Professional Trade Publications produces print and online magazines for specialty sectors in the construction trades. It also produces the Concrete Decor Show, an annual trade show.
The company is best known for its flagship magazine, Concrete Decor, the world's foremost magazine on decorative concrete. Concrete Decor is a valuable source of information, ideas, product news and training relevant to both commercial and residential work in decorative concrete and related specialties. The majority of its readers are contractors and the publication enjoys a high pass-along readership. Now in its 15th year of publication, Concrete Decor reaches more than 40,000 professionals working in or designing for decorative concrete. It has become the most-read and most influential magazine covering decorative concrete.
Besides the print magazine, Concrete Decor is available digitally. Also, a website, ConcreteDecor.net, contains a complete archive of Concrete Decor contents plus stories and features unique to the online version. The Concrete Decor Newsletter is distributed once a month.
After five years, the Concrete Decor Show has established itself as the nation's top trade show and educational event geared exclusively to the decorative concrete trades. Held in Phoenix, Nashville, San Antonio, Charlotte and Fort Worth in the past, the 2015 show, slated for the end of September will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana. More information about the workshops, seminars and networking opportunities available at the Show can be found at ConcreteDecorShow.com.
When Professional Trade Publications introduced PaintPRO magazine in 1999, its unique visual approach and friendly, intuitive editorial style immediately garnered a loyal readership among decorators, faux finishers, coatings applicators and other like-minded artisans. PaintPRO contained inspiring articles and pictorial features covering a multitude of useful techniques, including stories on how to enhance existing concrete surfaces. Its features on staining, stenciling and producing graphics on existing concrete created a sensation, because at that time the aesthetic aspects of concrete received minimal coverage in established concrete industry magazines with an engineering bias relevant to new construction on a large scale.
In response to overwhelming interest, Concrete Decor was launched in 2001 to address the growing popularity of decorative concrete and related areas. It quickly became the "must-read" source of information for professionals in the emerging decorative concrete business.
The family-owned publishing company moved from the mountain town of Arnold, California, to Eugene, Oregon, in 2001 to accommodate rapid growth and attract educated employees from nearby universities to improve its journalistic objectivity and style. It added staff to support growing circulation and services such as the comprehensive Decorative Concrete Buyers Guide and the Decorative Concrete Training Guide. Both are available online to construction professionals worldwide.
What began in 1999 as a magazine for paint, coatings and decorating professionals has since become a respected family of publications with one unifying philosophy, "Like many of our readers' companies, Professional Trade Publications is a family-owned business with a commitment to excellence. Because of my own hands-on experience as a contractor, I understand the unique point-of-view of artisans and tradespeople who have a passion for their creative work," says Bent Mikkelsen, the CEO, publisher and founder. "This perspective allows our family of magazines to stay in touch with our readers, speak to their needs and champion their interests in a way that strives to be both independent and personal."
