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Well, I have been reading so many blogs and articles that have been making 2007 predictions, that I thought I would add my own twist to the mix. So here are a couple to chew on relating to custom publishing and content marketing.

1. A major consumer brand will launch a custom magazine in 2007 that wins numerous "magazine of the year" awards from the trade press.

2. CEM or Custom Experience Management takes the spotlight in 2007, as more marketers try a new tactic at measuring the value of the customer.

3. 2007 is the year that email dies. Marketers finally realize that buyers and specifiers are no longer looking to email to get company information...frankly, they either don't pass through the spam filter or are not being opened due to the flooding of crap email. Instead, marketers look to content portals that are search engine optimized that integrate with their own sites, as well as being picked up by the major search portals. RSS feeds are a must on any site.

4. Wal-Mart goes back to their original agency and begs forgiveness - realizing that the original Sam Walton vision is the best bet for their future.

5. More and more agencies begin to produce content marketing/custom publishing pieces for their clients. As more marketers are going targeted, and relying less on big media buys, agencies see an opportunity to create content strategies for their clients. This offers opportunities for many custom publishers for partnerships, but also leaves many others in the dust, taking business from the traditional content marketing houses.

If you were considering the above as a financial portfolio, I would be happy with 3 so-so predictions, 1 dead-on, and one in the flusher. We'll have to wait a year and see. Best wishes for the New Year!

Labels: custom magazines, custom publishing, ROI, top predictions

Had in-depth conversations today with three publishers at three different companies...all pretty much saying the same thing; that is - Anyone who thinks they have a good handle on where b2b media is going are kidding themselves.

A few thoughts to chew on -
1. The media environment is changing so fast (daily), entering in new processes and technology, that no-one except 18-year olds can keep track of it.
2. Media planners, agencies, publishers, and marketers are trying to use traditional processes to measure programs based on what we thought was true 10 years ago. Danger Will Robinson! The rules have changed. Whatever we are measuring, it's most likely wrong.
3. There is such a fast movement onto the web that marketers are forgetting that the buyer has complete control over what information they use to make buying decisions - and that includes some who use print and in-person events.
4. Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts. First, stop calling audio files on your web site a podcast (yes, we are to blame for this as well). Second, true podcasts are too cumbersome right now to be effective. Call me in 9 months.

Labels: podcasts, ROI, web marketing

Attended a user conference last week and had the privilege to speak with about 10 marketers in-depth about how they measure marketing. The good news is that measuring their marketing is of great concern...a top priority. The bad news...none of them have a good handle on how to do it.

These 10 very smart marketers all have different ways that they measure their marketing based on their company culture and management directives. The challenge of this lies more in the hands of marketing vendors...who will continue to struggle putting measurement plans together for companies that ultimately don't know what they should be measuring, or how to implement a measurement process internally.

Labels: ROI

In reading the October 23rd issue of Advertising Age, it was a letter to the editor that really made an impact on me. Greg Wilson, CEO for San Francisco company Red Ball Tiger was responding to a Rance Crain article about consumer control. My key takeaway from this piece is what Greg believes is the future measurement of online advertising, time spent.

Today, we measure clicks, opens, links, conversions and more. None of these are bad measures, and they can, either in groups or individually, be incredibly valuable. But Mr. Wilson contends that the key to time spent with a particular advertisement, or in our case, time spent with a custom magazine, newsletter or branded content site, is more than anything else, time NOT SPENT with the competition. Now, that's value.

We have talked about the value of this for years with our readership studies. In most readership studies, there is a portion of the survey that asks the question, "How much time do you spend reading this publication?" From the results, that number is a measure of readership, loyalty and value...but ALSO a measure of time NOT SPENT with something else (competitor or not).

Mr. Wilson contends that advertisers will find great value in that measurement. I tend to agree with him. And since this can be measured, only time will tell how long it will take for marketers to get on this bandwagon.

Labels: ROI