Parking Today revamps its Buyer’s Guide
By Alisa Cromer, founder, NichePublisher.biz
One of the most promising upstarts in niche media is 28-year-old print magazine, Parking Today, purchased last year by Kevin Uhlenhaker, a technology entrepreneur who had sold software to the parking industry.
His only previous media experience was “working on a student newspaper in 5th grade.”
“I was a software developer,” he said.
“When the opportunity to acquire Parking Today came up, it was a perfect fit with my industry knowledge, even if the publishing aspect was new territory for me.” Today the magazine features such unique articles as Parking in Prose, a conversation with the author of Parking the Future, which addresses the issues for parking lot owners in an age of EVs and autonomous vehicles.
It’s also a niche that other niche publisher’s love because the subject matter, parking lots, is one of those lucrative, overlooked niches that, dare we say, may not be all that exciting to those outside the industry. That is what makes the nuances of the business model more interesting.
One of the first projects for the magazine’s revamp was a reimagining of their People in Parking directory, which has been renamed, reformatted and will be repositioned as a cornerstone of marketing products in 2026.
In the Top Three Revenue Opportunities presented by the author at the 2025 Niche Media Conference, one is buyer’s guides and marketplaces which are not only loved by audiences as a credible alternative to Google, but can also serve as a gateway drug to upsell almost any other advertising product. Uhlenbaker is now steering Parking Today towards that end goal.
Understanding the challenge requires a peek under the hood of the parking lot industry.
“No one actually needs technology in parking, and that’s the dirty old secret. They like technology. They use technology. But if it all went away tomorrow, you will still show up and give them cash to put your cars in place,” Uhlenhaker said.
“That’s the thing I always like to tell new people to the industry: We’re a nice to have, not a need to have.”
So what are the technology providers paying for when they buy advertising products or booths in the show?
According to Uhlenhaker, the product is brand safety.
“It’s actually great for me,” he said. “It makes the magazine more important. The smart people get it, and they spend money with us.
“Its much less about who has the new gadget, and much more about who is a safe buy for a government buyer. That’s the whole point. No one gets fired from buying IBM, right? The reason that people know IBM even exists is because they do ongoing branding and marketing all the time.”
One section of the magazine and website that was long overdue for an overhaul was the vendor directory.
When he bought the company, the annual print magazine and online directory was called “People in Parking.”
“It more like a phone book, with the white pages and yellow pages. One section listed all the audience members and the other listed the advertisers.”
The first change was to eliminate the white pages, and rename the product the “Buyers Guide.” The second reform was to reduce the number of categories in the advertiser section that was overblown at 100-plus. He selected a smaller number that made sense to the audience.
The printed buyers guide will also be beefed up to include more articles on industry options, and provide a growing revenue stream. In 2026, the plan is to publish the print version twice a year, to reflect two different budget cycles, both January to December cycle, and June to July.
This year the smaller online version is 100% pay to play, but there are more plans underway. “
“We want to make the Buyers Guide the place that has everything available. Then I market the heck out of it, and it becomes the first place parking lot owners and managers go.”
The listings will also show who is an exhibitor at the Parking Today conference, as well as their booth number, on the advertiser’s landing page, so that it supports other revenue streams.
The most innovative idea is to monetize subscribers data: When users hovered over or clicked on an advertiser’ss listing, ParkingToday collects the data, using data-tracking technology built into the site’s platform, licensed from MediaOS. One upsell product could allow advertisers to contact these prospects directly.
“I’ll be able to say to an advertiser, ‘Hey, would you like to know who actually was looking on your page so that you can reach back out? ‘“ Uhlenhaker said.
The actual outreach to these interested prospects will go Parking Today tools, so the customer data remains private.
For his best advertisers, Uhlenhaker says, he is exploring allowing advertisers to pay to also find out who looking at competitors.
“I haven’t made up my mind about that.”
All in all this directory revamp shows huge promise as a source of lead generation for the company, in addition to direct sales. We look forward to covering this initiative again next year.
Many thanks to Kevin Uhlenhaker for sharing his journey with us. Uhlenhaker now serves on the advisory board of NichePublisher.biz.
