For us B2B publishers, threats and changes in the sectors we serve mean our customers, and their suppliers and customers, need quality, up-to-date information. This is a great opportunity for us. Judging by the way the new UK government has started its term, it looks like there will be plenty of changes and threats in most sectors in 2025. Are we ready to take full advantage of these great opportunities?
The challenges we, as businesses, have to grapple with are basically the same as previous years. They come down to, as the PPA would say; people, products and audiences.
Many of us have established hybrid working as the norm since the Covid pandemic. This has its benefits for the business (eg. a need for less traditional office space) and the individuals, who have a better work:life balance. However, the challenges for our businesses are important, particularly when it comes to maintaining esprit de corps, integrating new employees, and on-the-job training. As always, we need to manage this threat to the effectiveness of our operations carefully.
Our audiences and markets continue to evolve. This can be a threat to our established products if they don’t adjust. We need to adapt our offerings to what our customers want and need. This is also an opportunity to develop new revenue streams.
Key to success will be how we manage the culture within our businesses. We need to help our people to adjust how they work and to learn new skills, so that they can contribute in a positive way to the changes, without feeling threatened or over stressed.
One way we can help them be more productive is to continue to increase our use of automation to handle the mundane, time-consuming tasks. Whether it is using AI to write standard debt chasing emails, or rewrite press releases for publication, or to prepare personalised e-news bulletins for individual readers, the software now available can help ease the burden. Of course, some people see this as a threat, others as a risk, and we must allow for both fears as we bring in new systems.
Global warming is a big threat to all of us. It is also a great opportunity for B2B publishers to take a leading role in promoting environmentally sustainable practices to the markets we serve. We are in a unique position to be able to share our customers’ best practice for the good of their sectors. For our own companies, both the PPA, and the AEO on the events side, can provide guidance on how to improve our own activities to reduce our carbon footprints.
2025 will be busy, complicated and full of threats / opportunities — just like every year.
This article was first published in the Publishing Partners Guide 2025, which was distributed with the January / February 2025 issue of InPublishing magazine. You can register to receive InPublishing magazine here.
