e-publishing is now a viable option for any business

B2B publishing is the process of creating and distributing content to your prospects via e-newsletters and online publications – essentially, creating your own magazines and owning the media.

Publishing and distributing your own content helps you to make and maintain professional relationships. It increases your visibility, enhances your reputation and positions you as a thought leader in your field. The result may well be increased profits and improved ROI.

According to the 25 Minute Engagement Survey by the Association of Publishing Agencies (APA): “Customer magazines form stronger brand relationships. Brand loyalty increases by a third.”

There are other advantages to becoming your own B2B publisher. Creating your own magazine enables you to control the dialogue with your customers and prospects.

Thanks to technological advances and changes in the way we consume media, it is relatively easy to create your own custom magazine and inexpensive to distribute it over the internet.

B2B custom magazine in review
A fine example of a B2B custom magazine is the McKinsey Quarterly (http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/home.aspx). This is one of the most well respected business publications in the world and enjoys a loyal readership – in fact, there is a LinkedIn group especially for devotees of the magazine.

For its readers, the Mckinsey Quarterly is more than just a PR exercise. The emphasis is on adding value. Interesting interviews with people from a variety of companies ensure that readers get something they can use from every issue.

Your B2B magazine should be a mix of news and features, using contributors from various companies in your network (not your competitors!) as well as your own.

If your business is not media-related, the thought of becoming your own publisher may sound daunting. However if you do not have the resource to produce content in-house, there are organisations that can help you.

If you have a marketing department, they might be able to manage the process whilst a content publisher does the bulk of the work. If you have enough resource to write and edit the publication in-house then you could get outside help for its design and distribution.

B2B publishing is no longer solely in the hands of professional magazine publishers. These days, every business can be a B2B publisher.

If you would like to learn more about setting up your own digital publication or eNewsletter you may find the white paper on custom publishing of value.

What are your thoughts on how the media landscape has changed? Do you see opportunities for your company?