The Age of Engage: Reinventing Marketing for Today’s Connected, Collaborative, and Hyperinteractive Culture: Denise Shiffman
Editorial Reviews
Review
In this excellent primer on using the Web effectively to develop marketing strategies, Shiffman (marketing and management consultant) offers an introduction to Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 and expands on the role of the Internet as an effective tool for businesses to truly interact with their target audiences. The author uses case studies and examples (e.g., Starbucks, Apple, Best Buy) to explore the Internet’s role beyond the corporate Web site. She also discusses the important role of social networking sites such as Facebook. An appendix contains a series of exercises to help marketers understand the vital role that social, interactive media can play in developing their own successful marketing campaign. Shiffman’s professional experience as a branding consultant is evident in the tone of the book. The Age of Engage is written with professionals in mind, and a certain amount of marketing knowledge is needed to fully appreciate the text. An ideal resource for business professionals and business graduate students as an overview of how to use technology for successful, engaged branding strategies –N .E. Furlow, Marymount University
To succeed in today’s global technology-driven economy, business owners must be on the leading edge in marketing their products and services. In this forward-thinking guide to marketing in the Live Web age, Shiffman, founder and principal of the strategic marketing and innovation company Venture Essentials, explains why and how CEOs must throw out the ‘Four P s of Marketing’ and replace them with a new paradigm of marketing in which email, viral buzz, search mechanisms, social aspects, widgets, avatars, authenticity, and story play major roles.
Over two decades, Shiffman has launched some thirty products and rebranded others, accruing over $2 billion in revenue; experience that she draws on to provide rich examples. In addition to explaining newly coined internet terminology for the nonspecialist, she clearly describes her overall ‘V’ strategy (Venture, Value, Voice, Verifiable, Vicinity, Vehicle), which she has found so effective for her clients. Throughout, she presents a compelling case for CEOs to ‘implement interactive and engaging marketing that simultaneously targets individuals and the mass market.’
The Age of Engage is especially useful for already tech-savvy readers. Her chapter-by-chapter lists of questions help businesses assess their current marketing strategies. Finally, Shiffman refers readers to The Marketing Plan Wiki at marketingreinvented.com, an interactive site that everyone in business will want to bookmark and visit often. –Jeanne M. Lesinski, ForeWord Magazine
Marketing has undergone a cataclysmic shift. Blogs, comment sites, and social networks have given your audience unprecedented power in their relationship with you and your products. How can you deploy today’s new marketing tools to break through, build momentum, and gain recognition?
Contrary to popular belief, adding a blog, podcast, wiki, or widget to your Web site won’t automatically draw crowds. Fundamental change is required. Real-world examples from companies such as Volcom, Ryanair, IBM, Viking, Adidas, Proctor & Gamble, and many others show you how to open meaningful interactions with your customers, develop authenticity, share recognition, and engage.
Whether you’re a marketer, communications expert, CEO, or business owner, you face the daunting challenge of marketing with your customers, not to them. In The Age of Engage, widely respected marketing strategist Denise Shiffman lays out a provocative blueprint for how you can
- Create persuasive value so that your products stand out in this new era
- Build trust by reshaping audience interactions
- Expand social currency and extend your sphere of influence
- Deploy new marketing vehicles to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of your customers
The Age of Engage will transform the way you think about marketing. It will inspire you to engage audiences by interacting with them in new and inventive ways. And, it will help you reshape or reinvent your company culture, products, and marketing to entice audiences and catalyze markets.
Praise for The Age of Engage:
‘The Age of Engage is an amazing and essential guide for business, defining the strategic path companies must take for product success. To master the profound changes in marketing forged by the evolution of the Web, every marketer must read this book!’ –Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google
‘The Age of Engage is revealing and straightforward and envisions a way for all of us to move easily into the open, interactive business and marketing practices Web 3.0 and beyond will require.’ –Pat Sueltz, CEO, SurfControl PLC
‘An illuminating text that assembles in one place the vast changes the Web is driving across marketing and explains today’s requisite paradigm for reinventing your brand. It’s Google Maps for marketers in this era.’ –Tracey Stout, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Fair Isaac Corporation
‘The Age of Engage is astute and inspiring. It has given me a host of creative approaches for marshalling the Live Web as a fundamental part of my brick and mortar business.’ –Amanda West, CEO, Amanda’s Restaurants
‘The Age of Engage offers a blueprint for infiltrating the ongoing conversations of the Live Web that move a product from a mere commodity to a powerful brand.’ –Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint
‘Shiffman’s conversational style embodies the authentic dialogue she believes companies must have in order to engage their audiences and succeed in the interactive age.’ –Sam Yagan, CEO, OkCupid.com
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