What is widget marketing? Tom Hespos has a good introduction article about widget marketing for you to catch up. And, Underscore Marketing’s president also explains what they are and the opportunities for your brand. Read this interview between Lee Odden and Lowrence Coburn which would further your understanding.
If there is an opportunity in online advertising, you would see Google there. They have just announced the limited launch of Google Gadget Ads, which will run on their content network.
Should you launch widget marketing in “The Year of the Widget”? Read Kate Donaho’s “The widget: a small tool with a big future“.
How to win widget marketing? Freewebs’ president/CEO explains how to make widget marketing successful through a willful endorsement from site owners. Shervin Pishevar’s “Widget Marketing: Engage Audiences” would also be helpful.
Update on 21/9/07:
MarketingSherpa released a special report on marketing with widgets. Here is the summary:
Two ways that widgets work for marketers:
- Merchants can deliver offers via images, multimedia and coupons so viewers can click through to the product page and complete the transaction.
- Publishers can stream content to build brand and advertising dollars or increase paid subscriptions.
Two types of widgets:
- Web widgets. These allow marketers to distribute product offers and information. In just a few steps, these widgets let people copy code from the marketer’s site and paste it into their blogs or Web 2.0 pages.
- Desktop widgets. These allow marketers to regularly deliver information to the user’s desktop without another Web site serving as an intermediary. While very direct, getting consumers to download them onto their computers can be tricky and they often have a short shelf life.
Three ways to get started:
- Highlight the widgets on your homepage and throughout your category pages
- Use promotions for your widget programs in your email campaigns
- Research blogs
9 Widget Usage Tactics from Pam Webber, VP Marketing of Widgetbox:
- While there are distinct differences between what widgets can mean to a retailer versus a content marketer, in both cases marketers MUST create an attractive value offer behind the idea to get people to post them at sites.
- Use your house list to create awareness during the first few weeks or months of the widgets program.
- Remember that widgets are evangelism tools, so hone in on who your brand preachers might be around the Web. Research the heck out of bloggers in your niche!
- Incentivize the offer to get them to join; perhaps use a rewards program.
- Hey, retailers, set up the widgets so there’s a section where the blogger can show friends what they have recently purchased from you.
- eBay users are continuously adapting widgets to their platforms and represent tremendous growth opportunities for the right brand. Therefore, merchandisers of all kinds would be smart to investigate possibilities on the auction site.
- Employ games and contests within the widget to encourage usage.
- “DIY widgets” are increasingly popular. Allow bloggers to personalize your widgets in the avatar sense.
- While allowing personalization is nice, keep the widget templates simple. Simple allows outperform complicated. “Remember that it’s not just data but a portable chunk of code wrapped in a user experience,” Webber says. “It’s something that should be easy to interact with.”
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