In the fast-paced world of digital publishing, a robust content management system (CMS) plays a pivotal role in shaping success. It can empower publishers not only to streamline workflows and distribute content effectively, but also to engage with and deliver on consumer needs.
With an intuitive interface, seamless integration with digital channels and robust analytics, the right CMS can become the backbone of modern digital publishing; the wrong one can mean disrupted or inefficient workflows, poor content management and missed opportunities for audience engagement.
This is the latest in our Media Briefs series of short, sharp sponsored episodes – just 10 to 15 minutes – with a senior executive from a vendor working with publishers to make their businesses better.
In this episode we hear from John Rahim, Senior Consultant in Digital Publishing at digital publishing platform provider, Purple. John tells us how a flexible CMS can help today’s publishers tackle current challenges, and why it’s important to adapt platform to customer need. He also discusses the role a capable CMS can play in making a smooth transition from print- to digital-first.
If you would like to hear more from John, he will be talking about Purple’s tools for efficiency, automation and workflow management at a free webinar on Thursday October 10th. For more information and to register, see here.
Some highlights from the episode, lightly edited for clarity:
Why when it comes to challenges and solutions, every publisher is different
There isn’t one single issue that publishers have. Our approach would be different to each individual. One issue that comes up quite often is that someone’s existing CMS hasn’t really moved with the times – it doesn’t really have the interactive features and capabilities that’s needed for a fast-moving newsroom or editorial team. Existing print clients come to us saying, ‘We’ve gone through a digital transformation and we’re working as a digital-first organisation; however, print is still really important. Can you support us with having a CMS which goes directly through to print templates?’
Another area that is coming up more frequently on the CMS side is how we integrate AI more effectively, and how we use it to streamline and improve our workflow processes.
The ongoing print-to-digital conversation
The big change that’s happened over the last five years is that most organisations have moved from a print-first to a digital-first workflow. That doesn’t necessarily mean that print is any less important. It means that the processes and the workflow that happens internally within those organisations also needs to address the print aspect. We have to ensure that our systems are able to deal with print as well as digital, which is the core product. Who knows what’s going to happen to print? People have been talking about the demise of print for more than 15 years, and it’s still with us – so I’m sure it’s going to have legitimacy for many years to come.
How CMS upgrades are currently driven by social media
Changing your CMS is an arduous process for most companies, largely because the content, which might be coming out daily, hourly, or maybe even weekly or monthly, that’s where their core revenue comes from. They have to make sure that whatever technology they implement doesn’t interrupt their existing workflow.
The issue is that technology is moving at a pretty fast rate, and the way that our customers are consuming news and information is changing extremely quickly. As part of the publishing industry and as a company providing software to those particular companies, what we find is that it tends to be social media companies driving those changes, and unless you’ve got applications internally that can move with the times and actually be able to produce content and deliver it effectively, you’ve got a problem.
Why the future requires robust and scalable technology
It’s very important to look at the trends, to look at what’s happening in the marketplace. It’s a continuous process trying to keep up with the market, but also make sure that the applications you’re using are robust, scalable and tested, so that you have the confidence that those particular platforms are going to be suitable to requirements.
Five years ago, during the pandemic, the younger demographic, the 18 to 30-year-olds were very much consuming content directly from what we’d call authorised or respected news sites, such as The Guardian. Now what we’re finding is that the same audience demographic is getting most of their content directly from social channels. So if you’re posting content now to Apple News, Google news or any of the other networks where people may be looking to find that information, you need to make sure that the platforms you are using internally are able to support that.
It’s too simplistic to say that AI is either good or bad
I remember 15 years ago talking to publishers about the internet, and the question was, is the internet good or bad? And it’s more a case of how you deal with it in order to address the needs and requirements of your customers effectively.
The way we’re dealing with it at Purple is really around workflow efficiency, so helping people within the news organisations to work faster and more effectively. What we’re not doing is replacing journalism. We’re not replacing people who are writing content, we’re just facilitating the ability for the content to be repurposed in other legitimate ways. Where it is problematic is obviously where content is completely created using the AI tool, and it cuts out the person who would otherwise be actually writing that content.
Purple is a leading digital publishing platform for publishers, providing comprehensive solutions for modern publishing. Based in Berlin/Germany with an experienced team of 60 employees, Purple has been supporting publishers worldwide since 2007. Today, over 600 brands in 10 countries rely on Purple.
The platform consists of three core modules:
- Purple Editorial: Purple Editorial is an AI-powered headless CMS and editorial system that enables highly efficient workflows and reliable content distribution across multiple channels.
- Purple Experience: Purple not only offers an advanced editorial system but also solutions for creating apps and websites. This module allows publishers to deliver a seamless and engaging user experience that is consistent across all digital channels.
- Purple Growth: To maximise reach and audience engagement, Purple provides various audience development features. These help publishers better understand and target their readers, fostering long-term growth.
Purple offers Purple Essentials and Purple Pro, different products tailored to meet the diverse needs of publishers of all sizes. Purple is ideal for multichannel publishing and supports multibrand publishing, allowing publishers to manage multiple brands efficiently through a single platform. With these comprehensive and flexible solutions, Purple is the preferred choice for publishers aiming to succeed in the digital world.
