Business Publisher Moves Illustrate Growing Content Marketing, Content Curation Trends

Curation Insights (Apr 11 2012)

1. In a perhaps-indirect way, moves by business-to-business marketing companies illustrates how the “brands as publishers” trend (content marketing) and content curation approach make more sense for business-to-business brands.
   
   1105 Media's Enterprise Computing Group, for example, has created a “Smart Markets” business. ECG publishes five magazines, 18 newsletters, 20 websites and several events, including Visual Studio Live, Techmentor and the recently launched Live 360 Events for information technology professionals.
   
   Smart Markets will provide marketing services as content curation, strategy, website creation, lead-generation programs, advertising creative, brand building and product launches, the company says.
   
   Separately, IDG, which was one of the first business publishers to enter the marketing services arena, introduced a new online lead-generation program (IDG Target Account 360) that helps b-to-b technology marketers generate leads from the “Forbes 2,000” firms.
   
   IDG also recently launched “The New Fulcrum Point,” a community and content website for Dell.  The site features original content, curated content from the Web, news from such IDG brands as CIO, Computerworld and Network World, and contributions from analysts and bloggers.
   
   In a direct sense, the moves into content curation and other marketing services reflect a challenging revenue model for traditional B2B publishers.
   
   At the same time, the rise of “new media” channels and “search” now represent alternative ways for B2B firms to spend their marketing budgets.
   
   The indirect implications for content curation are clear as well, though. In a media environment where the advantages held by “traditional media” continue to narrow, and where the cost and work required to create brand media are constantly dropping, the issue of “using media” becomes more clearly a ”buy versus build” issue that is more tactical than strategic.
   
   In other words, the cost penalty to “buy” a media presence rather than “build” it is smaller than ever. Content curation is one of the tools that helps brands make “build versus buy” decisions that increasingly are separate from the issue of “cost to do so.”
   
   Where in the past it might have been hugely expensive to create a destination content site, content curation makes possible building of such sites at a mere fraction of the legacy costs. That isn’t to say that “original” content should not be part of the approach, only to note that content curation can do the “heavy lifting” that allows allocating some resources to original content production.

   Bookmark or Share this article