Digital Directions: A Road Map for an Uncertain Economy

Mobile
Mobile allows users to connect with people in unique ways. For example, we worked with PayPal to create a mobile shopping environment (www.livebuyit.com/mobile) that brought mobility to e-commerce.

How does it work? If a user spots a product in a store front window, in a magazine, on a billboard or almost any place and they see a PayPal ID, they simply text the ID code from their mobile phone and the product is purchased and shipped directly to their mailing address.

Widgets
Widgets are distributed components used to present data through a user interface. They break into three major types.

The first is the desktop widget, which lives within the highly coveted real estate of your computer's desktop or as an add-on to the operating system. The second is the embedded widget, which is typically placed into blogs, Web pages and personal pages such as Facebook. The third type is the mobile widget developed for smart phones.

Widgets are powerful because they are trackable, easily distributed and if the content is compelling, they will show up everywhere. Creating a custom widget can be a great broadcast medium for advertising or sponsorships.

Here's a shopping widget we developed to serve up favorite items for avid shoppers on a daily basis (www.luckylookout.com/widget). This widget has a calendar based system on the back-end that allows an administrator to serve new products on any date and for any duration.

Viral content
The current rage is creating content that is so compelling, humorous or off-the-wall that people are driven to pass it along to friends. Well known examples include the JibJab spoofs, the Cadbury drum playing gorilla, and of course, Diet Coke-Mentos' eruption videos.

One of my favorites is Blendtec's Will it Blend, a Web site with 3.5 million viewings of the infamous iPhone in a blender video. More importantly, Blendtec quadrupled blender sales after the video hit.

This can be a great marketing tool on a small budget. It is even possible to create live streaming content from your mobile phone with services such as qik.com. However, purposefully creating content in the hopes of it going viral is a long shot. Have fun and get your content out there but don't expect it to explode unless you've really got something unique or you have content that serves some positive social value.

We worked with a major pharmaceutical company to help create personalized video messages directed toward caregivers of specific medical conditions. These campaigns generate tremendous pass-along appeal because of their personalized nature. Once customized by a friend or family member, a collection of video clips are automatically edited and sent to the recipient. The final video presentation speaks directly to the caregiver, even going as far as having the video spokesperson refer to family members by their first name.

Measuring success
Measuring the effectiveness of traditional media is often subject to a significant amount of interpretation. Digital media metrics, while not perfect themselves, are often more precise and more targeted. They can more easily track niche groups or even individuals right through to a sales conversion. This said, when money is tight, it may be comforting to see where one's budget is actually going.

Alan Ruthazer is founder of SiiTE Interactive.

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