This article was written by Stephanie Gray, an independent researcher and graduate student at Columbia College in Chicago, where she is currently working toward her master's degree in public affairs journalism.

Trade publishers in every industry are feeling the pressure to keep up - or, in some cases catch up - with their tech-savvy audiences. The almost-daily barrage of new media tools and applications can overwhelm executives trying to design a profitable online strategy.

But experts say these publishers should stop focusing on the technology. The real secret to success in this new marketplace, they say, is matching online operations to readers' needs by finding the easiest, most user-friendly applications to present the content the industry most values.