Marketing 2.0: variations (speculations?) On the topic

Translated-written once for your site. I think people here will also be interested in reading.
Based on the article Blurring lines Ted Mininni, traditional advertising, traditional marketing is a one-way process. Which is not very good in the modern interactive world. Therefore, today it makes sense to think about how to bring interactivity to marketing activities and advertising campaigns. In this article we will consider some ways to solve this problem. Of course, it will be about the Internet. More precisely, on the Internet "version 2.0" - web 2.0 . It is products of this phenomenon that provide smart marketers with new tools that can be effectively used in advertising and promoting brands, products and services. Here we briefly describe three sets of similar marketing communications tools:

• entertaining marketing tools;
• engaging marketing tools;
• educational marketing tools.

The first set involves the exploitation of the inherent thirst for entertainment by anyone. Promoting a brand, product or service, while at the same time entertaining a potential client, consumer or partner, means interacting with it at a deeper level, taking more firm positions in its consciousness in comparison with traditional types of advertising. Moreover, entertaining marketing carries pure positive emotions, and this is exactly what is missing very much in the bustle of modern life. Honesty is another plus of entertaining advertising: when entering the site or launching an advertising game offline, a person realizes that what he sees right now is of an advertising nature. And he agrees to this: with the perception of advertising, he pays for the entertainment provided. So, entertaining means of marketing communications include:

• promotional games;
• online video.

Advertizing games - a genre settled and rather widely used in Russia. The first examples that come to mind are the game “ Get into the toilet ” under the Klinsky brand and microgame banners on the Beeline website. And if the “Klin” game is not original, the game banners from Beeline are a great and interesting solution. When they first hit the site, they were pleasantly surprised, and on subsequent visits the visitor will probably walk over them with the mouse pointer - is there something new there? Such intrigue - simple, small and simple - is a great marketing move from the category of “not aggressive.” Among foreign advertising games can be noted:

• MTV's creations are a series of games targeted at both teenagers and more adult youth;
• gallery of sports games from ESPN (large sports channel), which contain inclusions of advertising;
• Lego games , completely (naturally) “built” from designer details;
• Pepsi promotional games soaked through with this drink.

The advantages of advertising games are the presentation of the brand in the context of pleasant emotions, the originality of the method of its approval in the mind of the consumer. In addition, a really good advertising game has a great viral potential: hundreds and thousands of people will send a link to such an advertising product to each other according to all viral marketing rules. The disadvantages of advertising games are their high cost and “bulkiness”. The cost of developing a flash game (and there are no other options) can be equal to the annual advertising budget of a small company. Bulkiness is a disadvantage imposed by external circumstances: the average width of the network access channel in our country still leaves much to be desired, and those who have broadband access or patient can wait for a full load of 2-3 megabytes. Online video is a much younger phenomenon than advertising games. The simplicity and speed of Internet access throughout the world is constantly growing, so the placement of video on the network is more than a logical development. YouTube and Google Video are perhaps the most popular overseas social networks dedicated to custom videos. A similar Russian project - RuTube . Basically, these resources work like all other social networks: people publish there their content that is available for viewing to anyone, and receive ratings from the audience. The interest that such web services represent for ordinary visitors is well described by the RuTube slogan: “Show yourself. See others. For marketers, such social networks are interesting from a professional point of view: it is in these online environments that viral marketing is most powerful. At the same time, no one forbids publishing videos on the corporate website. Moreover, proper distribution of video content between the social network and its own website may have a stronger effect. The simplest example is the placement of a teaser (teaser, fragment or compilation of movie clips, designed to arouse interest in the user and encourage him to see the full version) in the social. network and full version - on your website. At the same time, it is not necessary to veil our intentions in any way: on RuTube there is a separate category “advertising” where commercials are published. Placed online video may not be a commercial in the literal sense, because its main task as an entertaining means of promotion is to cause a positive reaction from the viewer. So if in your office there are always funny things and funny situations - fix them and put them on the net. If your products have also become a party to a fun event - shoot this event and post it to the network. Do you conduct an advertising campaign involving the masses? Are there any thematic sketches on the topic of your products or services? They are the place on your site. It is better to see once than hear a hundred times - truly noticed. It is better to see it once in motion, than to look at a static image a hundred times is also true. A vivid example of an advertising themed video successfully hosted by the network is Nike's Leave Nothing . The video does not even contain advertising for Nike products as such. Instead, the manufacturer focused on the game, which raised its level of advertising a step higher. The video is supported by the Nike football Web site , where visitors can take part in the blog and enjoy interviews with famous athletes. The second set includes only one tool - a blog . Blog in the broad sense of the word - with comments, polls, podcasts, even the community. It is an engaging marketing communications tool. And if overseas corporate blogs are actively used as a marketing tool, we have it - a rarity. Meanwhile, a corporate blog is a really powerful marketing tool. We called it an “engaging” marketing tool, since its main purpose is to provide consumers with information about the company's activities, thus involving them in its life, inviting them to take part in its development. Today, the blog serves both forums and a platform for polls - discussions can be conducted in the comments to the records, the answers to the questions are present there. A blog is not just a brand, product or service promotion. A blog is a promotion of the company's culture, its ideals, visions. Foreign marketers today are actively using the concept of "evangelism": consumers are turning into a flock of a brand, a flock of loyal and as loyal as possible. And it is the corporate blog that has the potential of the main tool of the evangelist marketer used to “convert” consumers to their “faith”. A great example is the Dell community . Here, the life and activities of the company are presented in full and in various formats. The visitor can read news and blog entries and discussions, can listen to podcasts or watch video casts. The community stands apart: this is exactly the platform where the producer and the consumer meet for the purpose of mutually beneficial improvement of their interaction. The manufacturer reports on the latest developments, the consumer expresses his opinion and suggestions. Yes, the system is quite complex from a technical point of view, but the whole set of functions presented at dell.com/community is not mandatory for a young, start-up company. At first, wordpress is enough. The main thing is the content, the content, what you will publish in the blog. The third set of advanced marketing communications tools is training tools. These include:

• branded resources offering various useful tools and materials on the topic;
• the so-called webinars (online seminars);
• and the already mentioned blogs and online videos.

At first glance, branded resources full of “utilities” are a toy of large companies. Yes, full-fledged sites, stuffed with web services (calendar, notebook, online tests, etc.) - pleasure is expensive not only in development, but also in support. But notice one feature: the basis of such portals are not web services, but all the same content. Mentioned materials on the topic. After all, Web 2.0 is already full of online tools designed to make life easier. But articles (podcasts, video casts) created by professionals are an exclusive thing. Try to give your customers useful knowledge and information related to your services or products, and you will feel their gratitude in the form of increasing sales. An example is AT & T's Onward SmallBiz . The resource is saturated with online services and articles about various aspects of small business life. Moreover, not all materials are directly related to AT & T activities - many are of a general nature, for example, narrating about marketing, business presentation in a network, sales, relations with customers, etc. At the same time, advice is given not only by AT & T insiders, but also by invited experts and gurus. Webinar - webinar, online conference - quite a new phenomenon for Russia. It cannot be said that no one in our country organizes and conducts webinars - a search for a “webinar” in Yandex proves the opposite. But, in any case, this type of marketing communications is just beginning to develop. Yes, for such events it is desirable to have your own site. But after all, a group conference in Skype or ICQ can also be called a webinar, because the main thing in this event is the essence of the matter under discussion and its organization. In addition, these tools do not require broadband access from visitors, which in our conditions is a definite plus. So the cost of the webinar can be minimal, and the effect of it - tangible. Using blogs and online videos as marketing communications training tools is an obvious solution. For example, you manage a printing house, on the site of which there is a corporate blog. In addition to promoting your brand and your services, you can publish information useful for your clients in this blog — say, recommendations for writing texts in print publications and advertising leaflets, preparing layouts, photographing various objects, etc. Your online video can cover the process from the inside - for example, you shoot a photo session with a full-time photographer and publish this video cassette on your website. There are many options for using the web in promoting the brand, products and services. Brainstorm inside the team, ask friends and acquaintances to find out which components of marketing 2.0 best fit your field of activity in general and specifically to your business in particular. After receiving this information, begin to act - the speed of modern business life is such that if you do not do something today, tomorrow your competitors will do it, and will easily overtake you. Ted Mininny: President of the Force Force, Inc. ( www.designforceinc.com ), a consulting firm in New York. Ted regularly publishes his articles to the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog.