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.