As content strategists, we stress to our clients the importance of repurposing content in all channels. This post titled "6 Things the iPad Means for B2B Marketers" by Steve Woods of Eloqua, describes the new opportunities of Apple's iPad as one of those channels. Number 3 of the 6 is particularly interesting:

Books and whitepapers become interactive: as books and whitepapers are more and more read on devices like an iPad, rich interactive aspects become increasingly possible. Embedded videos within a book, links for more detailed exploration of topics, and interactive experiences to highlight a point all become possible, allowing us to rethink the book and whitepaper formats entirely.

The iPad--and other technology that will inevitably follow--will not only provide new channels for repurposing content, it will up the ante.

There is a lot of talk surrounding the iPad's potential to revitalize print media--but not just from the economic standpoint of selling more newspapers and magazines. The iPad will revitalize the formats. The boring white paper will become a thing of the past--the interactive, fun-to-read, fun-to-play white paper will take its place.

Of course, we have had the ability to create rich media content in the web browser for a long time now. For some reason, readers have not demanded media much more rich than a PDF file for e-books and white papers. YouTube has made video a viable channel, but rich media remains rare and expensive to produce.

Will the sheer portability of the iPad change the media formats for marketers, just as the iPod changed the format for music? Are thought-leading marketing executives ready to engage their audiences in bold new ways?

Labels: business to business (B2B), content marketing, technology, white papers