Russ: This is The BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com, and it's guest time on our show this morning, and the topic is online marketing because my guest is none other than Steve Latham, the founder and CEO and Spur Interactive. Steve, welcome to The BusinessMakers Show.

Steve: Hi, Russ. Glad to be here.

Russ: Let's start by you telling us about Spur Interactive.

Steve: Spur Interactive is an online marketing agency. We help clients figure out how to use the Web as a channel for growing a business, building a brand, generating leads, whatever it is they're trying to do from a business standpoint, we help them execute that online. Most of our client's goal is really to reach and engage new audiences. They know that people are going online. What we do is help them figure out how to reach them, get them to their site, engage them, and hopefully turn that into an event that turns into revenue for them.

Russ: Okay, a lot of online marketing people take off from the standpoint of thinking everybody gets it, everybody understands it, and everybody's already doing it. None of that's accurate, is it?

Steve: Yeah, definitely if you live in it and you work in it, a lot of things that may seem passe to us are still kind of overwhelming and complex for a lot of people who are trying to get their arms around online or interactive marketing. It's a pretty vast and broad range of topics from making sure your site is improved for user experience, it's easy for them to navigate your site, that it's effective from a marketing standpoint, so site usability is really an important component of online marketing as is Web analytics and really being able to measure activity on the site. You've got search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, social media is becoming increasingly important, display advertising that we've always thought of as banners, all different ways to reach and engage your audiences, and then you try to do that in a way that's cohesive and holistic, and that's still pretty challenging for most companies.

Russ: Do you still find that a big part of the world is totally in need of interactive marketing expertise?

Steve: Yeah, very much so. Most companies understand that the Web is an important channel for reaching their audiences, but they're still struggling with where should we be investing our time, our money, our resources, and what are the most effective ways to use digital media to reach, engage, to build our business. And I think that's why a lot of people attend conferences and shows and workshops trying to get their arms around this because if you ask 5 different people what should they do online, you're probably going to get 5 different answers, so I think that's where there's really a premium for expertise and knowhow having worked with different companies in different industries. They all take maybe a similar approach, but there's really no cookie-cutter method that works. You really have to understand, based on who your audiences are what their objectives are; what's unique about you and your brand and why should they choose you. You have to understand those things really well to start a discussion with somebody online and get them to come to your site, tell you who they are, an action that turns into a lead that turns into revenue that you can put some real metrics around it. That's still a big question on most people's minds is how do you do that.

Russ: We've talked a lot about online marketing, and you mentioned digital media, but now, just like in your company name, the term interactive is thrown about all the time. What is your definition of interactive, and how do those different terms sort of evolve and differentiate themselves?

Steve: Right. I think interactive is used widely because it's a pretty broad term and can apply to a lot of different things. Online or Web media is one channel. Mobile is becoming increasingly important. Everybody is accessing websites now through their phones. They're taking action. They're managing their lives through that 3rd screen, so that's becoming increasingly important. I think television's got a big interactive component that's coming down the pipe. As more cable boxes switch from coaxial cable to IP-based systems, you're going to have more interactivity through your television set. So, interactive can really apply to a lot of different things. Any time there's a 2-way discussion going on of requesting information or providing information, I think that can kind of summarize what interactive normally is going to have to do with kind of in a high-tech setting through phone, TV, web, and other channels that I'm sure are going to be emerging over time.

Russ: I noticed in the very beginning in your description, you called yourself an online marketing agency. Do you actually ever jointly call on a customer with a traditional marketing agency?

Steve: Yeah, more so in the past. We used to work with a lot of shops where they would have clients with interactive and digital needs, and we were brought in to really help them address those and make sure that whatever they're doing offline that they're incorporating that online. I think the line has been blurred, and more traditional shops are trying to offer more interactive services today because I think they understand that's just such an important channel that they have to have some expertise there. So, you will see some traditional shops still reaching out bringing interactive shops to where expertise is really paramount, but a lot of them will try to do it themselves. Sometimes it works, and sometimes they don't always get the best results, and a lot of times, unfortunately, clients don't know either way, so, it's still very much of a shifting landscape out there, and I think there are very few shops that are solely doing traditional media that are not expanding. I mean, look at the radio stations. They all are increasing their investment in their online properties, their ability to interact and engage their audiences through a website as well as on air, so I think that's just kind of that convergence that something's been happening for several years and will continue to.

Russ: We're talking with Steve Latham, founder and CEO of Spur Interactive. And that is all the time we have for our radio broadcast discussion with Steve, but obviously there is much more. So go to thebusinessmakers.com and check out the Steve Latham WebXtra. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.