Five positive perspectives

 
 
Corporate publishing is a growth market, now more than ever. Wish and claim have become reality. 
More and more companies are opting for corporate publishing, both offline and online. The latest baseline study for Germany, Austria and Switzerland commissioned by the Forum Corporate Publishing association, which covers all three countries, provides statistical evidence of this experience. The growing trend is also evident in other countries, such as those in which the specialists formed customer publishing associations years ago, i.e. in the USA, England and the Netherlands, both in the B2B and B2C sectors. Countries with relatively young customer publishing associations, such as Sweden and Norway, or with recently founded associations, such as Belgium, are even more indicative of growth - because what grows calls for structure. In other countries, such as Slovenia, where a customer publishing association is currently being founded, the Czech Republic and Turkey, corporate publishing and customer publishing are increasingly attracting interest. The fact that associations, i.e. competitors, are forming and that the associations are organizing among themselves - the loose association of the International Customer Publishing Forum (ICPF) has existed for several years - are all unmistakable signs of quantitative growth; more and more companies are focusing on corporate publishing and the number of specialized service providers is growing. In September 2007, following the ICPF conference in Zurich, the Financial Times published an article with the self-explanatory title: "The Glossy and Growing World of Customer Magazines".
Growing print runs? Publishers and service providers of corporate publishing products in the print sector often like to talk about high print runs with pride. Significantly, this is primarily an issue in countries with large home markets, such as Germany, the UK or Spain, and less so in Switzerland, the Netherlands or Sweden. Large print runs are generally associated with sophisticated publishing management, a publishing mindset and (partial) refinancing. However, distribution costs often put a stop to circulation growth. Apart from the costs, the quality of distribution is also a decisive factor: address files in poor condition or insensitively chosen distribution channels have become sacrilege in today's communication overload. Appropriate and innovative distribution is an indispensable part of successful corporate publishing: In which situation does the addressee receive the corporate publishing product (e.g. at the POS), or is it placed in the mailbox or at the workplace? A communicatively coherent solution to these questions - this also applies to online publishing! - is often not associated with growth in circulation and the number of recipients, but with their reduction. Similar considerations apply to the number of pages and publication intervals of a print product. Growth is counterbalanced by the principle of balance. Less is often more.
Growing internationality Especially in countries with small domestic markets, such as Switzerland, internationality has long been an issue in corporate publishing work. Whether it be communicative solutions for international giants with a head office in Switzerland or for smart middle-market companies with international roots - interculturally and multiculturally sophisticated corporate publishing has provided proud examples. In the meantime, internationality has become a priority topic and highly valued asset in corporate publishing everywhere; it has long been about much more than the commonplace of multilingualism and multilingual editions or language versions. It is about international standards in daily work, international journalist networks and the competitiveness of international competitors. The growth of internationality and internationalization has begun and is continuing.
Growing cross-media publishingWhat "traditional" publishing houses struggle to achieve under great pressure to change, namely cross-media publishing (often with obstructive competitive thinking between print and online editorial teams in the same company), is much easier to achieve in the corporate publishing scene. Integrated editing has become a well-functioning reality in companies and in cooperation with corporate publishing service providers. The cost-efficient and communicatively strong principle of one-off research and multiple use for various communication platforms has become established. It is no longer a question of "if", only "how much and where else". Thanks to its cross-media predestination, corporate publishing has now gained even more ground compared to other communication disciplines; authentic and credible content on all "channels" is outstripping traditional advertising and conventional direct marketing. And the trend is growing.
Growth in quality and creativityThis last perspective is probably the most important. Only what is unmistakable and really strengthens a brand, only what benefits the addressee, only what is optimally and creatively distributed and skillfully prepared cross-media, has real value in corporate publishing and will endure or have potential for further development. Even if all industries tend to focus on authenticity and journalism or credibility, if well-trodden paths of "classic" communication are abandoned in favor of storytelling, even if the image brochure is replaced by a corporate publishing annual, the catalog by a magalog or the commercial by a documentary short film - corporate publishing in its quantitative growth is itself about to become a juggernaut of confusion, mediocrity and repetitive staleness. Corporate publishing, produced according to a pleasing and reproducible convenience recipe, is working less and less. Corporate publishing offline and online will only continue to grow in the medium term where the zero-eight-fifteen mark on the quality barometer is overcome. The call for quality growth is not elitist posturing. Quality and creativity are essential for survival in the battle for the attention of target groups and communities.
Viviane Egli, Primafila AG