Running an organization that is doubling personnel every year requires a strategy and experienced leadership.  My guidance for the best chance of success includes:

• Invest in an interactive strategy leader that is responsible for strategy and execution
• Make Interactive Strategic in the c-suite and form an advisory team
• Motivate the team by allowing them to modify the brand for the interactive audience and make the team own those interactions with the customer
• Allow Interactive to report  at the top of the organization so decision-making is swift
  • Allow the team to test and incorporate key learning across the portfolio
• Have a clue about how to build out an interactive group capable of authoring, editing, approving, and publishing digital media
  • Minimum needs are integrated digital product development, product management, and product marketing
• Don’t go it alone, there are many goods solutions to cobble together solutions in email automation, social media monitoring and engagement, SEM and display platforms, ad networks, content management, e-commerce, and analytics
  • Ensure the data flows into the CRM systems
• Own and staff for brand ownership, retain brand rights for texture, style, and tone, never let this out of your review and approval process, staff as many product/brand  managers as necessary to keep ahead of the curve

Finding experienced leaders to help you grow with 10 or more years of experience of continuous practice is challenging but required.  The investments you make in this break neck growth cycle with technology and partnerships will determine your ability to meet the interactive customers’ expectations over the next five years.  As experienced teams know technology decisions are tightly coupled with interactive product feature capabilities and those features drive sales.

According to AdAge.com, the top 10 represent less than one percent of Google’s revenue in June.  The big brands are clearly lagging when it comes to online marketing.  Perhaps they are expecting their traditional marketing departments to shift online on their own.   Whatever the reason, the long tail is working for Google and it is helping the SMB segment continue to compete effectively online.   Wonder when the big brands are going to get it….

The convergence of the web and TV has been discussed for years.  Hulu brought us all  one step closer with an amazing secondary market for primary tv content.  I am sure there is much more to come.  Techcrunch indicates Google’s offer is  coming this week.  

Where online fundraising works well is by procuring new and younger donors and higher average gifts.  One particularly strong area is event fundraising online.  It allows your donors to maintain personal fundraising pages that have been a veritable rainmaker for a number of organizations in terms of acquisition and monetization.

The Internet is still in its infancy and should be recognized as such. Think of the recent ubiquity of broadband (high speed) access and high quality content.  By this standard the Internet is only about 1-3 years old.  So if you are just beginning to understand this Internet stuff, do not give up. The best is yet to come and the time is right for further investment.  The Internet is truly the lowest cost strategy out there and offers a highly interactive experience with your brand 24/7.  The online market hype is beginning to converge with reality; creating solutions and opportunities that are delighting constituents.

All strategies need a compelling sense of urgency to propel them from strategy to execution.  Perhaps the challenging economy will provide the impetus for a new look and focus toward online fundraising. It’s a new day. Make the most of it.

There are two areas in particular that should be explored by the corporate Internet strategist who seeks to monetize and dominate the Web with your brand message.

First, consider a partnership with a high quality online content provider like Hulu.  Develop an interactive advertising platform to facilitate audience engagement.  Hulu characterizes itself as “the web’s leading premium content library to effectively reach millions of consumers whenever they watch online. Serving hundreds of millions of streams per month, Hulu is a Top 10 online video property featuring an immense collection of premium entertainment across all genres and formats — television shows, feature films, clips and more, regardless of network or studio.”1

To help you visualize this concept, first imagine watching a sporting event.  As you watch the event, alongside is an interactive advertisement that allows complete customization of a running shoe right down to size, color and graphics.  A few clicks later and you check out with a purchase of your customized running shoes.  This model could easily extend to the automotive and social entrepreneurship arenas.  You can see how these advertisements would become an attraction to rival that of the program content itself.

A partnership with a high quality online content provider like Hulu produces a triple win.  Your prospect wins by having a highly interactive experience with your brand, your content provider wins with a lucrative business model for premium ads, and your nonprofit wins by mining previously untapped or underutilized sources of income.  Simply put, your nonprofit will attract a high income, online demographic to your file that I refer to as ‘Urban Barons.’

For the partnership itself, I recommend negotiating a cost per acquisition, revenue share pricing model until performance meets your expectations.  Know that you will receive significant brand exposure along the way in the premier frontier where the ‘Urban Baron’ resides.  Online content providers like Hulu may welcome the opportunity to help a few nonprofit partners reach the next level and reap the public relations benefit of working for the greater good in the midst of a down economy.

The second area for your strategist to explore is interactive video gaming.  Interactive entertainment is not a fad and is exploding in popularity across all segments, including young women.  Every major gaming platform now includes Internet access which is a new frontier for interactive experiences.  According to tracking firm NPD analyst Anita Frazier, the industry was poised to achieve record breaking revenues of over $22 billion in 2008.2

By launching interactive advertising campaigns and exploring embedded advertising, nonprofits are able to connect their brand messages to wholesome games and create the sort of interactive experience donors want with their brand.  This is an area that requires imagination and much more development, but as with many things those who start early make out better in the long run.

To glimpse what the future could be, enter “Project Natal” in your search engine.  “Introducing Project Natal, a revolutionary new way to play: no controller required.  See a ball? Kick it, hit it, trap it or catch it.  If you know how to move your hands, shake your hips or speak you and your friends can jump into the fun — the only experience needed is life experience.”3 According to Steven Spielberg, “This is a pivotal moment that will carry with it a wave of change, the ripples of which will reach far beyond video games.” 4 Can you imagine your brand at the heart of this amazing interaction?  The possibilities are endless.

For those of you looking for the next big thing and to achieve the biggest pop on the Web, go for quality online.  Revenue follows quality.   While not perfected yet, interactive advertising platforms hold the promise of desirable demographics and higher gifts.  I do not recommend exploring the world of interactive advertising without a partnership in place.  It would prove to be cost prohibitive for most, if not all, nonprofits.  So get out there and share the value of social entrepreneurship with online content providers and the video gaming industry.

Beyond the Basics — What are some actionable takeaways to gain an advantage online now?

• Place an Internet strategist at the helm of your interactive and Web teams
• Make your messages interactive, engaging and entertaining as well as ensure your creative brief lists an interactive experience — think about the Web at the beginning, middle, and end of a creative project
• Partner with high quality Internet content providers and interactive gamers and go on a journey together — it’s measurable, and cost effective
• Make an investment in interactive content creation — there is no better platform to build relationships
• Go big online and gain first mover advantage by taking your brand to the high value online demographic;  it’s a differential competitive advantage; it’s your future, lead
• Leverage your social network communities to test run these experiences before you buy/launch.  These communities are vocal and active groups in which to assess usability and engagement.  Share with them early and often
• Start now, catch the wave and go bigger than you ever imagined

1 COM score and Hulu Website

2 Informationweek, July 18, 2008

3 Xbox website

4 Xbox website

According to Reuters, News Corp. owner of various media including Wall Street Journal may start charging for web news.  In fact, it already charges consumers for news.  The advertising model is alive and well on the web.  If in doubt take a look at search engine revenues…  The opportunity is to take interactive advertising to the next level.  Static ads that interrupt your experience are not likely to move the on-line demographic in a positive direction.  Placing interactive advertising along side high quality content will please everyone.

Imagine a sports section update with an article on the latest Professional Wake Board Riders standings.   Along side this story an interactive ad(s) could show Wake Board boats, and in a few strokes be designing a customized boat.  On page two, a stoked pair of board shorts, with the ability to change colors and designs.   Best of all, click to conversion can all be tracked.

There’s an infinite number of business models that make sense when you can measure interaction and conversion.   The MBA’s and the attorneys can take it from here.   The weak link is the advertising platform.  My guidance is to partner with Adobe or other standard using Flash and Flex technologies to make the creation of these experiences easy enough that Madison avenue can have the time required to get ready, aim and fire….   There’s so much more to value added Interactive Advertising that will propel a massive shift on-line.  Consumers will never go back if you get this right….  After all, what do most consumers buy periodicals for, the content of the advertising…..   Let’s just say 50-50 for now.  However, that’s plenty enough justification to move this forward  at light speed.