Executives, Educators and Students Learn the Value of Digital Strategies With a New, Easy-to-Understand Guidebook
BEDFORD, VA, October 17, 2014—Ira Kaufman, President of Entwine Digital and Chris Horton, Head of Content & Distribution for Synecore, have released an innovative Digital Marketing Guidebook drawing on the latest digital tactics and strategic insights to help organizations generate sustainable growth through digital integration. “Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values,” (available digitally, of course) provides a roadmap to help executives, managers, educators and students adopt a digital mindset and incorporate the most effective, and quickly evolving digital tactics, (including social media and SEO tactics) strategically and competitively.
More than three-quarters of all executives say that digital initiatives are a priority for them, yet only a third of executives believe that their approach to digital is correct,” states Ira Kaufman, Co-Author of Digital Marketing Guidebook and President of Entwine Digital. “More than 65% have reported feeling unprepared to deal with the digital marketing explosion,” continues Kaufman. “To this point, industry and educators have been unable to train the estimated 1.5 million digital marketing managers needed in the U.S. by 2018. Currently, many employers attest that there aren’t enough qualified candidates to fill these positions today, let alone down the road.”
“Our goal with this guidebook,” states Chris Horton, co-author of Digital Marketing Guidebook and Head of Content & Distribution at Synecore, “is to create a primer on digital marketing that offers practical guidance to current business managers and executives, and relevant training to future business leaders by translating digital marketing concepts into real-world applications. To stay competitive in the digital age, individuals and organizations need to focus on the integration of digital technologies with marketing strategy and core values to achieve efficiency and long-term sustainability.”
The current business environment is changing dramatically with globalization and the effect of digital technologies; these same changes are impacting the college learning environment. Business education must adapt and transform to stay relevant. It must embrace innovative instructional methodologies and best practices for integrating digital technologies into the learning process to prepare students to succeed in an increasingly interconnected, global digital marketplace.
To accomplish these objectives, Kaufman and Horton developed the Digitally Integrated Learning Environment (DILE) to serve as a foundational instructional methodology for the Digital Marketing Guidebook. The DILE reflects a student-centric approach to pedagogy that requires the instructor first listen to and understand the needs and expectations of the students; based on the feedback received, the instructor designs a course that incorporates innovative projects and exercises with relevant, dynamic content that is delivered digitally.
“Modern marketing must be reconstituted to move into the digital age,” comments Dr. Philip Kotler, Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “I applaud Kaufman and Horton’s effort to advance marketing. This book will prepare executives, managers, owners, and students to integrate digital marketing strategies and tactics with core values and business goals to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation.”
Several emerging technologies are highlighted in Digital Marketing Guidebook, including Vusay (pronounced view-say), which is a powerful platform that makes online videos interactive with any device. Vusay is highlighted due to fact that today, more than 1 billion unique users watch more than 6 billion hours of videos a month on YouTube alone. Both Kaufman and Horton see Vusay’s point-in-time video commenting technology as a critical asset in the areas of education, training, entertainment and brand engagement, saying that digital marketers should take note and utilize its immersive commenting capabilities.
Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values helps readers evaluate the most up-to-date digital channels and technologies to manage and leverage current and new business ventures. It provides grounding in digital vocabulary, a snapshot of how digital technologies impact strategy, and how to implement and measure widely available digital media tactics, which are evaluated in terms of industry best practices and their ability to achieve strategic goals. Finally, the Guidebook offers executives a step-by-step roadmap to transform their company into a Digitally Integrated Organization.
On par with its message, this interactive guidebook provides a truly Connected Digital Experience via augmented reality app Zappar, which allows readers to use their smartphone or tablet to activate “Discover More” and “Play Video” icons that connect the print publication to expanded and updated rich content housed on the book’s companion website, www.DigitalMarketingResourceCenter.com. Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values is published by Routledge in print and digital and is available through Amazon.com.
About Ira Kaufman PhD
Ira Kaufman assists companies ranging from multinationals to start-ups with their social branding and integrated digital marketing and transformation strategies. Founded in 2001, Entwine Digital, his privately held company headquartered in Virginia, helps clients to tap into new and emerging digital opportunities by designing customer experiences and targeted digital media strategies that are values-driven and culturally sensitive, generating sustainable relationships with their target markets. Earning his PhD in marketing from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, he taught at the senior executive programs of Kellogg and Virginia Tech, and currently is designing innovative courses on digital marketing and social entrepreneurship at Lynchburg College School of Business and Economics
About Chris Horton
Chris Horton is a creative creator and digital strategist for Minneapolis-based integrated digital marketing agency, Synecore. Founded in 2011, Synecore is a privately held company headquartered in Minneapolis, MN that provides integrated digital marketing strategies and services and manages online and mobile engagement via social media, content creation, SEO, and email marketing. Chris has written hundreds of blogs and numerous ebooks on various topics related to digital marketing, including SEO, inbound, content, social, mobile, apps, digital branding and PR, Internet trends, and digital transformation.
CONTACTS:
Ira Kaufman: ira@entwinedigital.com; http://www.entwinedigital.com
Chris Horton: chris@synecoretech.com; http://www.synecoretech.com