Cross-media publishing has become a reality. Its importance and the number of applications are growing significantly. By definition, cross-media publishing is the publishing of a message or communication via multiple media outlets, including print, mobile, social, and online.

As bandwidth gets faster, the use of handheld devices becomes more prevalent, and the use of the Internet as a business-to-business commerce platform evolves, printed documents will play a different (and ultimately smaller) role in the way that business is conducted. With today's generation of high-tech consumers, the use of a multi-media strategy is essential to better communication. The number one challenge that today's marketers face is reaching consumers. Consumers are clearly in control of the media they consume. Mobile devices, iPods, DVRs, and the Internet have changed marketing forever. In today's "always on" era, marketing executives realize that they need to fashion advertising and marketing that is anchored firmly in relevance, interactivity, and measurability.

The number one challenge among marketers today is reaching consumers, and consumers are in control of the media they consume.

InfoTrends recently conducted a multi-client study entitled Capturing the Cross-Media Direct Marketing Opportunity, in which over 500 marketing executives and 200 agency executives were surveyed. When marketers were asked about their greatest challenges in executing a cross-media campaign, the most common responses included developing a cross-media strategy, designing for multiple media types, and tracking/analyzing campaign results. Opportunities exist for cross-media service providers that offer the right value-added services and help address the challenges associated with developing a cross-media campaign, designing for multiple media formats, tracking and analyzing campaigns, managing each media type, and supporting data analytics.