Driving content and data to enhance the end user’s experience was described as a key marketing objective at the American Business Media conference in Chicago Nov. 18.

Harry Hawkes Jr. and Matt Egol, partners at Booz & Co., presented the consulting firm’s findings in a study that surveyed and interviewed ABM members, publishers of digital and print media aimed at business. The goal was to find best practices for maximizing profit growth as traditional media shrink and digital media expand.

Results were split into two categories: marketer-driven solutions and end-user-driven solutions. Marketer-driven solutions include advertising and marketing services that cater to B2B advertisers’ needs, whereas end-user-driven solutions look to content and data applications that enhance productivity for the consumer.

“If you can go down one of these paths aggressively, you will be successful as a company,” Hawkes said.

The study found that attempting to utilize both solutions is far too complex and demanding. The Booz study advises concentrating primarily on one path in order to achieve optimum success.

However, both paths turn away from traditional models in favor of media that are predominantly being driven to the Web. 

Discussion of end-user-driven solutions considered the value of data: creating useful meaning from mass amounts of information by turning it into an asset for the company.

Increasing value to the customer is a necessary step in revenue growth, other Booz consultants explained during the session. Emphasis was placed on integrating the staff, content, technology platforms, and applications development and licensing. According to the Booz study, this improves cost effectiveness by 12 percent to 15 percent.

Digital media in a search-driven world are resources that have not been fully developed, the study found. According to the study, finding ways to control online content and integrate information across platforms and generating user feedback, are proven methods to maximize revenue growth and survive the “cyclical downturn” that print media are facing.

For example, Booz consultants at the breakout session talked about conventional methods of “end user workflow” such as social networking sites or user comments on Web sites. The next step would be to follow up on user comments, by finding out where these individuals are coming from before they comment, and where they are clicking after they comment.

In the new age of online media, the study suggested, it appears the strategy in favor will be user-driven and user-based. This was also described as the key to success for media companies to survive an economic downturn.