The Feed Bag Pet Provisions On Facebook

A year and a half ago, when I adopted my Holland Lop bunny, I discovered a local pet shop that carried the supplies my little guy required along with excellent customer service. While making my first purchase at The Feed Bag Pet Provisions, I was instructed by the employee to check out their Facebook fan page.  He explained that the small business enjoys sharing pictures of their customers' pets.  I found their interaction with their customers on Facebook intriguing; I "liked" them the same day and posted a photo of my bunny.

For a small business with not many employees, The Feed Bag Pet Provisions has an extremely high focus on building relationships with customers.  They have easily maintained this business tactic by taking advantage of society's massive use of social media.  Most pet owners already enjoy sharing pictures of their animals to their friends on Facebook.  It can also be safely assumed that as an animal lover, they like being exposed to photos of other pets.  The Feed Bag Pet Provisions takes these facts into consideration when posting on their Facebook fan page as adorable, or just plain silly, pictures of animals are shared frequently.

The Feed Bag Pet Provisions also promotes products on their Facebook fan page.  Arrivals of new pet supplies are announced, often containing a photo to maintain the visual aspect of their social media interaction.  Special offers are also posted on their Facebook fan page that generally include a code word that customers who "like" them can mention to get the deal.  The local pet shop will also occasionally make posts to get their fans involved such as asking "Giants or Patriots" during this past Superbowl weekend or commenting on the weather in Seattle.

I don't "like" a large quantity of businesses on Facebook.  Especially not small local companies, even if I'm a frequent customer.  A certain level of uniqueness and relevance has to be captured within a business' Facebook fan page for me to want to follow it.  The Feed Bag Pet Provisions has successfully incorporated high levels of those two characteristics.  The small business does a wonderful job providing an enjoyable Facebook fan page for their customers to "like."  They have mastered using social media as an extension of their business through the relationships with their customers remaining as a priority.

3 Things I Learned From "The Future of Interactive Marketing": CORE, Relationship and Innovation

     The article "the future of interactive marketing" is mainly talked about CORE. CORE is new concept of interactive marketing. It stands for customize, optimize, respond and empower. In order to gain competitive advantages in the future of interactive marketing, we must implement these concepts into the marketing department and the organization. The idea of CORE is introduced because of the changing in environment. interactive marketing requires more flexibility and dynamic operation.

     In the future of interactive marketing, there is a big trend, that is to build a relationship with customers. Just like marketing in general, the focus is shifting from the product or service itself towards how much value they can provide to customers.  Back in old days, the oil price was expensive, American automakers did not hear from their customers. American cars still uses a lot of oil. Japanese automakers noticed that and jumped into the US market. Japanese cars are smaller and more efficient. Soon, they took up to 60% of the US market.Customers can change a company.Therefore, everything is focus on customers nowadays. 

     In today's world, innovation is a big advantage. the article talks about enabling innovation. However, how to build an innovation can be very difficult. It requires the leaders of an organization to think beyond what they have today, focus on the trend and develop new values for customers. For example, Apple product is extremely popular. However, Apple claims that they do not do much research on consumers. It is the innovation power of Apple, changed customers lifestyle.

3 Reasons I "Like" REI and Why I Absolutely Love It

Creating the right voice of a company online has become an art. For the first time, companies have to  talk directly to their customers without a using a cheesy sales pitch. Without asking them to buy something, or blab on about a really great deal going on. This traditional marketing approach just doesn’t work anymore and customers have become immune.  

The article written by Aaron Smith, focuses on the reasons for using social media based on adults who use social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and/or Twitter. 50% of social media users said connecting with others with shared hobbies or interests is not a reason they use social media. 35% said it was a minor reason and only 14% said it was a major reason.

So to ease the hesitation of that 50%, I will share with you 3 reasons I follow the popular outdoor gear and apparel store, REI, and why I absolutely love it.

1. They’re posts are funny and inviting.

The voice of REI’s online content is cleaver and consistent. The Facebook posts are written as if the REI brand was real life talking person. It feels like a true REI enthusiast (and probably an experienced editor) is writing the posted NOT a sales person. REI uses Facebook an additional service to their customers by providing a unique perspective and expert advice on outdoor products.

Here are examples of how REI keeps me coming back for more.

      “Give that Like Button a big ol' high five if you've checked your dividend!! We are so stoked to be able to give back to our amazing members!”

 

      “Have you ever taken on a huge physical challenge and not quite reached your intended finish line? How did you respond?”

 

      “Where are you headed out to this weekend? Still undecided? Let our blog post today serve as some inspiration!”

 

2. It’s less intimidating than subscribing to their emails.

If you really like a company but you don’t want to receive the weekly/daily emails some of them send, following them on Facebook is a good alternative. It allows you to decide when you want to be exposed to their brand, which makes for a better user experience and encourages positive thoughts. And you don’t have to keep deleting their messages from your inbox, which is a plus.

Here is a perfect example of an REI Facebook post lets YOU decide how much you want to engage with their company while still being courteous.

      “If you let us into your email inbox once or twice a week on average, we will email you a coupon for 15% off one full-price REI Brand or Novara item (excluding bikes). Sound good? Sign up!”

3. It’s a community of really cool people.

The people following REI on Facebook do some pretty cool things and they like to share it online with REI and the rest of their 386,000 followers.

Again, some awesome examples.

      “Five of us went snowshoeing last night under the full moon at Snoqualmie Pass, it was a great night!”

      “This is my traveling donkey! He has been on two cross country USA road trips, 3 continents and over 10 countries. He is heading to Antarctica, Patagonia and Easter Island this winter.... traveling is more fun with a travel buddy!”

      "Maybe at 60 I can finally hike the Pacific Crest Trail?" Read Part 2: Finally Hiking the John Muir Trail at Age 50.”

      “I wanted to explore the simplicity of a family life so off-the-grid and different than my own... And I was also curious about how Ruedi and his family were coping three years after a tragic avalanche killed a number of the guests he was guiding.”

Why I "Like" Portlandia and Cupcake Royale

I normally ignore any updates on my Facebook newsfeed from businesses that I "like." I don't even make a habit of liking pages on Facebook. In fact, I find it annoying when most of a person's updates are related to pages they like. It's a gimmick I haven't quite bought into, because Facebook was originally a place for people and more importantly friends. Recently, however, it has become an opportunity for businesses to build community around their brands, which can be great if it is done effectively. 


Most of the pages I presently like are the result of newer versions of Facebook turning the interests I listed when I originally created my account into likes. Two pages, however, are exceptions: Portlandia, an IFC television show, and Cupcake Royale, a local Seattle business.


Although I follow Portlandia on Twitter, I didn't actually like the Facebook page until I read a tweet that you could preview a scene from an upcoming season. Intrigued, I visited the page and realized that I couldn't actually view the clip until I had liked the page. I hesitated, but decided that I like the program and the two writers/lead actors, plus their tweets were always entertaining. I liked the page, and was not disappointed.


I have remained a fan because the Portlandia page posts what I want to read. Their content is meaningful to me, concise, and funny. They advertise upcoming celebrity appearances on the show, previous popular clips, where you can see Fred and Carrie (the writers) next, etc. It feels personal, as though the Portlandia page allows me to converse with Fred and Carrie themselves.


Here is the clip that originally drew me in:

Hilarious.


Cupcake Royale's page was something I liked because I felt I should add some pages to my interests. I'm pretty sure I was actually in the shop trying to do homework and was instead taking some time to revise my info page.


Unlike some of the other pages I like which either provide updates I purposefully ignore or just none at all, Cupcake Royale posts highly relevant information. Most of them are promotions for new flavors of cupcakes, coupons, reminders to attend cupcake happy hour, or notices that a flavor will be discontinued. 


I enjoy following this page because it is clearly geared towards fan appreciation and not shameless self-promotion. For example, a recent post read: "We have the BEST Facebook Fans- and we like to reward you every month with our FB coupon for the Cupcake of the Month!" That's it: Just click on the picture, print the coupon, and bring it to the store.


Both pages do an excellent job of meeting the expectations that fans (or at least I myself) have of Facebook pages. Portlandia enriches my experience with the show by making me feel more connected to the writers/actors as people. Cupcake Royale is committed to providing incentives for me (in a personable way, too)  to continue purchasing from them. Portlandia and Cupcake Royale enrich my experience with their products while not overly commercializing my Facebook experience.

Promoting AMC on Facebook via "The Walking Dead"

When I saw that my friend liked the AMC show “The Walking Dead” on Facebook, I quickly followed her lead and clicked “like.” I was already on Facebook, the option to “like” the show was one click away, and I do like the show, so I clicked impulsively.

This was not the first time I “liked” something impulsively. Earlier this year, I “liked” Cracked.com on Facebook, but it was a short lived “like.” I was bombarded several times a day with requests to read some article I had no interests in. Within a week, I “unliked” the site and have never visited the site since.

Fortunately, “The Walking Dead” had a Facebook presence that I found much less obnoxious. “The Walking Dead” would only post once or twice a week, just before or after an episode. These posts would allow me to access exclusive sneak peeks, behind the scenes footage, or discussions with fans. Although I rarely clicked any of the links, they did not bother me; rather, they got me excited for the upcoming episode.

The most notable post “The Walking Dead” made was after their season finale. There were posts about the most exciting scenes, inviting fans to talk about them, but my favorite post was one about how to fill your Sunday night 9:00 time spot now that “The Walking Dead” was off the air. “The Walking Dead” posted a Facebook exclusive commercial for “Mad Men,” titled “The Zombies are Back,” showing clips of hung over characters stumbling around like zombies. The commercial was short but incredibly funny – plus it related to a slightly different zombie-themed “Mad Men” commercial that aired the night before, during “The Walking Dead” season finale.

I thought the post was effective because it promoted another AMC show via “The Walking Dead”  that specifically targeted fans of “The Walking Dead.” Since the commercial was funny and related to the show users “liked,” users do not feel like AMC is taking advantage of their “Walking Dead” “like” in order to promote other shows.

The Future of Interactive Marketing

Interactive marketing is a rapidly changing industry with improvements developing constantly.  The ability to communicate and build relationships is becoming increasingly easier and efficient.  People are receiving information at an incredibly fast pace.  In the article, The Future of Interactive Marketing, it is displayed why current strategies cannot support the future of interactivity.

The strategy of CORE needs to used as the new direction of interactive marketing.  This includes Customizing marketing experiences, Optimizing decisions and processes, Responding to changing marketing conditions, and Empowering staff and customers to advocate for you.  The decision of when, how, and to what degree to apply each strategy needs to be determined in order to achieve a "lucrative balance."

Incorporating CORE into any interactive marketing plan will improve relationships between customers and clients, as well as many internal processes.  The strategy is even thought to eventually be an innovator in many departments of business, not just marketing.  It is expected that everyone will become an interactive marketer by the end of the digital decade.  The importance of internet marketing is becoming imminent for the success of businesses in the future.

The Future of Interactive Marketing - Response

What Shar VanBoskirk and Emily Riley are trying to tell us is that the future of marketing is interactivity, and if a company follows the CORE process, they will optimize their success during this "digital decade." The main points to take away are that interactivity is plunging into the media and shifting the way we live as we know it. The authors give examples on different communication services that can cause revolutions in different parts of the world.

The article also points out the CORE idea which is important. CORE means customize marketing experiences, optimize decisions and processes, respond to changing marketing conditions, and empower staff and customers to advocate for you. These are points that your organization should focus on in order to have success in the trend changing digital age.

The third important element of this article is what the authors present as their predictions for the future. They expect that the following of CORE will result in everybody becoming an interactive marketer. They also believe an algorithm for desire will emerge and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, will win the Nobel Peace Prize!

Overall, I thought the article was a good read with a lot of fascinating information. I think it's crucial to recognize some social concerns with moving into this digital age. We want to make sure our society is honestly informed and manipulated as least as possible.
                                                                    

Empowerment and Social Media, the Double Edged Sword.

Forrester’s article, The Future Of Interactive Marketing elaborated on the concept of the CORE directives. Standing for Customize, Optimize, Respond, and Empower it was impressed upon me that building relationship is one of the pillars that interactive marketing stands upon. Of the four directives, empowerment stood out as the foremost component in creating, sustaining and nurturing relationships between, within and throughout companies and consumers. The idea of empowerment is to give customers and employees the ability and desire to become advocates for your brand. These advocates not only market your brand through word of mouth, but they also drive innovation and influence brand decisions that line up with consumer interest. Empowerment is the balance of giving customers and employees control over your brand but maintaining enough control to preserve a brand’s image. Finding this balance has become extremely important with increasing influence of social media, both a great tool and a harmful institution.

Social media is a great resource for empowerment. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites are becoming more and more necessary for companies to use to promote their brand image and create those relationships with people they want to influence. An example of this Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign in which he used social media to great effect. But social media not only empowers advocates of a brand but also empowers critics. This is famously seen in Dave Carroll’s experience with United Airlines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Dave is a musician and he was travelling with United airlines when he noticed that the people loading his guitar seemed to not have any regard for its fragility. When he arrived at his destination he found that his guitar was broken and customer service would not help him out despite persistent demand for action. Eventually he decided to write a song about his experience and upload it to YouTube. The video became very popular and the brand image of United took a very serious hit.

This is a good example of a tool of empowerment, social media, can be used to take shots at a brand. It is imperative when using the CORE directives that a good balance of control be maintained. This is especially important in controlling how a company supports the image of the brand. Social media is a double edged sword that is prevalent in today’s marketing world. It would be wise to be aware of its dangers as well as its benefits.

My take on the future of interactive marketing

Shar VanBoskirk and Emily Riley described the foundations and the most probable future of interactive marketing in the Forrester article. The main focus of the article was the CORE concept - customize, optimize, respond, empower to reach out to their customer base and to better market themselves.

They also provided a very useful tool; it is a questionnaire which purpose is to help companies identify where they stand in regard to the CORE concept. They give great advice on  why companies should focus on their CORE, however, they don't discuss how a company could implement and increase into their CORE in their way of doing business. Surely, companies have to figure it out themselves, but they don't provide more guidelines except for giving some examples. What I wondered the most after reading the article is: "Is there a limit on how much CORE a company can achieve?"

In my opinion, the article has given a huge insight into the most probable future of interactive marketing, be it online or offline. One great example I could think of is the headphones manufacturer " Sol Republic ". They customize and optimize their products to fit the customers needs, respond to the change in the music industry and to the needs, wants and questions of their customers and empower not only customers but also aspiring artists by frequently interacting with them through social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter.

- David Vu

Interactive Marketing: The Keys to Success

The future of interactive marketing is continuously changing the way in which we all life our lives. In the Forrester article The Future of Interactive Marketing, authors Shar VanBoskirk and Emily Riley describe the core solutions to effectively optimizing the opportunity that interactive marketing provides. These 4 core solutions offer guidelines in order to customize, optimize, respond, and empower a customers and staff members experience with a company.

While implementing these core solutions into a company’s interactive marketing strategy one must keep in mind these 3 takeaways.

1.  Relationships: When approaching interactive marketing one must focus on customizing the experience of the customer to create a meaningful relationship without compromising the company’s overall intended message.

2.  Flexibility: Embrace the flexibility that is this new medium. Interactive marketing relies so heavily on the internet medium that is forever and always changing

3.  Be mindful: Doing everything on every platform isn’t the best approach. Keep in mind the user experience and let that guide your decision on ways to empower and enrich customers and staff.

Interactive Marketing - Thinking About Customers

The article “The Future of Interactive Marketing” provided us fundamental idea of Interactive Marketing and how to apply it.  The most valuable takeaway should be Interactive Marketers’ new directives a.k.a. CORE which makes marketing change the world by Customize by balancing user and business goals, treat Optimization as a discipline, Respond quick, and Empower influencers.

I like and drive MINI Cooper because I can differentiate my car from other MINI on the road. MINI Cooper can provide 50,000 different kind by changing their large variety of options.  I always want to be an exception, so I became a MINI owner.  I haven’t really noticed that I personally love customization until writing this, but yea who doesn't like it?

Last quarter, I had one guest speaker in my class. He told us that 40% of purchase on Amazon.com is from personal recommendations.  If you have bought things from Amazon.com you know what I am talking about.  I expected this number would be lower like 10% or so, but 40% is surprisingly insignificant.  If we see something we are interested in, we cannot stop thinking about it.  Amazon.com knows how to optimize their website to generate their profit.

When I was in Minnesota last week, I wanted to make sure how much money I had in my account. I have a BECU account, and tried to look up my balance online.  However, their security figured out I accessed from MN, and blocked and started asking me secret questions. “What is your mom’s middle name?” I am a Japanese, which means my mom is Japanese. We DO NOT have middle name.  Therefore, I could not answer the question to see my balance. It was on Sunday, and BECU doesn't provide 24/7 customer service although they pay out so good rate of interest on first $500. Quick responding has to be very important if I considered how much I was frustrated at the time.

I am not going to tell name of the restaurant, but my friend is working at Japanese restaurant in china town.  This place is pretty popular for their taste, and many of my friends from other countries told me the restaurant is the best in china town.  However, my friend always tell me how dirty inside of their kitchen is, how much they do not care about taste, and how mean they are to him.  These stories have discouraged me to visit and try the taste although everyone told me it's the best.  We should treat our employees as marketing tools to empower influencers.

We potentially know these stuffs we should apply in business, but through classes, we make sure the impact of those ideas.  This class would be fun.

The Marketing Link

The world of commerce has been overhauled by everything data. It is easier to collect, process and analyze than ever, however, perhaps more importantly, sharing has reached new levels.
Intereactive Marketing, as discussed in the Forrester article has evolved in responce to the great technological and social advances we made.
CORE, the keystone of this article emphasizes the utility of customization, optimization, responce and empowerment. While these are very broad terms, they hold many importand and specific implications. One of the most exciting Internet revolutions has been the trend toward coupling online and offline experiences.
Collaborative consumption, while it used to be outrageously unfeasible is making great strides with companies such as RelayRides, AirBnB and TaskRabbit.
So while the targeted and customized ad campaigns and empowered grassroots marketing are important, the marriage of the online and offline realms holds great promise that is only now beginning to be tapped.

The Interactive Age

Interactive Marketing as a trend has been building huge momentum over the last decade and is well on its way to becoming the gold standard in marketing practices as we know them. In The Future of Interactive Marketing, the authors paint a picture of a not too distant future where Interactive Marketing will be so integrated into our lives that any firms not embracing its essential principles will be left holding the ball.

The authors assert that the trend towards interactive marketing has left a void where a large proportion of firms do not have enough interactive marketing professionals in their employee ranks to keep up with the trend towards this more customer relationship centric form of marketing. This issue can be remedied by embracing Forrester’s CORE concepts: Customize, Optimize, Respond and Empower.

The CORE concept as it is implemented in Interactive Marketing would foster a more collaborative Client/Firm relationship then what we see currently. Interactivity is penetrating virtually every facet of modern life and companies will be forced to embrace these principles in order to remain competitive in the interactive age.

The Future of Marketing Technologies

Interactivity is changing life as we know it. The article The Future of Interactive Marketing by Shar VanBroskirk and Emily Riley is a comprehensive guide supplied to interactive marketing professionals that overviews the direction that interactive marketing is taking today. The implementation of the CORE directives gives marketing professionals groundwork from which to build from.

The CORE directives include to Customize, to Optimize, to Respond, and to Empower. Each of these directives may be further broken down to guide to guide marketing professionals in the right direction. Pandora customized outbound emails according to the stations listeners create. This is known as interactive customization. Dynamic adjustments to site content based on user profiles are examples of optimization that a company may implement. The Consolidation of 400 global agencies by Bayer is an example of a company response to improve efficiency. Employees at Black & Decker are empowered to make their own do-it-yourself or how-to videos.

The future of marketing lies in interactivity. Further, smart devices and technologies will be on the forefront of changes in interactive marketing because it is in these new technologies that the most effective and efficient forms of advertising have been identified. Through interactive marketing, advertising firms will be able to achieve a higher level of efficiency. Interactive marketing allows each firms to have an ‘intimate’ conversation with each consumer that allows the advertising firm to gain some knowledge about that consumer.

The CORE Strategy Road Map

What I found to be one of the most interesting sections of The Future of Interactive Marketing was the suggested road map and questionnaire to determine where to begin the CORE strategy found toward the end of the document.  Presumably, a senior manager in a firm would be the one to fill out the questionnaire and cross-reference the results with the corresponding road map to determine where the firm needs to begin their CORE strategy.  These results would then be distributed to the interactive marketing department, and some months later the senior manager would expect a report outlining what the firm should do or has done, what the expected or accomplished results are, and then the senior manager would determine whether or not to continue with the current interactive marketing plan.  This traditional approach concerns me.  I am sure that there are companies that would take a different approach to interactive marketing, but nevertheless I believe this would be a typical use of the CORE strategy.

In my opinion, a more appropriate approach to the road map and questionnaire would be to have the entire marketing department fill out the questionnaire and compile the results.  Based off of these results the firm can determine where they begin on the road map.  I recommend this because I anticipate very different results from the questionnaire depending on age of employee and exposure to interactive marketing.  A CMO that has been in place for many years and is trying to figure out how to begin an interactive marketing campaign will likely be of the opinion that the firm is much farther along in the process than the recent graduate who has years of exposure to interactive marketing and has studied it in school.

My concern with this document, while full of great information and providing a good tool for implementing an interactive campaign, is the lack of information on how to use the tool.  I feel like a lot of good tools provided to the world free of charge lack the proper instruction on how to effectively use them.  This is a tool that must be used very carefully and properly, otherwise the results could be disastrous.

-Rob

Step-By-Step Guide to Internet Marketing

The introduction to Internet marketing was a great overview of what the course is going to be about. It starts off discussing about the first step to creating a keyword strategy. Creating a keyword is important in a way that is how businesses are discovered. Step two is how to optimize your website; a simple way to achieve that is increasing the websites search engine optimization (SEO). Another key is to make a website easily readable and attract the customer in seven seconds.

Another way of businesses can be marketed through the web is social media. Social media is one of the most popular ways of marketing. Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are some of the most popular ways to market businesses. By checking in on Facebook and Foursquare, customers can receive specials, coupons and the most recent news about the business itself. The social media marketing does not force the business to build a website from scratch and assists in building a strong customer management.

Joomla, TypePad, HubSpot, Posterous, Wordpress and Dupral are some blogging platforms to help build websites and blogs for businesses. Blogs consists new research, or experiences shared by a customer, or it could be possibly anything. Also, the blogging platforms offer Content Management Systems that allow for businesses to quickly update their websites without having to change a ton of HTML and CSS codes. There are also inbound and outbound links that help with businesses be found more often than others. CTA also contributes to being a benefactor in Internet marketing.

Interactive Marketing's Future

The article The Future of Interactive Marketing brought up some interesting points about the direction that interactive marketing is heading towards. For example, companies such as Pandora Internet Radio can gather information about an individual’s choice of music, and tailor ads that best interest that individual. According to Pandora's Wikipedia, towards the end of 2011 advertising compromised of 88% of Pandora’s total revenue. That is quite an amazing marketing strategy, and it is all part of interactive marketing. Thinking about this, I realize how much interactive marketing has spread over such a short period of time. It is definitely increasing exponentially as we move into a digital revolution. Three of the most important takeaways from this article include CORE, how interactive marketers can strength marketing’s CORE, and of a thorough discussion of the future of interactive marketing.

                The acronym CORE stands for customize, optimize, respond, and empower; it is the basic model for future interactive marketing.  As the article states “The future of interactive marketing is neither an ideal organization nor a set of characteristics to layer into a multichannel campaign. Rather, the future is for interactive marketers to master four directives” listed above. An organization must customize by balancing user and business goals; treat optimization as a discipline, not a technology; respond quickly but not exhaustively; and empower influencers instead of exploiting them. A main part of the article discusses what is meant by CORE.

                Interactive marketers can strengthen marketing’s core by managing critical junctions within the organization because they bridge the customer and the business, relate across the organization, and evangelize emerging tools. As an example of evangelizing emerging tools, interactive marketers are always eager to learn more about new technologies that can help them market more efficiently. As a result some interactive marketers are always discussing new ideas to internal and external audiences while others are teaching classic mass marketers how to think like direct marketers.

                The future of marketing is interactivity. It is a challenge because interactive marketing is unique to an individual’s interest. It is about relationships, and not media. It exists in media; for example giving each user the ability to change camera angles as they watch a football game online, ad tailor by hulu.com, etc. It is powerful because it targets individuals based on their likes and interests.

Empowerment: the free, easy, and powerful way of interactively marketing your brand

There was certainly no mistake made when Shar VanBoskirk and Emily Riley thought up an acronym for their interactive marketing directives: industry trends clearly show that an interactive approach to marketing will be at the "CORE"of any business strategy now and into the far future. Interactivity is changing the way people think and behave, thereby making a game changer for the way people do business. 

Empowerment, the 4th CORE directive
makes all of your staff your biggest asset
in achieving the highest level of performance

I was most interested by the fourth directive: empowering staff and customers to advocate for you. Defined with greater detail, VanBoskirk and Riley explain this directive as "nurturing customers and staff into advocates for your brand." The key aspects of doing this, they argue, is by identifying "internal influencers" or "HEROes" (highly empowered and resourceful operatives) who have great interpersonal skills, who are willing to volunteer their time and extra effort to meeting company objectives, and who are also incredibly creative and innovative and willing to share their new ideas. They also suggest that managers should "enable innovation" by encouraging interactive staff to enrich customer relationships through expressive personal communication channels; by inviting customers to aid in the innovation process by supplying interactive ways to engage with the firm and provide feedback; and by inspiring and training employees to think digitally, who at present do not help in the "interactive" efforts. 

The work environment at Russell Investments
shows a shift to a flattened organizational structure.

Empowerment is by far one of the most important and powerful tools to any business. Interactivity puts the business in the hands of the consumer and the staff members. Staff members, who before were stuck behind a desk adjusting and realigning print ads day after day, are now able to interact in real-time with customers and consumers. It is becoming essential for businesses to find more ways to utilize their staff than just within their functional areas. Therefore, this act of empowerment and recruitment of all staff to join the interactive marketing effort is gradually flattening the organizational structure of many firms. In many firms this shift may not be noticeable at the surface, but for many others, the companies are choosing to actually rearrange peoples' physical environments to remind them that the business operates as a large living organism, in which all members play a part in the success of the business (e.g., Russell Investments, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or Bloomberg BusinessWeek are all companies whose physical work environments reflect a flatter organizational structure). The Future of Interactive Marketing simply reminds readers of the power that recruiting all members of the organization for the purpose of interactively marketing the firm has on the firm's total performance. 

Important to the article was also that managers should devise a plan on retaining digital talent. Essentially, it is the managers role to advertise and/or market an innovative career involved with interactive marketing nearly the same way that the managers hope for those employees to market the firms' products to their customers. VanBoskirk and Riley point out that managers should "craft [a] digital retention plan through two steps: 1) Sort employees and target employees into segments of like-individuals, focusing on what makes them tick, and 2) tailor goals and benefits specifically to the different values of each type of employee." Therefore, CORE is not just at the "core" of the business because of the ways it can help a firm perform better in front of its customers; it is also important as a strategic focus for its internal organizational culture, as well. If a manager "customizes" the goals of its organization (within reason) to the particular values and preferences of its employees in such a way that the manager expects to see greater productivity, efficiency and effectiveness in particular areas, then the manager can also expect to see a greater level of enthusiasm and talent from his/her employees. This enthusiasm and exhibition of talent filters right back into empowerment. 

Therefore, while all of the CORE directives are obviously very important and interrelated, I believe that, at least from a management perspective, the last directive "empowerment of staff and customers" is critical to the success of interactive marketing strategies. Industry trend watching is made easier by the involvement of the "internal influencers;" listening to loyal customers' feedback makes it easier to respond to these trends or changes; and getting staff involved directs their behavior and tactical efforts toward the long-term strategic goals of a firm, thereby increasing performance. Empowerment, then, becomes a herculean force for any firm to succeed in spreading its brand, due to its cost effectiveness and ability to drive innovation and enthusiasm. 

Interactive Marketing's Potential Pitfalls

Forrester's article, The Future of Interactive Marketing, provides valuable insight on how a company can utilize interactive marketing to establish positive relationships with their target market in an ever evolving Internet landscape.  The article goes as far to introduce the CORE directives (Customize, Optimize, Respond, and Empower) that details the processes marketers can implement within their organization to streamline future interactive campaigns.  However, it fails to mention potential pitfalls that EVERY organization will, at some point, encounter.


1) Predicting & Measuring ROI

The purpose for any marketing campaign is to add to the bottom line.  Whether it be long or short-term it is absolutely necessary to provide substantial qualitative and quantitative goals specifically detailing how an interactive campaign will reach the target market, generate positive publicity, establish enduring relationships with customers, and ultimately increase sales revenue.  Predicting and measuring these objectives for interactive social media is not only difficult, but setting up the necessary processes in order to do so becomes a giant obstacle.

2) Interactive Media Overload - From a Marketer's Perspective

As the article mentioned, the scope of interactive marketing is immense; ranging from live chat, flash ads, blogging, interactive videos, and social media.  With so many options and limited staff, it's no wonder marketers feel overwhelmed.  But it's hard to convince upper management to expand the department's budget when the return on investment is unclear.  So what are marketers suppose to do in the meantime?  While the Forrester article provides a basic road map for organizations skeptical toward investing in interactive media, it still doesn't provide a solid answer on where to begin.  My recommendation is simple: firms should start with the most promising platform relative to engaging their target market with the goal of establishing a sales portal.  Designing, implementing, and executing a single interactive marketing campaign is a daunting task, but it will enable marketers to review their forecasting models for ROI and adjust their strategy accordingly.  Once marketers are able to define a clear model for ROI they can convince upper management to budget more resources for future interactive media campaigns.


3) Negative Publicity

Forrester's article states that it is absolutely critical for firms to develop fast response systems for their interactive media channels, but regardless of how well it's designed there is always the risk of garnering negative publicity.  Take PayPal UK for example: a disgruntled customer hacked into their Twitter account (19,000+ followers) and posted false web links that redirected followers to paypalsucks.com, a site dedicated to "the nightmare of doing business" with the company.  FoxNews is an even better example: a hacker collective took control of their Facebook and Twitter (3.8 million fans & followers) accounts to falsely post a story claiming President Obama was assassinated while campaigning in Iowa.  Both organizations faced serious damage to their brand name and credibility that, quite frankly, could only have been prevented if they never delved into social media.  These examples are not to say firms should shy away from external interactive media platforms, namely social media.  Instead, if firms decide to embark on any interactive media campaign, they should establish guidelines of how to proceed in absolute worst case scenarios.

Big Potential from Interactive Marketing

Based on Forrester, the next generation or future marketing will be an interactive marketing. It has changed a lot for the last many years. Internet has performed a crucial role since it has changed from the basic “traditional” media to the famous and interactive “digital” media. From what we can see in the real business world, marketing people, such as sales person are using digital media, particularly Internet in order to reach their target market. Perhaps, later there will be no door-to-door sales person because of the digital media.

There are four points that given by Forrester in order to create an interactive marketing. Customize, Optimize, Respond, and Empower (CORE) will definitely help to make a successful interactive marketing. Looking to their valuable mission, CORE tends to be an outline or structure for societies in order to improve their interactive marketing.

Following what CORE has, it will allow the societies, such as sales person, can reach their audiences efficiently. Beside the sales person, the customers also can have valuable experiences from the products that the sales person does in form of interactive marketing. In conclusion, as time goes by, interactive marketing will give many advantages for both societies and customers.