.”

Horn says the Christian Brothers crew often shares professional opinions on oxygen sensors, catalytic convertors or other parts MD editors Jim Wilder and Gary Sifford bring over.

Recently, Christian Brothers’ technicians spent nearly a whole day investigating a tire-pressure monitoring system warning light on a 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser.

“It took us all day to find it. It was really rare and hard to diagnose,” Horn says. “It ended up being an issue from Toyota covered under a silent warranty. They are now able to share that information.”

Undercar Digest Editor Jim Wilder says readers’ main interests are vehicles 5-10 years old, out of warranty and with problems just hitting the market. New technologies present the greatest challenges for repairmen.

“You can’t hardly work on a car without a scan tool anymore,” he says of the wide computerization of cars.

Dickemann expects much future content will be dedicated to hybrids.

“Right now, the big thing is hybrids and all the electrical fixes that go along,” she says. “They’re finally starting to need fixing.”[[In-content Ad]]