We’ve previously discussed how trendy solutions may get in the way of making the right strategic choices for your business. We were discussing technology platforms. But the same can be true for your selection of messaging medium.

In recent months we’ve been told that, in order to succeed, businesses must go mobile, develop an iPad app (then an Android app), move to the cloud, make your content free, stop making your content free, and continue to adapt to whatever medium or model the latest strategic zeitgeist is suggesting.

Trends are embedded in headlines and blog posts everywhere, be it the latest push to go mobile or stories about the declining relevancy of the web browser and the rise of apps. Its no wonder that Marshall McLuhan’s famous dictum that “The medium is the message” seems to be so widely accepted.

That businesses must adapt to survive is clear. But our media echo chamber tends to forget – or ignore – the importance of the message itself. Nigel Hollis of the market research company Millward Brown wrote about this recently in The Atlantic Monthly. The true reason for Apple’s success, Hollis writes, is “the natural, intuitive transparency of the technology,” and the “superlative product experience.” In other words, Apple didn’t just make a tablet. Apple made the best tablet.

That message is selling a lot of iPads, regardless of the medium for delivery.

Similarly, designing an iPad app only helps you if the message it’s designed to deliver is any good. It has to be good content, and it has to be an awesome app.

The same goes for the online user experience in general. Just providing functionality on multiple platforms is not enough. Lots of your competitors are keeping up with those trends as well. To get ahead of the trend, keep your focus on what your customers care about – quality.