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Today’s customers consume more digital content than ever before. And brands are jumping at the opportunity to create it.

Content volume is growing at a rate of 200% annually, according to Forrester Research. Moreover, 70% of B2B marketers are creating more content than they did one year ago, states the latest B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America report from MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute.

With the use of custom content on the rise, brands are beginning to think like publishers. That means producing content that stands on its own merits, not as a promotion of a product or service.

For custom content to be successful, it must provide relevant and valuable information that attracts, acquires, and engages a target audience.

It all sounds simple enough.

Learning to Become Publishers

Although brands have been using content for years, they are not natural publishers.

Since the 19th century, the functions particular to publishers—including selecting, editing, and designing material, as well as arranging its production and distribution—have made publishing a distinct occupation, with skills and practices out of reach for most other industries.

Brand marketers may not be trained publishers, but with more self-publishing and online promotion strategies available, they can draw from publishing's long successful history. Brands can become publishers in their own right.

The Lesson No. 1 that brands can learn from publishers is the importance of various content types.

As your business considers how lessons from publishing can influence your content marketing strategy, make sure that you consider the following types of custom content:

1. E-books

The widespread prevalence of tablets, e-book readers, and mobile devices has increased the popularity and effectiveness of e-books. Although the name suggests otherwise, e-books can serve as both a digital and print asset, especially for businesses that can take advantage of the Internet as a distribution channel.

Although e-books can be used by businesses to differentiate products and services by adding value, the same e-books can often be used internally to train and motivate an organization. Consider Avaya's VoIP For Dummies, which was used not only to educate customers but also partners and employees about emerging communication trends.

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Think Like a Publisher and Use These Six Types of Custom Content

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of David Palmer

David Palmer is a marketing director at Wiley, where he oversees Dummies B2B and the For Dummies, Business, and Education product lines for Wiley's Professional Development division.

LinkedIn: David Palmer