Engagement Marketing isn’t yet generating a lot of buzz, but to the 11,000 attendees at the ad:tech show in New York, it was the hot topic.

David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO North America, spoke Nov. 6 at length about engagement in his keynote titled, “From the Alley to the Avenue.”

“I don’t care what the medium is as long as it’s something that people want to engage with it,” Mr. Lubars told a packed room of interactive marketers.

You can read the article at the DM News Web site, but here are a few choice clips

Ze Frank, founder of ZeFrank.com, introduced the notion of online participants having various energy states. He spoke about the need for marketers to improve their online conversation skills.

“In order to have a good conversation, you don’t walk into a room and tell people what you’re going to talk about,” Mr. Frank said.

Instead, he said getting users engaged requires facilitating several ancillary conversations around relevant lifestyle and related topics.

Bingo.

Ze Frank may have an odd name, but he’s right on target about “ancillary conversations around relevant lifestyle…”

A key tenet of the Engagement Principles revolves around shared values and passions. If an organization can demonstrate it shares passions or values with its customers, engagement occurs. Hot damn.

The ROI of engagement is far better than the ROI of traditional media, where there’s no conversation between company and customer. Indeed, when’s the last time a customer or prospect had a satisfying conversation with a $13,000 print ad?

But Where Are the Smaller Companies?

The rise of online communities - and the ease with which an organization can create and interact with them - is driving engagement discussions at large organizations.

Nike even went so far as to create an online soccer social networking community (Joga).

But you don’t need a huge community to play. In truth, smaller companies can effectively out-market their larger competitors with a simple blog.

Yet hardly any are answering the call. It’s cheaper than most traditional forms of advertising, yet small companies seem loathe to make the leap. It’s time a few more did.

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