Future instead of cat music
Cross-media corporate publishing creates attention and acceptance. To keep time and costs in check, efficient content management is a must.
CMCP aims to cleverly combine multiple channels to get the most out of each contact. The principle works. As Aristotle already knew, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Instead of merely adding up the benefits of the individual contacts, CMCP results in multiplier effects.
In other words, networking the tools creates added value. CMCP has the potential to communicate a message several times and to build up numerous points of contact. New customers are addressed, relevant topics are quickly identified - thanks to social media and Web 2.0 - proximity and emotions are conveyed, in short: increased attention and acceptance are created.
Avoid the cost and time trap
The positive effects of CMCP are not automatic. If you communicate mindlessly in all directions, you risk that the online and offline image are not congruent or that the target groups get bored because the same tune is played on every channel. Each instrument must meet different expectations. Carefully selecting and coordinating the channels and designing the content to suit the target group is crucial.
If everything is done correctly in this respect and the desired effect is achieved, another danger lurks: the cost and time trap. It voraciously opens its mouth and also demands that the whole be greater than the sum of its parts. Costs and time often swell dangerously with the increasing complexity of corporate publishing. How can this be prevented? The magic formula is: efficient content management.
Structured processes
Take a web-based editorial system and the will to work in a disciplined manner. An editorial system creates transparent processes, structures the timeline of a project and forces you to think in terms of the selected channels and communication levels right from the start. In images and text, in sound and moving images, in print, web, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and the like.
Using an editorial system, content can be prepared for different channels with the same work tool. In addition, several people can work on a project in parallel and independently of location. Editorial systems are not cheap, and in order to use their advantages, the handling must first be learned. But the effort can be estimated and does not grow without a foreseeable end. This prevents many a catcall. Since an editorial system enables an efficient process, time and costs are saved in the long run.
Set the tone
In the future, editorial systems will be a central working tool for corporate publishing. In addition to the advantages mentioned above, they ensure that everyone involved can concentrate on their core competencies and still have an overview of the entire project at all times. Whether content, design, proofreading or translation, collaboration is clearly staggered and structured. As a result, quality can be checked and ensured at all times across all channels.
Setting up the process correctly and monitoring it on an ongoing basis, however, requires a great deal of commitment and expertise. For larger projects, a specialized corporate publishing agency ideally takes over the process management.
For those who prefer to think in pictures: Cross-media corporate publishing is an orchestra, the individual musicians the channels they play. Together they form a body of sound - they produce more than the sum of their notes. An editorial system can be compared to the conductor's baton, it helps with timing and effect. What is played and who the musicians are, however, cannot be decided with it. As is always the case in corporate publishing, a stringent communication strategy is essential.
Information: Michael Rütti, Business Manager Crafft Communication, michael.ruetti@crafft.ch.
www.crafft.ch
Read more about corporate publishing in this issue of Werbewoche:
Innovative Inflight Publishing: New Concept at Helvetic Airways
Japanese magazine: Primafila in Japan.
Denon presents corporate media
