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As part of an ongoing strategy to better meet the growing demand for digital media products and related offerings, business information publisher Advantage Business Media has announced the implementation of several new technologies and the addition of more than 20 staff with specialties focused on the areas of interactive content, delivery and sales. Advantage’s portfolio includes highly focused print publications, online portals, e-newsletters, conferences, directories and databases.
Initial steps in Advantage’s strategy have concentrated on building on the media company’s current success with webcasts, e-Showcases, e-newsletters, product demos and whitepapers. Its next moves will include several consumer-focused additions to its digital content, including integrated Google custom searching and social bookmarking functions to all of its websites, enabling the use of tools such as Digg, Reddit and del.icio.us that give users personalized sharing and tagging options.
Advantage is also rolling out podcasting and blog functionality, and is redesigning all websites and implementing the Ektron content management system, which will enable automated 24/7 content.
“We recognize the changing preferences of the users of our content and the increasing demand for enhanced digital media options,” said Richard Reiff, the company’s CEO. “Staying ahead of this continually evolving paradigm is key to providing a valued service to information consumers and the businesses that use our media vehicles to reach them.”
Additional technologies are being implemented to provide more comprehensive and automated reporting of site usage statistics, as well as user registration functions and new dashboards by brand, portfolio and corporate.
Key to Advantage’s enhanced focus on digital media and interactive components is building a staff comprised of professionals experienced with digital media platforms and sales. The company has already brought in Volodya Krul to head up these initiatives as Senior Director, Web Business Development, and Jeff Jost as director of media sales. Advantage has a total of 23 digital media staff, including specialists in search engine optimization, web content, content management, web advertising production, business analysis, website design and development. The company has recently recruited and begun training 10 new digital media sales staff and plans to add a director of digital content, eight online editors and an online audience development manager.
With advertising revenues ebbing across traditional print media, Reiff sees interactive efforts as a core component of his company’s success. “Digital revenue is a key area of growth for Advantage Business Media and our strategy is designed to increase these areas,” he said. “Interactive current accounts for over 15 percent of total revenues for Advantage, and by building up our digital content and delivery capabilities, we expect to double that number in the very near future.”
About Advantage Business Media
Advantage Business Media (advantagebusinessmedia.com) is an integrated business media company with a diversified portfolio of highly focused print publications, e-newsletters, specialized directories, vertical search databases, conferences, ancillary media vehicles, and associated web-based services. Founded in 2006 with the acquisition of Reed Business Information's New Product Division and building upon a 40-year combined legacy of influential Cahners, Chilton, and Gordon Publishing titles, today Advantage Business Media serves more than 1.3 million industry professionals in the science, engineering/design, electronics, and communications markets.
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Susanne.Foulds[.]advantagemedia.com 
