You certainly don’t need this blog to tell you that the economy is in trouble and there’s a lot of uncertainty. And while reviewing all your efforts with a careful eye, and spending conservatively is always good advice, it’s certainly something that everyone is doing now. I think everyone is asking themselves: “am i doing everything that would withstand scrutiny given the reality of the market right now?”

But… once that’s done, now is also the time for companies to double down. Not to oversimplify, but companies like Procter and Gamble and Chevrolet gained market share during the great depression, with increased marketing being a non-trivial factor in their gains. But not everyone always has the budget to double down on brand marketing. Even in the best of times it’s hard to justify spending on experimental new media, in hard times, shouldn’t it be impossible?

Here at Jackson Fish Market we produce brandable online experiences that are focused on engagement. You can rent our experiences instead of building them yourself. You can choose from our existing experiences (They’re Beautiful!, Invitastic, Carbon Grove, Elmore City Dance Club, and They’re Ugly!). Each of these can be ready for you to use in a matter of days. We also produce new experiences from scratch that can be ready in a few short months or even weeks depending on the size.

Here are three key reasons you should sponsor interactive branded online experiences (from Jackson Fish Market or elsewhere) in the coming months:

1. With tightening budgets, consumers are going to spend more time at home. Trends are already showing that when consumers are at home, they’re spending less time in front of their televisions, and more time in front of their computers. This is the venue in which to reach your audience. And what better way to reach these customers than with a free and useful online service. We know how to build engaging and useful services that feature your brand exclusively. We know how to design functionality that resonates with your audience and reflects your brand values. With these sites, you’re in the right place, with the right service, at the right price.
2. Renting branded experiences is way cheaper than building your own. While many agencies will build you a site and then move on to the next project, we let you lease our sites for as long or as short as you like. Our experience has shown that leasing sites from us not only keeps our shared priorities aligned, but it can cut your annual costs from 50-75% relative to building and managing your own site. And if you’re worried about long-term ownership, we’re happy to work with you on long-term discounts, exclusivity, and even buy-out clauses. Building high quality software that engages an online audience and is more than a 2 minute distraction is more difficult you might think. And despite the economy, finding software talent (design and programming) can be a struggle. We can build something great, exclusively for your brand, on a budget.
3. Engagement online is eminently measurable. In tough economic times, metrics and measuring ROI take on even more importance than usual (and they’re already pretty important). Online experiences are incredibly measurable in multiple dimensions. It’s more than hits or page views or even unique visitors. It’s how many minutes people spend using your branded service, how many people they share it with, how many times they return of their own accord, etc. Did you know that users of our virtual flower service They’re Beautiful! who have planted their flowers in a virtual greenhouse return an average of 8 times to water their virtual flowers? Wouldn’t you like to have a service where your audience is returning on its own to use the service, and accruing value to your brand, the exclusive sponsor of that service.

Bottom line, here at Jackson Fish Market we:

• build beautiful online experiences
• our experiences are designed to engage audiences
• we have several that are ready for you to sponsor (and customize) today
• we can build new ones from scratch, just for your brand, in a relatively short time
• sponsoring these experiences cost a fraction of what it would cost to build your own (even over multiple years)

And most importantly…

• We love working with great folks, who are marketing great brands.

Get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. :)