I-Marketing Interview: Sun Microsystems (Part 2)

Scott Anderson, Sun's director of eMarketing, recently talked with the E-Commerce Times about how Sun's online marketing efforts leverage the company's vision of technology working for the consumer, rather than the other way around.

To return to Part 1 of the interview, please click here.

ECT: How well-suited is the Internet for lead generation ?

Anderson: It's very well suited. It's measurable, interactive, and it's a place where a customer may move all the way through the buying cycle, and marketing definitely plays a part there. One area that we are focusing on is to provide an integrated path across the online buying cycle so a customer should receive awareness, do research, have a dialogue about consideration, and either buy online or be directed to one of Sun's partners to complete the sale. Given today's business environment, lead generation is a very powerful activity.

ECT: What advantages have you gained through running a banner ad campaign?

Anderson: I believe banner ads are part of an overall strategy to talk to potential customers that may not be doing business with us already. It's part of the mix with external search engines, e-newsletters, etc. The advantage to banners is that at an aggregate level, we can measure our success to better position our message in front of customers where they need to see it, so we are reducing waste and we are able to optimize our use of banners both along the lines of creative placement or even the offer when they click through (fulfillment).

No Place Like Work

ECT: What advantages have you gained through marketing in e-mail newsletters?

Anderson: This goes back to my dialogue statement -- customers are requesting information from us. It's less about being intrusive -- it's completely permission based -- and more about giving customers what they request.

Also, we can deliver information directly to a customer's workspace, where the customer's going to use it most. A lot of our customers are on their computer all day -- that's where they live and breathe -- and for customers to invite you into their workspace is a very valuable advantage.

ECT: Have the new larger ad sizes had an impact on your advertising campaigns?

Anderson: We have seen that we get more success with the larger ad sizes. We're also finding we get more success with more interactive ads.

ECT: What are some successful strategies for online advertising?

Anderson: We want to be a valuable part of a customer's task however we do that, so we are always out there trying to understand what they are up to and what they need at any given time on any given Web site. And we want to engage in dialogue where we have permission to talk to customers and we're able to learn from them what they need from us.

Price Limit

ECT: What pitfalls should an online advertiser try to avoid?

Anderson: I would say an online advertiser needs to think about what objectives they are trying to accomplish before they advertise. We've been approached by many marketers who want to advertise but they don't know what they are trying to achieve. As you're doing your campaign, it's metrics, metrics, metrics. Be sure to understand what you're affecting and what you're achieving.

ECT: Are there products or services that are not suited for promotion through online advertising?

Anderson: We have some products that are so expensive it requires a strategic sell, i.e. certain server products that are upwards of a million dollars. Advertising on the Web should be focused on products that are more apt for customers to do their research on the Web, move through their buying cycle on the Web, etc. [The factors to consider] are the cost and complexity of the product.

Banking on Internet Evolution

ECT: Based on your experience with Web marketing thus far, what does the future hold for online advertising -- both in terms of strategy and technology trends?

Anderson: The jury is still out on where banner ads will go. We measure daily, pick through our mix, try and try to understand how well they are helping us meet our objectives.

As far as online marketing, Sun believes in something called the "Net effect" -- the geometric growth of devices and Web applications that will extend beyond current usage even to devices interactive with other devices. It extends beyond what we have now, which is computers on desks, to the Internet becoming a much broader part of your life, and as this evolves, e-marketing will be turned on its ear and will truly need to be able to give the customer what they want, when they want it, on any device.

ECT: What advice do you have for a company starting to plan a new online advertising campaign?

Anderson: I'd go back to my advice of think through your objectives and then plan, not only with online advertising but also offline, what do you want to achieve and how do you want to achieve it. Don't listen to a lot of the hype and use common sense.