A well-planned series of publications is the Marketing of Innovation program's primary tool for implementing your strategic messaging. Company publications, such as brochures, white papers and newsletters, help educate the market about your company and products. In addition, they build your company's reputation as an industry expert and thought leader, and provide real value to your customers, prospects, stakeholders, and influencers. In this issue of Insights, we discuss the components of an effective publications series.

To maximize the impact of your publications while minimizing costs, you should develop content in phases, and leverage each piece of content in multiple ways: in brochures, newsletters, presentations, the media and press kits; on your web site; and at company seminars and sales meetings.

Blue Mine Group's Marketing of Innovation program includes several categories of publications development:

Brochures are an important sales and marketing tool to provide customers and prospects with more detail about your company and products. Brochures help you educate your market, build your brand, and sell directly to customers and prospects. The most effective ways to leverage your brochures are through direct email or regular mail, in a sales kit, at a trade show or seminar, or on your company's web site.

White papers provide your customers and prospects with in-depth information on the thinking and issues underlying your products and services. Combining research, industry quotes, best practice examples, and commentaries, white papers are excellent tools to educate your market while demonstrating your company's industry expertise and thought leadership.

Industry briefs provide analyses of specific industry problems, and how your products and services solve these problems. Like white papers, industry briefs are used to present your expertise on a specific issue or trend, and position yourself as a thought leader. The best industry briefs are supported by third-party research, statistics, quotes from industry sources, and real-world examples.

Case studies demonstrate the value of your products and services through actual examples of successful applications by your customers. Each case study should illustrate the specific problem your customer faced, how your product or service helped that customer solve the problem, and the value and impact that resulted from using your product or service. Publishing a series of case studies can help persuade prospects to buy your products and services, and explain how your products work.

Newsletters are a fundamental brand development tool for emerging growth and knowledge-based companies. The key to an effective newsletter is to focus on themes and topics that are of high interest to your target audience. The most effective newsletters offer a mix of best practices, industry news and trends, in addition to company and product-focused news. You can distribute your newsletter electronically or in print, and can improve your readership rates by personalizing newsletters with introductions, greetings, compelling subject lines, and special offers.

Next month, we will define the online components in the Marketing of Innovation program, and explain why the web should be at the center of all communications efforts.

Using email newsletters as marketing tools - American Marketing Association

How to write a case study and see it through to publication - MarketingProfs