If you look at the digital publishing industry, there are a couple of companies at the top. Google dominates search advertising, Amazon is king of online retail sales, and IBM holds down the top spot for enterprise and smart city computing technology. The rest of the top ten looks more like a different Internet marketplace entirely.

What does this say about the status of B2B publishing? Well, it’s been around forever, but has come to occupy fewer and fewer pages in our monthly newspaper editions. Why would that be? Because we love to write about the coolest times in the life of a local company. “Biz” in the B2B-marketing sense doesn’t mean volume; it means value.

It might surprise you to learn the leading news outlets in the Midwest publish a daily trade publication. Because all those b-to-b publications aren’t just about B2B stuff. They are full of features on C-level management, local politics, yuppie-rucks, and, of course, industry events. They cover the personalities and insights of the people on the front lines of the market. I’m not referring to the hockey-playing entrepreneurs I’ve covered as a reporter. I’m talking about the marketers who are the customer service departments of companies, the lawyers, the planners, the managers, the networkers, the project managers, the shopper marketers, and the field sales teams. These people contribute to the success of their companies and they are what will define it.

Right now we are at a point of transition for both online publishing and print. Inbound Marketing can be part of digital publishing, and it could be a suitable replacement for offline media. But if your company has less than a couple of thousand employees, or if you have a geographically limited reach, you should probably consider using digital alone. That’s because B2B publications are easier to use and pay less to maintain.

You don’t have to send your executives and management on spending junkets to conferences and competitions. B2B marketing content can be owned and created more efficiently by marketing staff within the organization. Some agencies do serve business-to-business magazines, but it is no longer the norm. You don’t have to spend large amounts of money just to get the right information on your company. Instead, you just need to understand what’s happening in your area and create the right content for the buyers who you hope will be your customers. You need to provide that content in a way that is easy to distribute; that’s how you attract quality customers.

As a result, do more with less. Your information needs are more concentrated, and your competition is better. Inbound Marketing is simply that. There are fewer needs for the task, and with less money to spend, you can do more with less. And be sure to track your results so you can capture the ROI.

An EBDIT is no longer a form of print media. It’s a way of life. And if you have something to do with this type of content, there’s an audience for it. The question is which kind of audience? Which kind is the right audience? Which kind should you target?

John Van Raaphorst is the Marketing Content Manager for the Town of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.