Creating high-quality print products from online content

Is printing limited to publishing houses? No way! Other companies also require print products for publications like customer magazines, club newspapers and brochures. However, many companies are looking for a solution to enable the simple creation of print publications from content that is already available on their website.

Who publishes content?

The term publisher is typically associated with the printing industry. However, this isn’t the only place where journalistic articles are published. For example, companies also want to communicate their ideas by publishing content both online and in print. Such companies are referred to as “corporate publishers”. In the field of corporate publishing, print products are just as important as digital channels. When it comes to publications like employee newsletters, flyers and customer magazines, readers usually spend much more time on print products and value them more than digital content. A sophisticated presentation and feel can make print products more serious and credible for readers.

Web2Print and vice versa

As a result, corporate publishers now have to be able to provide their content both online and offline. The focus is now shifting towards simplifying the multiple use of this content. Companies need streamlined editorial processes that use central systems without the need to copy complex and error-prone texts and create new layouts. These systems also have to support mobile work. Authors and editors need solutions that allow them to write texts on the go and automatically paste them into existing structures.

Professional publishing for everyone

So, how can we help “digital first” publishers turn their content into high-quality print products? ppi Media has developed a new solution that combines the established ppi publishing workflow with a web content management system. It currently supports central platforms like Burda’s open-source content management system “Thunder”, Drupal, WordPress and CoreMedia. However, due to the open structure of the solution, which is known as “tohoop” (Low German for “together”), further systems can be connected at any time.

tohoop converts online content into InDesign documents – and not just text, but also any formatting. If any changes are made to the text in InDesign, the content is automatically updated in the web content management system (and vice versa). This removes the need for elaborate post-editing and multiple corrections across various channels. The design and structure of the PDFs is controlled in InDesign, which means high-quality documents can be generated. In order to maximize efficiency, however, sample documents or publications can be used to greatly simplify the layout of recurring elements.

As the aim of tohoop is to provide every company with a professional publishing solution, it has numerous features that publishing houses and media companies already know from ppi Media’s “Content-X” editorial system. In addition to the features described above, such as the option of using sample documents, the solution also enables the central management of all production documents. This means collaborative projects are quick and easy with tohoop.

Shaping the future of corporate publishing

Why should sophisticated print products only be feasible for major media companies? tohoop is helping companies from a wide range of industries create professional and effective print products that can be used to reach out to target groups in a targeted and sustainable manner. The solution can be smoothly integrated into existing workflows and intelligently adapted to accommodate any changes. Any companies that already publish content online can use tohoop to effectively add high-quality print products to their portfolio.