Media-neutral data - maximum reuse

There is no way around it: publishable content must be prepared flexibly and efficiently for different media. Whether print, web, social media or marketplaces - each medium has specific requirements for the structure, format and presentation of content. A central goal when introducing a PIM system is therefore the media-neutral management of data in order to maximize its reusability. But how can this be achieved in practice?

Best practices for media-neutral data management

Texts: Mark-up instead of formatting

A fundamental principle of media-neutral data management is the strict separation of content and presentation. Instead of concrete formatting (e.g. "12pt Univers semibold, font color: red"), texts should be provided with mark-ups. These are general markings such as "main heading" or "highlighted", which are only transferred to the desired layout by the media-specific template.

This approach offers several advantages:

• Reduction of manual customization: Content does not have to be formatted individually for each medium.
• Consistency across different channels: changes to the presentation are made centrally via templates.
• Translation: formatting remains identical in all language versions.

In addition, reusable text modules should be used that exist once in the database and can be used in different contexts. This reduces redundancies and improves the traceability of content.

Illustrations: Automated conversion for different media

Different output media requirements also pose a challenge for images. While print media require high-resolution images in the CMYK colour space, sometimes with vectorized clipping paths, digital channels require optimized file formats in screen resolution and in the RGB colour space.

The solution: Automated format conversion using a media asset management (MAM/DAM) system

Standardized formats should be defined and automatically generated by the system. The use of color profiles also ensures that brand colors are displayed consistently in all media.

The output: Flexible templates for maximum reuse

Templates play a central role in the output of content - in content management systems as well as in automated print layouts. However, templates must not be too rigidly linked to data structures. An example: If a template mandatorily provides for the weight of a product in column three of a table, you cannot reuse this template if the color of the product is to be in the same column in a different context.

Templates should only define the visual display, without dependencies on specific content. This is because these dependencies force you to create and manage a large number of customized template variants.

Versioning for controlled updates

Best practice also includes the versioning of texts and images over time, which must work consistently across all output channels. Versioning allows you to create a future version of a piece of content in the database at an early stage and set a deadline. As soon as this deadline is reached, the new version automatically replaces the previous one - everywhere. This ensures that all output channels are updated consistently without any additional manual effort.

Conclusion

Media-neutral data management is an essential building block for efficient content management. Maximum reusability is achieved through the consistent separation of content and presentation, the use of flexible templates and automated conversion and versioning processes. This reduces redundancies, minimizes sources of error and increases efficiency - a clear competitive advantage.