3. Insight comes before
inspiration:
Innovative marketing starts with customer insights
culled from painstaking research into who your
customers are, and how they use digital media.
Then it’s time to innovate through the channels or
platforms that are relevant
4. Don’t repurpose,
re-imagine:
Digital quite simply is not for repurposing
content that exists in other channels. It’s
about re-imagining content to create
blockbuster experiences that cannot be
attained through any other medium.
5. Don’t just join the conversation, spark it:
Create new online communities of interest, rather than joining existing ones. Ask why it should be, and why
customers should care. Then give them a reason to keep coming back. Keep it real, social, and events-based.
6. There’s no business without show business:
Remember Hollywood secrets. Your brand is a story; tell it. Accentuate the personalizable, own-able, and
sharable. Viral is an outcome, not a strategy. Make people laugh and they will buy.
7. Want control?
Give it away:
Several companies, including
Mastercard, Coca-Cola, and Doritos
have let customers build commercials
and design contests, with big rewards
for the customer and for the company.
That’s giving up control, with some risk,
to get control.
8. It’s good to play games with your customers:
Games are immersive, but shouldn’t be just a diversion. They need to drive home the value proposition.
Don’t forget to include a call to action, like leading people to the next step of the buying process.
9. Products are the
new services:
Startups need to realize that products
are the jumping-off point for building
relationships with customers. Digital
channels enable you to turn products
into on-demand services that help
customers reach their goals, and add
value.
10. Mobile is
where it’s at:
In addition to thinking of
mobile as a new advertising
distribution platform,
remember it’s far more
powerful as a response, or
“activation mechanism,” to
commercial messages we
experience in other media –
print, broadcast, and more.
11. Always keep surprises in-
store:
Social retailing is the new approach, where real-world shopping
allows customers to connect with friends outside the store, and try
on virtual versions of fashions friends might recommend. Make
your in-store services add value.
12. Use smart ads wisely:
The new generation of “smart advertising” enables the creation of
an Internet banner ad to fit each viewer’s age, gender, location,
personal interests, past purchase behavior, and much more. The
trick is to do this without being invasive.