Interactive Needs To Move Forward
January 15, 2007
Filed Under Blog
This past weekend I was reminded of the true state of the Internet, when I saw a Discovery HD Theatre ad. It said “You mastered the Internet in 1995, the iPod in 2002 and now you’re ready take on HDTV.” It got me to thinking about interactive marketing and how in many instances it has frozen in time for many companies.
Sure, we’ve come a long way since 1995, but we still have a long way to go. Large companies are just starting to get the understanding of using interactive marketing to reach a targeted audience, providing focused messaging and highly targeted outlets (target audience-focused promotional sites, etc.) to communicate more effectively with prospects, customers and “the street” as some refer to it.
What we are missing is the same innovative thought that was first used in the late 90s that pushed companies to say, “We need a website. Now.” Today we need for companies to start thinking about their interactive marketing as untapped opportunities. Companies that truly want to be progressive need to look at how “the big guys” are embracing video, thriving with social networking tools, or leveraging viral marketing.
In my eight plus years of helping companies with their interactive marketing needs, it’s very rare that someone says, “We have only one target audience to reach.” Mose have two or three distinct segments they are trying to reach. Why not build and online experience that caters directly to the needs of each of those audiences? Remember the 80/20 rule? What if you developed a highly focused campaign toward the 20% that were driving 80% of your revenue?
It’s time to think differently about interactive marketing. Remember, we’re not building things in stone. Let’s evolve. Let’s reach out. And let’s communicate effectively.