Integrating publishing and marketing

Publishers are now offering additional services such as marketing to expand their reach. B2B magazine reports that last month Meredith Corp. acquired two marketing communication agencies, interactive marketing agency, Genex and interactive word-of-mouth agency, New Media Strategies, in a move to integrate marketing and publishing services and create more revenue opportunities. Meredith Corp is the publisher of prominent B2C publications such as Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, and B2B publications, Successful Farming and Wood.

"A number of companies are doing this," said Gordon Hughes II, president-CEO of American Business Media. "They are becoming more of a consultancy practice to help their customers talk to their customers better."