Calvert Creative

There’s no question about it: cutting-edge technology can be really cool. Many businesses love the image of themselves as innovators (hey, see our tagline!). We’re masters of our iPhones, divas in our online networks, media mavens and business rockstars. We secretly Wiki terms like crowdsourcing, microblogs and augmented reality so that we can talk confidently about them at the office or over a beer. And that can get any well-meaning business in trouble.

90% Fail Rate
Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research company, recently reported on the 90% failure rate of online virtual world projects. Virtual worlds like Second Life, World of Warcraft, and even Club Penguin have been great attention-grabbers; this year SXSW even premiered a film about the people who utterly immerse themselves in these online worlds (for better and for worse). Virtual world enterprises have heavy-duty cool cred, are fairly cheap to implement compared to traditional media buys, and are even more attractive because they offer lush possibilities for collaboration. Even Gartner predicts that by 2012, 70% of organizations will have established their own private virtual worlds. So why do so many endeavors in these environments fall flat?

Goals, Goals, Goals
They fail because we get so jazzed about the cool tech that we forget Business 101. What are our business goals, again? Who is the target market? “A successful virtual presence starts with people, not physics, ” says Steve Prentice, vice president at Gartner. “Realistic graphics and physical behavior count for little unless the presence is valued by and engaging to a large audience.” And if you are thinking that your goal is to sell your widget to everyone online, you’ve failed before you start. “Organizations can not effectively market a product for the whole world. They need to be focused and targeted,” he added.

Following Tech Innovation
It can be an incredible value-add if you are part of a team in your company that stays on top of the latest developments in online media so that your business can utilize those tools to meet specific company goals. Small shops with few resources may have to wedge their own forays into online innovation into late night bouts of internet surfing, feed subscriptions and blog browsing; mid-sized companies would do well to begin repositioning resources so that they can have their own online guru and trend-watcher, someone who can begin planning and implementing the company’s online strategy.

Experiment (Carefully!)
If the first step is to watch and listen for innovative online tools that might meet business goals, the second step is to experiment. But remember, everything you do online becomes a part of your digital footprint, and that of the company you represent. Even if you’re experimenting with blogging “on the side,” the internet will return results on your name without differentiating your personal life from your business life. Even if you delete things the internet never forgets: your future clients will be able to see your past experiments online on the Wayback Machine. You’re allowed to experiment, but go in smart and you and your company stand to come out winners.