Moving toward multimedia marketing: advertisers will expect more sophisticated presentations

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Annual, 1997 by Stuart W. Park

Multimedia presentations don't run on autopilot. The sales consultant should assume the role of navigator, customizing the presentation and solution for the advertiser. Use voice-over sparingly unless there is a reason for someone other than the sales consultant to provide an explanation or opinion. For example, although the Forbes CD-i presentation was a groundbreaking initiative, the program was conceived more as an interactive collection of self-running video clips rather than an interactive speaker-support tool.

Don't overload the sales staff. Use the same machine they use for word processing, e-mail and account management. Salespeople will be reluctant to carry any more than is absolutely necessary.

Don't be swept away by novelty. Focus on providing value through efficient, captivating communication. Build effective programs through proper pre-production (flow-charts, scripts, storyboards).

Budget for heavy training costs. Mastering multimedia marketing is a learn-bydoing process, and everyone faces a learning curve with this new power tool. At the same time, managers must be careful not to focus their teams entirely on production, because in this fast-changing arena, designers, graphic artists and programmers become stale unless they get the training needed to stay current.

Screen multimedia providers carefully. The field has more wannabe outfits than proven providers. Take the time to examine a few key factors. First, has the team ever worked together on interactive multimedia projects? With what success? You don't want to waste time or money and risk failure on your first project by bankrolling someone else's first experiment in multimedia. Second, what process will they take you through, from day one through completion?Third, how will they keep the project in scope and on budget? If you're talking to an ad agency,you need to know two things: 1) Is their understanding of the creative possibility inherent in multimedia based on working in the medium? 2) Do they have the project-management experience needed to create a complex software program on time and on budget?

Build a leverage plan. Make each application one step toward a repertoire of mutually reinforcing communications. After all, multimedia is the most adaptable platform for repurposing core content. Literally dozens of marketing and communications applications can be created from one multimedia foundation.

Done right, what does a multimedia marketing program buy you? First, it lowers your cost per captivation while bolstering your image as a leader in multimedia. Customers who are merely made aware don't make buys--only customers who are captivated do. Second, it shortens the sales cycle. Third, it becomes an integrated system of consistent, powerful and up-to-date internal and external communications. Finally, it gives you a sophisticated identity in a flexible electronic format.

Stuart W. Park is president of i3 Information & Imagination Inc., a Westport, Connecticut-based interactive multimedia firm.