Content Marketing vs. Custom Publishing: What's the Difference?

Had a very interesting conversation with Vince Giorgi, Vice President at Hanley Wood Marketing, during the Custom Content Conference about the custom publishing industry.  As readers of this blog know, I've been constantly struggling with the differentiation between "content marketing" and "custom publishing."  Well, thanks to Vince, we have it all figured out.

Content marketing is the business "practice" of delivering relevant and compelling content to a person or target audience.

Custom publishing or custom media is the "service" that produces the content marketing effort. Publishers or agencies that provide project management, design, web and content services for an organization, are providing custom publishing services on behalf of the business.

This seems to make too much sense. Thanks to Vince, I think we have a clear separation of the two.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.  Are we off base? Is this dead on?

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Comments

[Garrett French]

so in your categorization custom publishing is the (paid) act of content marketing?

I have been a reader for a couple of months now and I'm not sure I understand the importance of making this distinction?

Is it an issue of how to explain yourself to people/prospects who are more familiar with the custom publishing industry?

Is it important to make this distinction because your business model is training clients to market using their own content, to become custom publishers for themselves?

[Joe Pulizzi, Junta42]

Hi Garrett...great questions.

I agree with you. I think the importance of this lies for people within the industry. Custom publishing has been used for years, and has been adopted by most providers of custom publishing services (although many use "custom media" now).

Over the past year, I've realized that the majority of marketers identify with the term content marketing much more quickly, and understand it better, than when we use custom publishing.

The distinction may be too much inside baseball (to your point).

All marketers need to formulate content marketing strategies. Once they come to that point, they can either outsource to a custom publisher or journalist, or do it themselves. What anyone calls it really doesn't matter, but I have a list hear with about 20 different names for this industry. It's just plain confusing to marketers...is it custom publishing, branded content, content marketing, customer media, etc.???

I think it's important for marketers to start talking the same language. Ultimately, I don't care what it's called, as long as it's being done.

Thanks for the questions...very helpful indeed.

[Garrett French]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for your clarification - I didn't realize how many different terms you were wrestling with...

To me "content marketing" makes a lot of sense... it more plainly describes what you're doing than "custom publishing" because it has the word "marketing" in it. For that reason I think it conveys meaning more quickly. Of course, I'm a marketer... ;)

I do some link building for clients by writing and distributing bylined articles. I struggle with what to call this service, as we also typically end up using the content onsite and in email newsletters. I often pitch what I do as link building, but it's also content marketing (by my definition of course, and on a very small scale compared to what I imagine you're up to)...

I find also that I tread to some extent in the PR zone, though after working with some PR professionals I recognize that I have a LOT to learn there.

I agree with your point about developing content strategies - what's exciting to me about your blog is digging for new strategies outside of link building and brand recognition :)

Thanks again for clarifying.

G

[Janet Robbins]

I think it's a great distinction and will help clear up confusion in the industry.

I've always thought of content marketing as a new mission for marketing--i.e., (as Joe always points out) delivering relevant and compelling content on an ongoing basis (not a one-time flash in the pan)to a target audience. But, in my mind, content marketing is really an "outward and visible sign" of a really different business philosphy at work.

At the heart of this new philosophy is the belief in building a vital, engaged community among the target audience, the company (brand and people), and its products/services to everyone's mutual benefit. Relevant, valuable content, in its many faces and forms, is a vehicle to building and engaging that community.

So where do custom publishers fit in? Custom publishers provide valuable services to help companies ultimately fullfill on that new philosophy.