There are hundreds (if not thousands) of companies still creating print documents from scratch: copy/pasting text from the original source, and laying out each page manually. Recent updates to the major print applications (InDesign and Quark) allow content to be imported via XML, opening up a world of possibilities.

Instant Creation of Print Documents
XML is basically a means of storing data in a user-defined schema. Using a web-based platform, you can easily generate an XML file from a repository of articles. Once you have them in XML format, you can import them into your print application and have the entire publication instantly populated with data. This allows the creation of print documents within seconds, not days.

Manage Articles
Using a web-based platform to manage your articles is a smart way to manage any content, especially print content. Since there is only a single version of each article, edits can instantly be seen be all the team members. Using version control, every edit made to an article is stored in the database, and can easily be rolled back to an earlier version.

Optimize Workflow
With built-in workflow, articles can go through a multi-phase approval process before they are considered ready for print. Authors submit content for approval, and editors either approve/decline content. Declined content is sent back to the author, with notes on how it needs to be improved. Approved content is either ready for publish, or sent to the next editor for final approval.

Repurpose Content
Now that your content is stored digitally, it can easily be repurposed for a number of applications. First, you could create an archive on your website, so users could search/browse past articles. Then, you could create a digital edition or email newsletter to gain new user segments. Finally, you could turn your list of articles into an RSS Feed, so users could subscribe to your articles using a feed reader application, or other aggregator service.

At CrossTech Partners we have several modules within our Digital Marketing Platform that help you create, manage, and syndicate your print content via a web-based application. To learn more about our Digital Marketing Platform, contact Brett Wohl at [email protected].