Our trade association, American Business Media, has commissioned a major research study designed to help media companies develop a "Roadmap for Profitable Growth". The study, conducted by Booz & Company, focused on the two primary sources of revenue for media companies--End Users and Marketers. Booz believes (though I'm not sure that I agree with them) that most companies can only achieve excellence down one of those paths, and that to pursue both simultaneously with the kind of focus required for ultimate success will prove to be too much for most media businesses. (Since Incisive North America derives about half its revenues from each of those paths, we may have no choice but to pursue both, but we should be aware of the challenge.)

Motivating the need to focus on where future growth will come from are a series of seismic changes being driven by customers. On the End User side, those changes are:

1. Search-driven world changing how End Users find and consume information.
2. End Users are embracing digital media to serve different needs compared to print.
3. End Users want greater control, community and interaction around content
4. End Users demand content on-the-go and across platforms (print, online, mobile).

On the Marketer side of the equation, Booz identified five seismic changes:

1. From one-way awareness building to two-way conversation and community.
2. Marketer demands for greater accountability.
3. Focusing spending closer to transactions (as opposed to brand building over time).
4. Marketers looking for new partners to drive innovation and insight.
5. Marketers building their "own media" to deepen dialogue and measurable results.

We see evidence of every one of those changes impacting our business--from readers embracing new forms of Web 2.0-driven media to advertisers creating their own elaborate websites complete with blogs and other original content. So this is not just theoretical, but a very real way of looking at the media world going forward.

Building off those seismic changes, the Booz report outlines the solutions which media companies are or should be following on both the Marketer and End User paths. These include establishing an appropriate editorial strategy, market research, audience and product development, integration of different media platforms, operational efficiency and globalization. And for each of those, there are a set of building blocks for success depending on which path is being followed (Marketer or End User).

So, just to take an example, the Editorial Strategy section raises important questions for us. A media company focused on the Marketer side of the equation would be looking to build traffic among target audiences through development of exclusive content, integration into new media platforms (webinars, video), and promotion of insightful analysis and expert opinion. At the end of the day, the goal would be to deliver a more targeted, premium audience to marketers willing to pay premium prices to reach them. And online success in particular would require a much greater focus on search engine optimization, an increase in targeted advertising inventory, and a variety of tools designed to drive traffic and then keep it on the site longer.

On the other hand, an Editorial Strategy focused on the End User would look different. For one thing, it would be more focused on proprietary data and information, indexed and tagged in ways which make it easier for the user to find. An End User editorial strategy would also focus on insight-driven events, exclusive expert opinion, thought-leadership, content archives, as well as integration of information across traditional company lines. Success here is measured by product sales--subscriptions, event registrations and other End User revenues.

Obviously, we do both. And we'll continue to do both. But, for example, we'll be challenged as we attempt to build both traffic and subscription revenue on our websites--how do you do both and meet the needs of both Marketers and End Users? And the same will be true as we launch new products, invest in new technologies and decide among competing priorities as to how to organize our resources. Is the payoff on the Marketer side, the End User side, or both simultaneously? Is that realistic?

Much to chew on. More to come.