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Daniel Stein, a veteran of the interactive revolution, has spent the past 15-years contributing to the industry’s evolution.

Staying true to his vision, he helped transform the Internet from a dot-com punch line to one of the most powerful, dynamic forms of media today. His entertainment and advertising background led to a career of pioneering marketing content in the categories of interactive television, CD-ROM, traditional advertising, online advertising and digital entertainment for companies including Time Warner Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Anderson & Lembke and American Zoetrope.

In 2000, Daniel co-founded EVB, a digital content marketing firm that specializes in multi-platform, content-driven marketing campaigns that engage its audience across all media. He is the driving force behind the agency’s strategic vision and growth. His diehard passion and “never get too comfortable” attitude keeps the agency at the forefront of the industry

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Digital Marketing: Don’t Get Left in the Dust!

Written on
March 27th 2008
Author
by Daniel Stein  |
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ADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — The digital marketing landscape is rapidly changing. Consumers are less loyal to brands and more trusting of one another because of increasingly disruptive methods used in traditional marketing campaigns. Digital marketers must tread very carefully if they don’t want to make the same mistakes.

Consumers are no longer a captive audience. They are becoming or already are digital consumers that freely choose the content they experience and use technology tools to avoid messages they deem irrelevant. When it comes to the Web, digital consumers are “snackers” and choose to be reached on their terms with quick and satisfying content. This modern consumer lives a fast-paced, multi-tasking existence with only enough time for content that serves a useful — or entertaining — purpose.

As traditional agencies scramble to catch up, the digital divide continues to widen, and born-digital firms move forward with digital expertise and high-tech staffs in place. EVB San Francisco has spent the past eight years perfecting the craft of digital content marketing, pioneering new forms of digital content and establishing methods for brand building that connect with consumers. Digital firms who want to stay ahead of the curve must develop big ideas that move fluidly between platforms reaching consumers through a pull (vs. push) strategy with meaningful content at its core that invites participation, allows personalization and enables consumers to interact with online communities.

The digital marketing industry continues to evolve and be defined by those at its forefront. This set of basic, but fundamental guidelines for the best and worst practices of digital marketing has kept my firm moving forward:

Digital Marketing Best Practices:
1) Simplicity: make it quick and easy
2) Participation: get people involved
3) Personalization: let people make it their own
4) Unexpected: surprise people
5) Humor/Entertainment: evoke an emotion
6) Distribution: use ALL media to tell a story
7) Communities: make the consumer your marketer
8 )Portability: weave your content into their digital life

Digital Marketing Worst Practices:
1) Lengthy introductions: get to the point or users moves on
2) Overcomplicating: more technology isn’t always better; know your audience
3) Replication of traditional ads: consumers are savvy and avoid disruptive ads
4) Expecting people care about your brand: if you don’t bring a bottle of wine to the party, you won’t be invited back
5) Forcing your brand: consumers are in control, so let them come to you

Taking into account the above guidelines, digital marketing is no longer Web-exclusive. Big ideas should be fluid and move seamlessly from one platform to the next: a campaign for that opens with a strong digital component can sinuously expand to TV, print and other mediums until suddenly, you’ve found pop culture at large has been saturated with your message.

With the digital marketing industry predicted to grow to $61 billion by 2012, more and more marketers will undoubtedly try to secure a share of this quickly growing industry. Many will fall back into their traditional habits, but marketers that strive to understand the needs and actions of today’s digital consumer and produce content that weaves into their daily lives will succeed.



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Reader Comments.

Daniel:

Very thorough post indeed, I recently wrote a similar post. Ironically, the analogy of fast food, user engagement and due diligence comes to mind when I think of the modern tech-savvy consumer.

Tradition marketing never saw it coming. But with so many options, its all about bread and circus online.

Posted by Jeffrey L. Smith | 8:18 pm on April 25, 2008.

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