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I have the privilege of being involved in a number of trade associations, including the Custom Publishing Council, American Business Media, and the Society of National Association Publications. For the past year and a half or so, the same conversation comes up with those in the industry - "What is the name of our industry?"

Strange question, huh? The industry I'm talking about is custom publishing - otherwise known as sponsored media, customer media, custom media, branded content, branded editorial content, member media, corporate media, content marketing, customer publishing, and yes, custom publishing.

Most involved in the industry believe that custom publishing is too print-centric...and they may be right. For example, when you think of custom publishing, do you think of a webcast, or eBooks. Probably not. Well, let's try branded content. Sounds great, right? Not so fast. Branded content is a buzz term for everything from gaming sponsorships to mobile tie-ins. Try doing a keyword search for branded content on Google and you'll see what I mean. I personally like branded content, but I have to admit the term is very broad.

So what will it be? Custom publishing out? Branded content in? Content marketing on the rise? Only time will tell. The interesting part of all this...five years ago no one cared what the definition was, they pretty much ignored it. Now, whatever it's called, is a force in corporate marketing budgets across the globe. Well, at least it makes conversations with my parents over what I actually do a little more interesting.

Labels: branded content, content marketing, custom publishing, ebooks, webcasts