Last month the chief exec of Which?, the publishing company that provides impartial product and service reviews via its magazine and website, suggested that the company might launch a range of own-brand products and services.
And there’s a definite logic here. Consumers trust the opinion of Which? and an own-brand move would likely pay dividends.
That said, there’s also the risk that consumers would feel that the company’s famous impartiality may be compromised by the addition of their own products (the strapline on their site reads: “No advertising, no bias, no hidden agenda”).
Publishers Are Already Doing This
In reality this idea isn’t anything particularly new. Plenty of publishers, online and off, use joint ventures and own-branded products and services as revenue generators.
A few quick examples from today’s reading materials:
- The Guardian has an extensive reader offers site, an own-brand price comparison site, a holiday offers site and Guardian Soulmates, a dating site for Guardian readers.
- As I mentioned in a recent post here, The Mirror Group run their own bingo website.
- Monocle magazine have gone so far as to open a series of bricks-and-mortar shops stocking high-end products developed in conjunction with boutique brands. [I wrote a recent review of Monocle's business model here]
Retailers Becoming Publishers
So what if you already have a product or service that you want to promote?
In a roundabout way, what Which? et al do is exactly what content marketing is about – building trust and profile by publishing high-quality content, which can then be leveraged into product and service sales.
By producing lots of great content that people want to consume Which?, The Mirror, The Guardian and Monocle create trust and attract traffic (eyeballs / prospects / customers). They can then turn that trust and traffic into product and service sales.
And retailers and services providers can use exactly the same strategy for themselves – in reverse.
By creating great content that demonstrates your expertise, builds trust and attracts interest, you can effectively grow your own audience for your products and services.