Why Finding the Center Works for the Modern Publisher

How three winners in publishing are staying ahead of the pack, choosing to see things differently, getting a grip on their assets, rationalizing, and figuring out where and how they can work more effectively.

  1. chevron left iconWhy Finding the Center Works for the Modern Publisher
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Charlie HobsonSeptember 2, 2019
  • Digital Asset Management
  • Content Management

It can be hard work when you’re faced with the challenge of meeting standards set by young, hungry upstarts ready to sweep the rug out from under your feet. In an era of real time news, citizen journalists and social media sharing information by the bucket load every second of every day, so called traditional publishing houses are feeling the heat. It would be understandable if they just curled up in the corner and called it a day. Indeed, many have.

But that doesn’t need to be the case for everyone. Today’s winners in publishing are staying ahead of the pack because they choose to see things differently. By getting a grip on their assets, rationalizing, and figuring out where and how they can work more effectively, any type of publisher can perform.

In the whitepaper, Publishers Taking Cues From Digital, we explore what it means to be a ‘traditional’ publisher in a digital age and how to take learnings from the best of the best in order to successfully engage readers and build stable fanbases long term.

Want to know more? Here’s a summary of the top four themes – and they all have one thing in common - centralization:

Better Quality, Faster

Hearst UK, with 24 media brands including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, and Good Housekeeping, saved 3,000 hours annually by bringing its reprographics services in house. It now manages digital assets in a centralized repository, dramatically reducing the time it takes to bring a feature to print. Putting legal approvals, ad planning and commissioning all within one central and transparent workflow saves hours of admin time and means that content can be published faster and further, without compromising quality or control.

Automate the Everyday

Bauer Media has tackled the challenge of sharing more than 2,000 items of weekly content effectively across 50 publications and 550 staff, plus nearly 20,000 video and audio clips… and counting! Against tight deadlines on market leading titles like Grazia, efficient workflows and digital communication have automated and accelerated the entire process of bringing publications to print and delivering online content.

Personalize for Success

Slimming World relies on engaging, inspiring content, from testimonials to recipes, to help its 4,500 UK consultants motivate millions of members. Visuals are key, both online and in print: Slimming World has used its digital asset management platform to get more images from more than 16,000 of its classes countrywide indexed and accessible to everyone who needs them, with absolutely clarity on permissions and usage rights. It saves time, supports the brand and helps the organization get the most out of its digital assets.

Maximize Your Inventory

Meanwhile, at Hearst UK, the team has set an ambitious goal for their content project: to shift from being a publisher to a modern media company. A comprehensive centralized asset management system and workflow tools have delivered tangible commercial benefits, cutting page costs by 5% a year and delivering up to 30% content reuse between publications, and allowing a profitable and efficient licensing and syndication model to come to life.

These successful businesses have seen the future, even as they dramatically enhance their present efficiency and competitiveness.

As James Naylor, Group Publishing Systems Manager at Slimming World says, “We’re only just scratching the surface of what we can do.”

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Charlie Hobson
Twenty years in retail and services marketing have not dulled wordsmith Charlie Hobson's enthusiasm for the sector, although she is becoming increasingly intolerant of a grocers' apostrophe. In trying times like these she finds a refreshing G'n'T is often the answer, properly punctuated of course.

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