It's clear that mainstream media is going through an uncertain period. Many newspapers have closed in the United States and there is a noisy debate as to how many daily national newspapers in the UK will survive the decade. Meanwhile, magazine publishers have been looking at their portfolios. IPC, the biggest company of them all, recently announced a review of a large number of its titles.
Yet all is not gloom and doom in the UK publishing industry – there are certain sectors that are thriving. One of these is the customer publishing industry which specialises in producing high quality content for brands. For example, Future Publishing announced in early 2010 that despite revenues for most of its sectors falling year-on-year, its customer publishing wing rose by 10 per cent.
Customer publishing started in the 1980s and grew significantly in the 1990s as large brands like supermarkets and car companies began to sense the potential of having their own magazines. The industry has since continued to grow and is worth an estimated ￡1 billion each year. Many mainstream companies boast a customer publishing arm, but the biggest players tend to be bespoke branded content companies like Redwood, John Brown and Seven Squared.
In an industry where there are doubts about the future of print, branded content magazines are still very much in demand from companies. The customer publisher business model looks pretty solid too as brands generally tend to pay for the production cost of the magazine.
The growth of online media over the last few years has brought new challenges and new opportunities. Certainly branded content is very much in vogue, with companies keen to not just engage with their customers but also see their sites placed highly on search engines.
Customer publishing companies are now often competing with digital agencies to produce websites for brands. They would argue that they have the edge as the key for brands now is to think in terms of constant engagement with their customers (think Twitter, Facebook and blogs), rather than the old model of marketing activity as bursts. Customer publishers have always been focused on regular engagement with brands as they are constantly having to produce creative copy for monthly magazines.
Over the last decade, I have worked for numerous customer publishing companies and have found them, as a rule, to be great places to work full of interesting and inspiring editorial and management teams. So if you do want to write for customer publishers, what should you bear in mind?
It can be a fairly big leap for some writers to move from trying to think independently in producing content for mainstream media through to espousing brand value in customer magazines. It does take a certain kind of sensitivity to ensure that the words you create chime with a company's view of itself. Freelance writers shouldn't be too worried if they get content thrown back at them because of this. Producing content in keeping with a company's brand values requires practice and experience, so don't be too disheartened if your early copy doesn't cut it.
Brands are also very picky about production values. In a recent blog post, Paul Keers, one of the most high profile figures in the UK customer publishing industry, said he felt that customer publishers actually took accuracy and production values more seriously than traditional media.
So if you do fancy writing for customer publishers, and I can vouch for the fact that rates for freelance production staff as well fees per 1,000 words for writers tend to be competitive, how do you go about it? Here are a few tips:
1 Get networking - Customer publishing is by no means a closed shop, but people do tend to stay within the industry often moving from company to company. So it pays to make connections. Get to know people in the industry. Blag some magazines and see what type of content companies produce.
2 Keep up to date - Customer publishing companies often call for freelancers at very short notice to work on pitches or finished magazines. You should keep an eye on the APA, the organisation that represents customer publishers, website. You can also follow the APA on Twitter at twitter.com/apa_uk.
If you see that a publisher has won a company that is in your specialist sphere, then it is worth getting in touch. It is also worth approaching companies' HR departments and sending them your CV. It is not unusual to get a call from a company who have had your CV on file for several years.
3 Brush up on your social media. Having a significant presence on Twitter or an active YouTube account is becoming important in customer republishing circles. Brands are increasingly asking for websites, blogs, videos and Facebook pages, so being a social media practitioner clearly gives you an edge.
4 Get some experience - Any experience you have writing for brands will stand you in good stead. So, if you have to bite the bullet and slip companies (especially smaller ones) the odd freebie then it should at least strengthen your chances of getting writing gigs in the future.
One HR rep from a major customer publishers company told me, "In this branch of publishing, it really helps if someone has had customer publishing experience, but I also like to see they've worked on newsstands. That means they really understand the reader, as well as the client - a curious, but powerful combo."
The APA is staging an International Content Summit in November to discuss the relationship between brands and content.
Free daily newsletter
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
