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If you are a Digital Immigrant, someone born before digital technologies but has adopted it later in life, then Pong and Pac Man may be the extent of your digital gaming experience. Early Digital Natives, someone born after the birth of digital and has only known a life of interacting with digital technologies, will conjure thoughts of Halo, World Of WarCraft and Grand Theft Auto.  The latest trends are now are led by the likes of FarmVille and WordsWithFriends, so it’s no surprise that the latest B2B marketing trends include some form of gamifcation.

What is gameification?  According to gamification.org it

typically involves applying game design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging. Gamification has been called one of the most important trends in technology by several industry experts. Gamification can potentially be applied to any industry and almost anything to create fun and engaging experiences, converting users into players.”

Ultimately, marketing’s responsibility is the generation of awareness, education to drive interest and desire and deliver some form of value exchange to establish action. Engaging prospects in a conversation has transcended just whitepapers, webcasts, blogs and tweets and now demands new ways to garner precious mindshare of your target audience. 

People inherently love to play, even online; that is why these games are so popular.  They are also very sticky with ave times playing exceeding four hours per day.  A recent blog by MarketingSherpa offered six tactics for B2B marketing professionals looing to gamify their efforts:

  1.  Drive online community engagement
  2. Determine the reward
  3. Motivate employees
  4. Create website engagement
  5. Get sales to interact with the CRM
  6. Avoid “over gaming”

Now is the time to look into the gamification of your online marketing strategy.  It doesn’t matter the industry, sales cycle or even geography as everyone will benefit.