Centers & Institutes
Interactive Marketing: Where Are We Headed in 2008?
By Gary R. Lindberg
Interactive communications is the blanket term for a host of tried-and-true online marketing channels that includes email and search marketing, online display ads (which increasingly use Flash animation or video), and social media. The latest entries into this collection of new media channels are mobile marketing (on your cell phone), game marketing, podcasts, and RSS feeds. If you do not know what some of these things are, it is probably time to get up to speed because these tactics make up the marketer’s new toolkit. Consider these two major trends for 2008:
Trend 1: A Big Shift from “Traditional” to Interactive Marketing
There is no question that more companies are now using interactive marketing than ever before, diverting budget dollars away from more traditional media such as TV, radio, and print advertising. A communications research report released by Veronis Suhler Stevenson predicts that spending on interactive marketing will increase more than 23 percent through 2011, while traditional advertising will have a compound annual growth rate of just over 1 percent.
A Forrester Research report states that interactive marketing spending will reach $61 billion by 2012. To put this into context, interactive marketing currently accounts for just 8 percent of all ad spending but will increase to 18 percent by this date, a staggering shift.
Which of the interactive channels will see the greatest growth? The U.S. Interactive Advertising Bureau surveyed the readers of its newsletter on the most likely trends in 2008. Here are some of the findings:
- Mobile marketing is going to be the next big thing in 2008, according to the newsletter’s editor, who adds, “It's only a matter of time before behavioral and demographic targeting are paired with the kind of precise geo-targeting available on high-tech mobile devices to create a perfect storm of ad relevance for marketers looking to reach busy, on-the-go consumers.”
- More than half (53 percent) believe social networking will continue to explode in 2008. Only 13 percent believe growth rates will decline as web users migrate to the next big trend.
- Almost half (45 percent) believe video will show the greatest growth in 2008, while 23 percent believe it will be online display ads, 18 percent mobile, and 16 percent search marketing.
Trend 2: Traditional Media Used to Support Interactive Marketing
In 2008 and beyond, traditional media—which in the past was the primary conduit for our marketing messages—is increasingly being cast in a supporting role for new interactive campaigns. TV spots, direct mail, and news/magazine ads will increasingly be used to arouse consumer interest and point prospects to a website where they can find more in-depth information. When they arrive at the web destination, entertaining online video ads may be used to tell a longer, more involved story in a compelling way. Consumer use of online video is growing fast, and most age groups are expected to step up viewership in 2008.
The point is that today’s traditional media will not disappear, just as radio did not die when television emerged. But offline media will more often be blended creatively with interactive tactics to create new kinds of marketing systems.
Tips for Capitalizing On These Trends
Increase your sales and your marketing ROI by capitalizing on these trends for 2008 with the following four tactics:
1. Engage the customer.
The shift toward interactive marketing coincides with the emergence of technologies that enable a one-on-one dialogue with customers, a kind of communications channel which we often refer to as social media. Follow the upsurge in social media by posting your products on sites that encourage customer or peer reviews. Social media sites engage consumers, add a degree of democratic impartiality, and are increasingly viewed as reliable sources of information for consumers.
What about the risk of bad reviews? Well, how confident are you that your product can withstand scrutiny? (TIP: Today’s consumers expect to find some negative reviews for everything these days, so do not worry about a few outliers—it can add to the credibility of the reviews).
2. Integrate your off-line and online campaigns.
Look for ways to use off-line media to drive traffic to a website with specialized landing pages that tell a deeper story. Use print and TV ads to start the consumer education process and direct potential buyers online to learn more and take the next steps in the purchase process. Direct an email campaign to your current customer database to offset the cost of direct mail. Simply alternate email and postal mail for a cost-effective one-two punch.
3. Move some off-line dollars online.
Interactive marketing offers strong, proven alternatives to some traditional media, such as Yellow Pages advertising. Consider moving some of your traditional directory advertising dollars into online directories or, better yet, search engine pay-per-click ads. The vast majority of Americans research their products online before making purchases, so a paid search campaign is an ideal way to make sure you turn up at the top of search results.
But be careful. The search engines have developed sophisticated methods of delivery traffic from ad clicks, which you pay for, without necessarily delivering more sales results. I recommend starting a search ad campaign cautiously and testing the “conversion rate” (ratio of paid clicks to actual sales) of specific ads and related search terms before making significant investments. One of the best features of digital advertising is its ability to track meaningful data about potential customers and their online behaviors, which can be very illuminating if you take the time to study it.
4. Start thinking mobile.
Prepare your marketing campaign for the inevitable explosion of opportunities to deliver your message on cell phones. Many phones now have internet access and can display web pages, so protect your domain name by getting one of the new .mobi domains now being offered. Don’t let someone else grab your name. These domains are specifically for mobile communications.
The cell phone also may be the newest ad platform. Apple recently formed a partnership with Google and Yahoo! to provide ad-supported programming on the iPhone. In today’s competitive environment, can other mobile systems be far behind? Mobile marketing can deliver highly personalized and useful information where and when it is needed. As long as marketers do not spam, mobile marketing may be the missing link in personalized communications.
The world of interactive marketing is moving at breakneck speed as new technologies and practices are constantly changing the shape of how we market to our customers. The successful marketers today are those who can shrug off technophobia and embrace the opportunities delivered by these promising new channels.
About the Author
Gary Lindberg is Executive Director of Pixel Farm Interactive, a Minneapolis-based interactive communications agency. He is an adjunct instructor in web communications for the Center for Business Excellence at the University of St. Thomas, where he teaches in the Mini Master of Business Communication program.
Mr. Lindberg is a pioneer in e-learning and interactive marketing, having been a practitioner since the 1980s. He is the sole author of a patent-pending methodology for search engine optimization, and has been the writer, producer, and/or director of hundreds of films, videos, and TV commercials, including the Paramount Pictures release THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW starring Morgan Freeman and Emilio Estevez. He has won more than 100 national and international awards for his communications work, including two Grand Awards from the New York International Film Festival. Recently, Pixel Farm Interactive won the Innovator of the Year award from Finance & Commerce for the highly interactive business simulation games it developed for Cargill, GMAC ResCap, and Taylor Corporation.
