What's happening next ?

[SeanDezart]

If one assumes that the clubs' site will soon become accessible only to subscribers, what effects will this have on the clubs' future ?

Firstly, I agree on our site being open only to paying members, I have said so for some time and in retrospect, it should have been instigated from between 6 and 12 months ago ! Something else that should have been put into motion was the distribution of the clubs' magazine (by direct email to each club member who has communicated his/her email address) in parallel with the traditional paper magazine.

We might lose some web members but we won't lose 'ordinary members' which is what this is about ! Should there be a two tiered membership ? One, a full membership that receives the paper magazine (and the 'virtual' mag. by email) and allows web site access and the other, allowing website access with no magazine, virtual or otherwise ? No, all membership subscritions should include the magazine ! The reason for wanting paying-members is to fund the clubs' magazine, no longer aided by the sale of parts from the parts dept. Take away the large (but let's be honest and say not unreasonable) costs of printing and distributing the magazine, eventually replacing it by a 'virtual' mag. and the clubs' financial future will be assured, even with a reduction in membership ! This I believe is the natural evolution of our club and the follow on from having such a successful website !

The decision, eventually, to drop the paper magazine should be decided upon by a club referendum and only when constructive ideas have been proposed as to how to re-allocate club funds previously used to finance the paper mag.

I enjoy receiving my magazine but also the 'for sale list', available immediately and since a while via email. I would be happy to receive electronically my club mag. and print it off if desired. How many other car clubs, especially those internet based, provide a magazine to it's members in this fashion ?

Our club has slowed it's initiative, the committee functions well but I feel the clubs' direction is lacking in foresight which, if left unchecked, wil provoke the slow death of our club where we'll see ever decreasing membership levels. The 'in progress' plan to charge web surfers is nearly too little, too late - a strong will is now needed to put into motion ALL the measures necessary to ensure our clubs' bright and growing future !

Please discuss....

 

[SeanDezart]

I would suggest one end of year colour annuel (style present magazine) and for the rest of the year use the local groups and obviously the website to diffuse info. This blow might be softened by having a second mag in the late spring noting all that will happen along with some interest stories and what couldn't be fitted in as reportage in the end of year mag !

Drastic , Yes but I've just discovered that the membership is down to *** when the last time I enquired it was around about 700 !
The practical news is that this means less revenue to pay for our magazine. More money or less magazine - that's the choice.
Our club has already lost (or at best not attracted) most Z32 owners and just about all the Z33 owners. Let's face it, any new owner looking to choose between us and these models dedicated sites are going elsewhere right ?

The Z owners (and members) are reasonably stable, the Z31s are out there in force and are the bargain car of the moment with nowhere to go and the 280ZXs are falling as the cars are let to rot/broken !
The club has to chase after the ZXs, both 280s and Z31s ! Most people now have a computer in their homes even if it's not theirs but a family members'. I believe our club should now be more internet based, even the committee could have more regular and better attended meetings via an exclusive chat box on our site (this does not imply that meetings are irregular and poorly attended btw) !
There should be email shots reminding lapsed members how easy and worthwhile it is to participate in the forum, remind owners that lapsed membership invalidates their club scheme insurance etc.etc....
The magazine should be electronically distributed and all people accessing the site apart from say, first time lookers and journalists searching for the Z truth (Albrecht !) should be fully paid up full members of The Z Club !
There has been let to run a terrible slide in membership, it's never too late to find a long term solution to garauntee our clubs' future !

In general our club must be more pro-active, even if things were rosy right now, someone should be looking over the horizon and planning to avoid future troubles !

This subject should be printed in the clubs' mag so that even the few who don't have internet access and those that do but have so far chosen to abstain may participate in what should be extremely importnat to anyone who loves and gets something out of our club !
I'm surprised that over 10 people have already looked at this thread without any comments !

 

[status]

put membership fees up a little,its not that dear at the moment is it

 

[Arkwright]

I have no idea how much cost is involved in producing the club mag. However I belong to other organisations and they produce quarterly mags on a par with ours and I know that the cost to the organisations is zero, production costs being covered by the publishers selling advertising space. Also for certain reasons the organisations limit the amount of advertising but obviously the publishers still make a profit. Perhaps we should make enquiries ans consider changing publishers?

 

[VERTEMATIDOG]

I have only been a member for a short time,October last year,and wondered what benefits members get apart from the excellent magazine? The forum is open to non members. Can you get cheaper spares, insurance etc. when you are a member?

 

[Zed2k]

You can get a discount from insurers who advertise, although I found them to be expensive when insuring my 240, I went with Adrian flux who covers all my Mods too. not sure about cheap spare's would be nice though.

 

[Zed2k]

On the Subject of the Club mag and a 2 tier membership I not sure if it would work I personally like to have a club mag through the post, as it re lights the Zed spark when I feel it sliding away, I think members with on going project's need the Mag as it helps with inspiration to keep going I know it helped me when working on my cars. Like you say Sean, an E mail mag would be Ok if that's what people wanted I'm sure it would be cheaper or maybe we could look at cheaper Publishers who could advertise and cut costs as Derek says. As for membership numbers it's hard to know why this drops and rises so much you would think at the moment membership would be on the up from the sales and promotion of the 350z but I think they and the 300zx.co.uk etc have thier own clubs which tends to seperate out the Zeds into early and late groups. I'm not sure what the answer is but, as a local group co-ordinator all I can do is keep up the meets and hope to attract more members into these groups and make it a more social club, and help people enjoy thier cars and themselves.

Nick..

 

[Gio]

I forget how I got hold of the first copy of the club mag but I found it very impressive. It was way above what I got from the MGOC when I joined that (back in nineteen cough). A4, full colour, glossy, big list of club contacts, ads, etc etc. As a marketing suit, it had "high production values" (and still does).

It made me think the Z Club was a much much bigger club (numbers, not heart!) than it actually was. It looks like a "real" mag from a real publishing company.

It was probably the mag which made me join and I enjoy it every time it comes through the letterbox. Downloading a version is fine for many people but just for me, nothing beats the real mag.

Just a thought, has anyone tried to sell the other clubs on having a section in the mag? I don't know the economics but they could be charged per member (their member) and get copies. It would help spread the cost (and the word about the ZClub) and makes it less likely they start their own one.

Or, if you look at CHP who publish Japanese Performance, they also do a lot of one make mags. Or (and the last one) I have a mate who used to publish club mags funded by sponsors and advertising and maybe I can twist his arm for a spot of advice if the committee want an independent view.

If you look at the 300ZX forum, the sub is £20 first year and £10 renew (at least it was last time I looked) and that would seem to be reasonable for an internet only based club. On the other hand, I am happy to pay whatever our sub is (£26, £28?) justified by the mag.

In my opinion of one, if you lose the mag, you can't charge nearly as much for membership and lose something that makes the ZClub look better.

 

[status]

if there is no mag wots the point in being in the club,i certanly wouldnt pay to rejoin if all i was going to get was a mag on line,just not the same,there are classic car clubs that cater for all makes of car so joining one of them wouldnt effect my car insurance,and as for saving money,ill say it again,why is it that the club puts a stand at some of these classic car shows,ie the NEC which cost hundreds of pounds and get little or nothing in return,maybe a few new members if your lucky,complete wast of money if you ask me

 

[grolls]

if there is no mag wots the point in being in the club,i certanly wouldnt pay to rejoin if all i was going to get was a mag on line,just not the same,there are classic car clubs that cater for all makes of car so joining one of them wouldnt effect my car insurance,and as for saving money,ill say it again,why is it that the club puts a stand at some of these classic car shows,ie the NEC which cost hundreds of pounds and get little or nothing in return,maybe a few new members if your lucky,complete wast of money if you ask me

i must admit i agree with status on this.
some of the things that have been sugggested on here before are rather good for instance, a card to be left on a windscreen of a z(printed on both sides) i think Russ boy owns that one!

for people to be attracted to a club there has to be a benefit to them not just so they can look at pictures of my bead blasting...lol.

maybe we should start a list of things we could all do to benefit the club.?

 

[Gio]

for instance, a card to be left on a windscreen of a z

http://www.zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1026&highlight=card

 

[SKiddell]

Magazine publishing costs



The Magazine costs in excess of £3k per edition to publish.



The bulk of the cost is in the artwork, page comp and initial print set-up i.e. if you printed 100 or a 1000 the price would only vary by the amount of paper and ink used.



I have reviewed this (15 years of experience in the print industry) and after close scrutiny find it to be fairly good value for money. Considering that the printers have worked very closely with us, they understand the look and feel required. Unless we change radically (CDROM -DVD, Emailed PDF or web based mag) then I would not recommend a change, as the money saved would be miniscule.



Advertising only funds a tiny proportion of this £3k (each colour A4 advert raises only £140 -- do the maths)



If we raise the costs of adverts -- no one wants to advertise as the circulation base is comparatively small (sub 600 is tiny) advertisers will review their audience/revenue regularly and will advertise in only the most cost effective areas.

 

[Russ]

I very much would like to keep the magazine. I like receiving it and look forward to the next, it's just not the same in PDF (although this can be made available as well as the printed version).

I think if we had a two tier membership it might be the death of the magazine.

Like Skiddell pointed out a lot of the cost is in the initial set up etc. We are at an uncomfortable point now where membership means the magazine is a very expensive proposition, however if membership doubled then the magazine would no doubt make us money.

It's all about getting some of the people on here to pay up

I would however like to see more use of the website, I'm busy for a few months but then I'll be able to make the website quite spectacular I hope.

If we can make the website attract more members (member/non member areas on teh site), get some revenue from traders/advertising from it, and start attracting some of the 300zx and 350 crew on board then we'll be laughing. What we need to know is how to do that.

Also if people could contribute to the articles, reviews, technical section etc we'd have more to offer. Maybe if we had a more active club then it might work out better.

I wonder how many of the 600 or however members we have use this site? 100 at most?

 

[grolls]

http://www.zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1026&highlight=card

will go tp pc world when i get a mp and print some. ta

 

[STEVE BURNS]

Just a note for you all
In the year ending December 2004 income from membership was £12383 approx against £14306 in year ending December 2003 which is a drop of £2000 approx in a year

In Y/E Dec 2004 the clubs approx outgoings were £18472 and the income was £16200 making a deficit of £2200.

4 magazine costs incuding postage and packing approx £14500 a year

When setting budgets for the club in the past it has always been envisaged that the membership fees would cover the cost of the magazines and the revenue from advertising in the magazine would cover the rest of the costs of events, trophys and general commitee and membership costs

In answer to status,s post re the cost of the NEC car show the club did not attend it last year as it was felt by the committee that the club couldn't justify the cost of attending and the monies was used to attend Japfest,Trax and the JAE that was felt was better use of the clubs finances

not in answer to seans post but to make you aware of the clubs finacial outlook

at the moment the club has enough funds to cover for the next two issues of the magazine at least if no more new membership and renewal fees were recieved

We all need to think about were we are heading and come up with some sort plan to be discussed at the next AGM at the very latest

 

[SeanDezart]

The limited response but perhaps representative of the mass membership is to keep the mag !
There are very little savings to be made if this is decided. What then needs to be done is find money elsewhere.
Membership could go up to 30 quid, nothing at all these days !
All internet access only by paid up club members (no two tier system) !
A paying traders section, running concurrently with the for sale:wanted section for those traders in new and or second hand parts !

I like the thought of approaching a publisher, maybe Blackwells and entering a discussion with the Z32 and 33 guys to publish a dedicated UK Z magazine catering for all the range, edited by our own chap !
This would indeed give the other clubs something more at little extra cost to them, would involve the economies of scale for a few extra hundred copies (or more if it was commercially available ?).

Magazine advertising is as posted above, not much back and would go away if put up too muc and does provide something. What monies are generated from the club shop ?

 

[DJZ 60]

A valid subject,that warrant's looking into, bearing in mind...
A positive outlook project's a positive future.
People want to be a part of,something that is growing,
flourishing & here to stay. I still believe this is the position of this club. I like the magazine,although it could do with more
on the 260Z 2+2 Model.
The club should not become totally 'virtual' as the realness
would be like owning a virtual Z( like the one on the Home page) I agree that to maximise the club's growth all area's
should be looked at.....................DJZ 60.

 

[SeanDezart]

So what is your contribution DJ ? Agreeing is ok, ideas are better

 

[DJZ 60]

Hi Sean.
3 month's is a long time,waiting for the club mag, too
long in my opinion,so an annual mazazine would seem as if
nothing is happening on the Z front.
I cannot contribute,other than my club fee,which as
Status has already said,is worth it's price for what Member's
get. O.k ,we could shoot none member's,or something alike,
Freeloading is the crime. An exclusive club,I thought
that's what membership was about?
I could ,however sell my house & asset's & allow the
club to print a few more mag's with the money.
' A virtual Mag,would be like using virtual bog roll !'
Don't get me wrong, Your Idea's are definately worth exploring
Your go............................DJZ 60.

 

[Arkwright]

When is the next AGM? If it's a long way off can we afford to wait that long? How about an interim meeting at swapmeet or JAE? I feel we should be seriously thinking about what steps we need to take to secure the clubs financial future.
I get the impression that people using this site are not all club members and therefore not necessarily representative of the views of the majority of club members. Probably the majority of members don't even view/use this site.
Personally I am not adverse to a rise in membership fee. I also feel that we should review and put out to tender the printing of the club mag (this is in no way intended to contradict what the Ed has already said but we obviously need to save money).
We must also consider ways of attracting the 300ZX and 350Z people to the club
(perhaps consider amalgamation). Lots of ideas out there but we need to act sooner rather than later.