Throughout the history of marketing, documents have been the cornerstone of B2B content creation and delivery – brochures, white papers, press releases, data sheets, etc.
The digital age antiquates this model. Documents as the focal point of content development does not support multi-channel, multi-media content creation and distribution. As a process it does not deliver the scale necessary to efficiently support the digital mix, nor does it match digital consumption preferences.
It’s not that documents no longer have a place in the content mix, but digital content strategies need to think beyond the PDF. This means digital first. Workflows need to evolve to produce content that is modular and scales to support all media forms and distribution channels.
Documents will remain relevant as a format, but they are only a part of a much broader mix. They can no longer be the foundation of the content development process.