Cross media publishing is no longer an option; it is becoming a fact of life for all of those involved in the vertical market of publishing. The addition of eMedia channels like searchable web, tablet, mobile, social media and email to the established print channel as alternative means to reach markets has created lots of confusion... and opportunity. Whether you publish for profit, in magazines and newspapers, or as a function of marketing and sales support, the ability to reach and target your audience is becoming more difficult and further distributed. In fact, cross media communication is an increasing requirement for most businesses, even those not directly involved in publishing. The growing impact and rapidly changing developments in communication and computing, along with the growth of global business are the forces that are driving much of this.

These changes affect just about everyone in the value chain, including marketers, publishers, designers, premedia houses and printers. They impact how you do business, your production infrastructure, your workflows, and your personnel requirements. Ultimately, how well you understand all of this will allow you to position yourself and your company for success today and in the future. In this biweekly series we will discuss these issues and provide practical information on how to address them.

This first article takes a look at some of the issues and enabling tools that should be considered as printers make decisions about becoming Marketing Services Providers (MSP). The reason I elected to open with this topic first is that by understanding it, you will understand one of the main drivers for why you need to look at cross media as a core business process model.