As Content Marketing Goes from Optional to Obligatory for Business,  Penton Suffers and Miller Electric Shines

Penton’s shift to online only for Welding Design & Fabrication symbolizes the decline of traditional media.  At the same time, Miller Electric shows just how powerful content marketing can be as a replacement for traditional publishing—even when publishers take their acts to the web.

Penton’s print magazine launched in 1959 when Eisenhower was President, Sputnik had just gone into orbit, and most TVs were black and white. After decades of success, the print edition of Welding Design & Fabrication succumbed to fundamental changes in buyer behavior and vanishing ad dollars.  In fact, only an association publication remains in print.

Print pubs are perishing across the B2B landscape as advertisers and readers flee. What’s happening at Penton is happening everywhere. You may regret the demise of B2B print as do I, but you cannot bring it back to life. You can no more expect a return to publishing days gone by than you can to poodle skirts and hula hoops.

In most niche markets, only one or two publications are likely to survive. This print apocalypse would have posed tough marketing challenges just 10 years ago, because B2B buyers still relied primarily on print for their information. Thus, sending a message to those buyers meant either PR or advertising campaigns aimed at welding or whatever targeted magazines delivered the right set of customers. Today, those buyers have moved online.

Just Going Online is Necessary but not Sufficient to Solve the Publishing Problem

Penton promised great things for the online version of Welding Design & Fabrication in their news release, “We are excited about the opportunity to focus our efforts online and trust our readers will look forward to the enhanced online features and solutions we will be launching in the near future to better support their operations.”

But, as my friend and former Penton exec, Bob Rosenbaum pointed out, “A focus on ‘product introductions, as well as increased participation by thought leaders, vendors and suppliers throughout the industry’ is shorthand for a reduction on spending for original content.“ He added that “This move makes sense only in the context of cutting expenses. Readers don’t want this, and while advertisers in the market are looking for creative digital products, they will view this as a last gasp. And they will flee.”

In fact, the current site seems to bear out Bob’s concern:

• Its lead news item is 15 days old as of January 29
• the only event it shows is 4 days past as of January 29
• It has a link to webcasts, but they appear to date back to 2007
• it doesn’t produce its own videos and those they show appear to be vendor infomercials
• its educational products are provided by ToolingU.com and available to anybody without going to Penton.

Of course, as unfortunate as this disappointing effort is for the future of Penton, it is equally problematic for marketers who need to connect to buyers in a meaningful way.  If Welding Design & Fabrication loses relevance online, how can marketers reach and influence their buyers efficiently?

There is a sound content marketing solution, but it requires businesses to replace the role of traditional publishers. Those early to market with the best solutions will benefit the most—and possibly lock out late comers. Miller Electric shows us the way.

Smart Business are Becoming the B2B Media—No longer out of Choice But out of Necessity.

Millerwelds.com shows what business can and must do from now on to replace the role traditional media in the marketing mix. We have written extensively about them online, Yes, Content Marketing Can Make Welding Cool!  and in our book, Get Content Get Customers. But, a single current example illustrates how their content beats the Penton online welding effort. They produce a host of very useful and practical videos that instruct users on a broad range of welding topics.

Here’s one example:

Although there is a brief mention of a Miller product, this video is all about best welding practices.

Penton lags way behind Miller not only in videos, but also in how-to information, interactive buying guides, and easily accessible content.  They prove that a business can out publish a publisher.

You may not have the resources that Miller can leverage, but by studying their approach to their customers, you will certainly be inspired to start thinking and acting like a publisher. That’s critical,because soon you will have few realistic alternatives to effective content marketing.

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