Digital Drive: CP in the fast lane
Corporate publishing continues to gain momentum. Digital corporate media are clearly the key drivers of this growth. The new Basic Study III, conducted by the market research and strategy consulting firm Zehnvier on behalf of the European Institute for Corporate Publishing, shows that three trends in particular are shaping the CP market.
Compared to 2010, CP investments in German-speaking countries have risen by 6%. This year, companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland will invest around 5.7 billion Swiss francs in corporate media. The CP landscape is characterized by three trends.
Digital Drive. Around 3.4 billion Swiss francs - roughly the same amount as in 2010 - will be invested in print media this year. Magazines, annual reports and corporate books therefore continue to be attractive means of communication. However, the growth drivers are digital corporate media, from social media to videos and apps. Compared to 2010, investments in the digital sector have increased by more than 20 percent to around 2.3 billion Swiss francs. This means that 40 percent of CP investments are already in this area. The digital momentum looks set to continue in the future: 65% of companies intend to further increase their investments in digital corporate media.
Content & Commerce. CP is increasingly gaining momentum along the entire customer journey. Corporate media continue to contribute to brand presence (mention by 83% of companies), to improving the corporate image (80%) and to strengthening customer loyalty (79%). At the same time, their influence on customers' purchasing decisions is growing. Even now, 61 percent of companies are convinced that they can win new customers with CP, and 50 percent believe that CP increases demand and promotes sales. Digital corporate media in particular offer additional opportunities to support sales with high-quality journalistic content. For example, 41% of companies that use content apps have already linked their apps to shopping systems.
Relevance. Corporate publishing is one of the most important communication disciplines today. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that 76% of study participants consider CP to be just as relevant a communication tool as traditional advertising or PR. Four out of ten companies in German-speaking countries have already reallocated budgets from traditional advertising to CP in the last two years. The future looks set to see a further increase in the importance of corporate publishing, with 38 percent of companies planning to shift budgets from traditional advertising to corporate media in the future. Clemens Koob
