A Guide To Cross-Channel Publishing

Cross-channel publishing – creating content once and seamlessly distributing it across multiple print and digital platforms – enables you to personalize content for different purposes.

In a move borrowed from the digital marketing playbook, this means you can use publishing technology to deliver a more personalized experience, making it more valuable to both your audience and your publishing business.

For example, you might repurpose standardized training materials for different companies by adding their unique branding and imagery. Or you could personalize a teaching resource by adding an image to the PDF version, and a video to the e-learning version.

Cross-channel personalization is a great approach in theory, but in reality, it can be hard to implement without the right digital tools. That’s partly because different types of content require a different workflow journey before being published. Here’s how to get it right.

Multichannel, omnichannel, and cross-channel explained

When it comes to delivering more personalized content, there are three main approaches: multichannel, cross-channel, and omnichannel. Here’s a brief overview of each one:

• Multichannel publishing involves distributing content across multiple independent channels or platforms. Each channel operates independently, catering to its specific audience and goals. Discover more about the shift towards multichannel publishing in our blog post: Publishing In Africa – Making The Move To Multichannel.

• Omnichannel publishing is a fully integrated approach where the content and user experience are seamlessly interconnected across all channels and devices. When one touchpoint ends, another begins. It aims to provide a unified, consistent, and personalized experience for users, regardless of how they interact with the content. For example, they might begin an e-book on an e-reader and then continue reading – from the same point – on a mobile app.

• Cross-channel publishing is the practice of distributing content across multiple channels or platforms while maintaining consistency in messaging and branding. It involves strategically adapting content to fit the unique characteristics and requirements of different channels – such as a learning portal or a social media platform. The goal is to optimize the value of content by repackaging and repurposing it for different audiences and channels.

Which one is right for you?

The seamless experience of omnichannel publishing makes it more of an aspirational goal. In reality, it’s exceptionally hard to achieve from a technical, financial, and organizational perspective.

Multichannel publishing is today’s industry standard because customers have come to expect the availability of published content in different print and digital formats.

With cross-channel publishing, you deliver the same content through different channels, so readers can pick and choose how and when they consume it. This brings consistency to your readership, and your brand.

Whichever approach you choose, PublishOne – the friendly publishing platform – can handle it. But for the purposes of this article, let’s take a closer look at cross-channel.

5 key benefits of cross-channel publishing

Here are 5 major benefits of cross-channel publishing:

1. Multi-platform distribution: Content can be distributed and adapted across various platforms such as web portals, e-learning modules, and print publications.

2. Content adaptation: Content is optimized for each platform or channel, considering factors like formatting, style, length, and interactivity.

3. Brand consistency: Your content has a consistent look and feel (even when you use multiple authors) across all channels, whilst being adapted to suit each one.

4. Real-time updates: You can update content in real-time across channels to capitalize on trends, address feedback, or quickly respond to changes (such as new legislation).

5. Workflow efficiency: The right publishing platform will enable you to streamline content creation, editing, scheduling, and cross-channel distribution.

Why personalize published content?

Personalizing published content is a win-win. Why? On one hand, it enhances the reader experience, tailoring content to individual preferences, behaviors, or interests. On the other hand, it increases engagement with your products and services by delivering content that’s more relevant and valuable to readers.

Strategic use of personalization differentiates your publishing efforts from the competition, positioning you as a trusted expert in your field through the delivery of compelling and highly relevant content. It enables you to create a deeper connection with readers, helping to win their trust and loyalty – leading to improved retention.

But personalization is about much more than enhancing reader satisfaction; it’s a powerful tool for driving engagement and sustaining growth in a competitive market. By taking a cross-channel approach to delivering personalized content, you can fully optimize its performance across different channels, audiences, and market segments.

The challenges of personalizing cross-channel content

Personalizing content via cross-channel publishing is not without technical challenges. That’s because you rely on different Content Management Systems (CMS) for different channels. This makes it hard to centralize content creation, editing, and distribution.

Another key challenge is how to adapt content to the various formats suitable for different platforms. Automated tools and scripts are required for converting content into these diverse formats while maintaining quality and platform compatibility.

The same goes for synchronizing data and ensuring real-time updates across all channels. As a publisher, you’re reliant on cloud-based storage and dedicated Version Control Systems (VCS) to ensure timely updates and maintain content accuracy and consistency across platforms.

Personalize your cross-channel content with PublishOne

PublishOne is the user-friendly platform, with a single, secure, cloud-based, repository for all your content – no matter where you intend to publish it. From inside the PublishOne environment, you can author, edit, and publish content to different channels. And the great thing is that you only have to update it once, and the changes can be easily rolled out across channels.

For example, in just a few clicks, an article can be published as an EPUB or PDF, transformed into an e-learning module, or added as a chapter in an educational textbook. Thanks to the seamless and powerful handling of XML under the hood, PublishOne also makes it easy to give different versions of your content the same look and feel.

At the same time, you can personalize standardized content for different customers by applying predefined templates, such as formatting training materials in different corporate colors and adding client-specific visuals, such as logos. In fact, that’s exactly how VAPRO manages its portfolio of workplace training materials.

PublishOne can help you personalize your content across different channels. To discover more, contact us