Editorial: Expanding the zone

When we publish in those topic areas it’s with a particular slant toward rental operations. Technical articles about equipment address the particular equipment in your fleet (or that you might consider for your fleet). Economic information is about rental rates or issues affecting small and medium-sized businesses with a customer-facing service focus. And news content about American or international matters is usually only included when there is potential relevance for a Canadian rental store. Not that U.S. stuff isn’t interesting, but, again, there are other sources where you can find it that are better at covering it because that’s their focus. We don’t think anyone else does a better job of covering the Canadian rental industry than we do.

One of the reasons we are able to do this is because of history. As of this year, Canadian Rental Service has been in continuous publication for 43 years. Over that time, we’ve built up a reservoir of stories and contacts that put us in touch with Canadian rental operators in a way no others are. I know from my conversations across the country that Canadian Rental Service is viewed as the official magazine of the industry, and that you at least flip through every issue when it arrives. We have you and your predecessors in the industry to thank for the strength of our brand, and we take our responsibility to reward your trust and attention over the years very seriously.

And trust is a big part of our brand strength. While Canadian Rental Service works closely with our supplier and advertiser friends, just as you do, our commitment is to always provide accurate, unbiased content that isn’t pushing any particular agenda, product or service. There is only one way this magazine has survived and will continue to survive and that’s by retaining your trust in what you read here. If there’s ever a question in your mind about something you read in Canadian Rental Service, we want to be the first to know.

Another point of strength for this brand is our reach. Canadian Rental Service goes to about 4,000 (it fluctuates) rental stores across Canada. We work on our circulation list constantly and we think we are getting to everyone who would potentially want to read us. Our list is our lifeblood. We want each issue to be an event that every store in every part of Canada shares together. In fact, tying the Canadian rental industry together as an industry, instead of just a bunch of companies, could be seen as a secondary mission for the magazine. It’s one of the reasons that almost every issue starts out with a rental company profiled right on the cover. We think we play an important role in helping you know each other and to understand what works and what doesn’t in this business.

We’ve been thinking a lot lately about what we could do to be even more effective in our missions. As a communications channel, our super-power is to get a consistent message out across this industry. What is that good for? Why, bringing people together. We think there is space in this country for more opportunities for rental people to get together for socializing and networking, with perhaps a smidgen of education thrown in. Of course, we have done that for years at the Rental Mart, but we think there are ways to expand and enhance the show, and possibly take it to other parts of the country. We also think there is more we could do to generate and share critical information for this industry and to perhaps connect you to valuable contacts and services.

I want to hear from you. What do you think Canadian Rental Service could do for you?