Customer Reviews

Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values – Current Reviews

“The Key to Winning at Digital Marketing”

By Philip Kotler, Professor of International Marketing, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

“Modern marketing must be reconstituted to move into the digital age. 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. They do an excellent job of explaining why organizations must tie Customer Values with Integrated Digital Marketing strategy to achieve competitive advantage in the digital age. They outline how companies can acquire digital skill and power. They dramatize the roles of different business people in carrying out the challenges of digital marketing.”

Book Review: Digital Marketing Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values

Kellogg Magazine – November 2014

“If your company hasn’t adopted a digital mindset, it’s time. Digital Marketing Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values will show you how. Designed by co-authors Ira Kaufman and Chris Horton as a guide to gaining a competitive advantage through lasting growth in the digital era, the book proposes five stages to full digital integration: mindset, model, strategy, implementation and sustainability. Each stage is critical in any strategy to make a company’s core values visible to customers at all touch points during their experience.

Digital Marketing models the kind of integration it touts. Specifically, readers can use the Zappar and Vusay mobile apps to access augmented content via their smart phones and tablets.

“This connectivity to updated resources transforms the reader experience from static to conversational and interactive,” Kaufman said. “This site will be a leading resource for digital marketing.”

With a foreword by Kellogg’s S. C. Johnson & Son Professor of International Marketing Phillip Kotler, and bearing the endorsements of numerous other thought leaders, Digital Marketing is poised to become an essential hybrid text in its field.”

“Roadmap for bringing marketing efforts to life in the 21^st century”

By Doug Conant, Chairman, Avon Products, & Former CEO, Campbell Soup

“Kaufman and Horton’s Guidebook gives readers an interactive overview of marketing in the digital age. Aspiring digital marketers will find a treasure trove of valuable insights from case studies, expert insights, digital diagnostics, and takeaways within these pages. Leaders and laymen alike can use this as a roadmap for bringing their marketing efforts to life in the 21^st century.”

“A great, fresh take on Digital Marketing that makes it all clear”

By David C. Edelman, Lead Global Digital Marketing Practice, McKinsey & Company

“As I note in the forward I wrote for it when I first read this book, I love how Ira and Chris have layered the notion of a brand’s values on top of all of the mechanical details of how to execute digital marketing. The book balances the right and left brain issues behind great digital marketing in a very natural way, while providing an extremely practical workbook for building one’s foundational skills. They demystify many buzzwords and illustrate their points with strong examples. Anyone wanting to walk themselves through a course on digital marketing will find this an easy guide to learning, and I have a strong sense it will find its way into many business school curricula.”

” Guidebook of where to start ‘digital transformation’ “

By Selin Piskiner, Lecturer at University of Economics & Digital Marketing,
Consultant at HaberTurk (Newspaper and TV Channel, Turkey)
“In today’s tech savvy digital world, it’s really hard to find an up-to-date academic “Digital Marketing” book as everything changes as the speed of the light. As you continue reading this book you’ll see how the digital technology is integrated in itself with it’s scannable videos and real world examples and how this book is dynamic as how today’s digital marketing world should be. I’ve already recommended it to my digital marketing students at İzmir University of Economics and it became a guide book of where to start “digital transformation” for me while I’m consulting companies to realize the digital transformation.“

“Paving the way for the future of digital publishing”

By Don Mathison, Cable TV Pioneer
“Finally a book that addresses the constantly changing new digital world. It prepares executives to leverage digital transformation. How clever incorporating the latest augmented reality, Zappar, to dynamically update the book via links to the digital marketing resource center. Kaufman and Horton seem to be paving the way for the future of digital publishing. I hope others follow this path. No better way to absorb more knowledge than by incorporating short videos to further enhance one’s experience. Professor Kotler has done it again mentoring one of the country’s leading digital strategist.”

“Finally, a relevant manager guidebook for the Digital Age!”

By Jon Frericks,Store Manager, Nordstrom’s

“The digital tsunami Kaufman and Horton describe has already inundated the business world, but unlike a true tsunami it will only continue to rise – and will never pull back. Digital Marketing is a clear call to action for organizational leaders of all levels to embrace the strategies needed to first survive and then to thrive in the new business world where the concept of “message” has lost its meaning and the importance of the customer experience has become paramount.”

“Exactly what it promises, this is a true roadmap to digital integration”

By Nick Donaldson, Account Manager, Gordon Group Marketing

“From the perspective of a young professional, reading this book was a breath of fresh air. It does a fantastic job of bridging the academic world with the modern digital landscape. It is clear digital is taking the world by storm. The question becomes, what can I do to navigate it? This book provides you with real answers.”

Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategies and Tactics with Values gives you the strategies, resources, tools, frameworks and models—united with an interactive touch—to manage this Digital Tsunami businesses find themselves in. Broadly speaking, it leaves you with the necessary level of strategic insight to confidently align digital marketing strategies with real business goals.

“I would without a doubt recommend this book as a must read to anyone that wants to feel equipped to meet the challenges of digital.” -Digital Native

“It is good to see a digital book break away from traditional…”

By Frank Diana, Principal – Digital Enterprise Solutions, Tata Consultancy Services

“In a world where the notion of digital transformation is giving way to re-imagination, it is good to see a digital book break away from traditional thinking. Although digital grew up in marketing, it is emerging as a foundational piece of a next generation enterprise. This book begins the mental model shift required for digital natives and immigrants alike to begin the journey towards business evolution.”

“More than a Book, it’s a Revolution”

By C. Phillips, Senior Associate, Partners for Democratic Change

“This book spoke to me on a few levels. As a millennial, or a “digital native” as the book would describe me, it gives both practical and conceptual insight to look beyond old-think marketing to find what digital integration really means to organizations and companies. As a member of an organization, it has helped me to identify opportunities and roadblocks to manage this transition into the digital age. And, as an aspiring marketing professional, the book provides all the theory and tactics to prepare the next generation of all-stars.

From the top companies to the smallest non-profits, from CMOs to university students, the book’s value is not limited to any single target group or institution. It’s about a change in the nature of the way we do business and lead impactful work. I cannot recommend the book enough for anyone looking to truly understand the digital transformation, and wants to ride the wave into the future.”

“THE definitive textbook on digital marketing for the student, instructor, and University of today *and* the future”

By David Muir Instructor, University of Delaware

“This book fills a very big void in the market for textbooks on the topic of digital marketing. I eagerly will adopt this book for my undergraduate class on this topic (approximately 120 students across three sections). Given the extraordinary resources offered to instructors — not only through the companion Digital Marketing Resource Center website, which will be useful to myself and my students, but also through the extant resources available to instructors only such as PowerPoint slides, classroom exercises, group projects, case studies, and sample syllabi — I will not need to supplement my class with much else. The authors have worked extremely hard to assist me in creating a digitally-integrated learning environment (DILE) for my students — they have thought hard about the end-users of this book and it definitely shows. I strongly encourage other instructors of digital/Internet marketing courses to review this book, and to see for themselves what an extraordinary job the book will do for their courses.”

“Digital Impact”

David Ferguson, Associate Vice President for Emerging Media Initiatives and Executive Director of the Center for Media Design, Ball State University

“The speed of change across society and business due to digital impact has created a demand for new learning tools and dynamically updated information for business and marketing education. Kaufman and Horton have offered a timely digital marketing resource that builds the right context (digital mindset, societal change, integration) along with appropriate detail to educate both students and professionals. Set in an innovative format, the multi-modal, dynamically updated digital resource center is more than a book and promises to meet today’s students where they live – in an integrated, interactive and searchable world.”

“A must read to work in the global digital world”

By Matt Baker – 22 years, Sports Management/Marketing, Lynchburg College

“In order to find success in modern day marketing, Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values is a must read!

As a student, it has helped me to gain a better understanding of exactly what Digital Marketing is and why it is so important. The Guidebook goes in depth about incorporating our values in the organization’s decisions to market in our transparent digital world. When you look at Traditional Marketing, it entails things like newspaper/magazine ads, television commercials, and radio advertisements. In other words, it is talking AT the consumers. Digital Marketing is a whole different ballgame. It talks TO consumers. It involves the use of social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, VuSay, Zappar, etc.), interactions with consumers on a consistent basis, integration of values throughout the company, and the collection and evaluation of consumer data.

The Guidebook is very informative, concise, and clear. This is great because everyone can understand it – executives, managers, employees, students, or just day-to-day readers. There is not an “overflow” of information that makes you want to close the book. The diagrams throughout each chapter help the reader to better understand the topics. In addition, the use of the Zappar app really helps to involve readers and delivers updated information in a new and interactive manner. In sum, as a senior in college, this book helped prepare me to contribute in the real world. Now, I know what a Digitally Integrated Organization is and how I can help create change and success within my future company.”

“A Student’s Perspective”

Erin Gould – 20 years old, English/Marketing, Lynchburg College

“As an undergraduate college student with a marketing minor, I can say that Digital Marketing is a response to the need for an integrated educational approach in both the business world and the academic world. The Guidebook and the paired course material seek to underscore the importance of the digital world by showcasing the lasting features of this new mode of business. The approach is not narrowly focused on the most popular media tools of the moment; instead, it emphasizes lasting integration and implementation, combining core values with digital strategies, tactics, and tools as foundational elements of a unified approach to digital marketing.

Digital Marketing uses a hybrid of digitized text and newer tools like concise PowerPoints, links to websites, an augmented reality mobile app called ZAPPAR, and VuSay video commenting software and internet media tools. In this way, the book exemplifies the methods that it is teaching, providing an example of the uses of the digital world that it attempts to reveal and integrate. Because of this hybrid set-up, the book has a double impact, on the one hand effectively teaching students and businesses the important changes, values, and strategies of the digital world, and on the other clearly showing them an example of such implementation through new teaching methods. The book imitates real-world changes in its teaching style. This means that the new teaching approaches will give students a chance to engage and interact with materials, with the teachers, and with each other in a way that will prepare them for their future interaction with the digital world.

In short, the book strives to create an imitation of real life on all fronts. It innovates and reinvents learning in the digitized world by using the same values to teach it. The hybridity within the digital book and the new structure of the classroom means that Digital Marketing produces a way to exemplify the new digital model, and therefore to simultaneously show and teach students and businesses. The book doubly prepares students and businesses by using this innovative model in an innovative world.”

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Editorial Reviews

• “Digital Marketing will prepare executives, managers, owners, and students to integrate digital and traditional marketing strategies and tactics with core values and business goals to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and innovation.” – Philip Kotler, S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing, Northwestern University, USA
• “Digital Marketing is destined to become the next “must read” for business, academia and anyone trying to master the digital age. Kaufman and Horton provide a Connected Digital Experience (integrating print, video, internet and mobile), taking this subject area to the next level in both content and delivery.” – Don Mathison, former Senior Vice President, Media General Cable TV, USA
• “Kaufman and Horton have tackled one of the most important aspects of how corporations need to conduct their digital transformation – capturing the new digital and social customer experience opportunities by shifting the marketing mindset. In Digital Marketing the authors articulate not just the challenges of this new digital marketing era, but the strategies, tactics and tools require to drive real business opportunities.” – Didier Bonnet, Senior Vice President and Global Practice Leader, Capgemini Consulting, UK
• “As a long-time advocate of a shift in the nature of marketing, I share Ira and Chris’ (Kaufman and Horton’s) belief that we need a new guidebook for marketing practitioners. The balance of fresh perspective and deep capability building is what most companies are seeking; I am energized to see a book that brings both to the fore so well. I am sure that those who read this book will come away ready to get to the heart of what really needs to change for their companies to become digitally-adroit leaders.” – David Edelman, Partner, McKinsey & Co, USA
• “Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy, Tactics with Values makes a great contribution to opening up the field of Digital Marketing. ” – Anthony Marshall, Global CEO Study Program Director and Strategy and Transformation Leader, International Business Machines, USA
• “Kaufman and Horton’s Guidebook gives readers an interactive overview of marketing in the digital age. Aspiring digital marketers will find a treasure trove of valuable insights from case studies, expert insights, digital diagnostics, and takeaways within these pages. Leaders and laymen alike can use this as a roadmap for bringing their marketing efforts to life in the 21st century.” – Doug Conant, Chairman, Avon Products, USA and Former President & CEO, Campbell Soup Company, USA
• “The speed of change across society and business due to digital impact has created a demand for new learning tools and dynamically updated information for business and marketing education. Kaufman and Horton have offered a timely digital marketing resource that builds the right context (digital mindset, societal change, integration) along with appropriate detail to educate both students and professionals. Set in an innovative format, the multi-modal, dynamically updated digital resource center is more than a book and promises to meet today’s students where they live – in an integrated, interactive and searchable world.” – David Ferguson, Associate Vice President for Emerging Media Initiatives and Executive Director of the Center for Media Design, Ball State University, USA
• “Business schools have recognized the need to integrate digital marketing into marketing curriculum; however, the integration process is still in its infancy. Kaufman and Horton’s book Digital Marketing will help students and business professionals understand digital marketing and its relationship to marketing strategy. The authors organize the book around their well thought out “Path to Digital Integration” which provides a valuable roadmap for organizations to follow as they make the inevitable transition into a digital marketing age.” – Scott A. Inks, Director of H.H. Gregg Center for Professional Selling and Associate Professor, Ball State University, USA
• “Digital culture has hit marketing harder than it has hit many other disciplines. Ira and Chris have taken their knowledge and experience and created a guidebook that is not just for marketers, but also for anyone in an organization who doesn’t want to get swept away in the coming digital transformation. The authors identify digital personas inside an organization and view digital adoption through their eyes and their actions, especially how they internalize company values. Students need this book so they know what they are walking into out in the workplace, and practitioners need to understand the current state of affairs, so they can usher in the change instead of getting knocked over by it.” – Jeffrey L. Cohen, Distinguished Lecturer in Social Media and Marketing Analytics, Ball State University, USA
• “Kaufman and Horton have translated our generation’s fluency with digital tools into a holistic understanding of why they matter, the immense scale of the possibilities they offer, and the practical steps for their effective implementation. For “digital natives,” internalizing digital strategy is the missing link. To achieve real-world success, we need guidance to put our digital intuition to work; this book provides what is needed to do so.” – Craig Phillips, Senior Program Associate, Partners for Democratic Change, USA
• “With the continued growth of technology, we now live in a fast-moving digital age. All of us are members of a new digital generation, thus we are presented with endless opportunities, but we need the tools to translate strategy and values into action. Kaufman and Horton provide best practices and dynamic strategies to lock us into what’s current. This is a must-have guidebook for anyone who wants to integrate digital and stay competitive.” – Brandon Carroll, Vice President, Koofers Campus Recruiter, USA

Instructor’s Roadmap

Instructor’s Roadmap to Digital Marketing: From Traditional Classroom to Digitally Integrated Learning Environment (DILE)

Download DMG Instructor’s Roadmap (22 pages-pdf)

Digitally Integrated Learning Environment (DILE)

By Ira Kaufman and Chris Horton

Digitally Integrated Learning Environment (DILE) serves as a foundational instructional methodology for the digital age. In both content and delivery, the DILE incorporates five core principles: student centricity, social community, integration, experimentation, and applicability.

Core Principles

1. Student-Centricity – The learner experience (LX) is the primary focus. A student-centric course requires instructors to actively encourage student input. They need to listen to the students (e.g. begin with their questions and encourage their feedback). At the beginning of the course, students should be asked for their expectations. At midterm, they should be asked for their feedback in order to make adjustments. Finally, at the end of the course, they should be asked to evaluate the course in terms of their expectations. This input will help to refine future courses.
2. Social Community – The classroom is a living digital laboratory of a “student social community” with common interests. The course must be visually appealing and interactive, utilizing the latest digital tools to foster communication and collaboration.

3. Collaboration – In collaborative learning, the instructor and students are partners in learning. The instructor serves as a guide and consultant rather than just a provider of information. Accordingly, the instructor must adopt a digital mindset, integrating the values of the digital culture (e.g. openness, flexibility, etc.) into the course design and delivery.

4. Integration – Integration is the core idea permeating the entire course: integrating media (such as how we integrate traditional print with digital video, internet, and mobile to create a Connected Digital Experience), as well as integrating values and goals with actionable strategies and tactics. The course should strive to inspire students to become digital integrators by guiding them on how to consistently incorporate digital marketing concepts and best practices into their business experiences.

5. Applicability – Concepts are experienced and ingested through group exercises, rather than memorized and regurgitated. The course must be easy for students to relate to and practically apply to hands-on projects and real-world situations.

The DILE Approach

As noted above, 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 instructional methodologies with relevant, dynamic content that is delivered digitally.

• Innovative Instructional Methodologies – Innovative instructional methodologies are primarily focused on the LX. Today’s learning is driven by the need to make connections and to absorb and apply knowledge efficiently and effectively. Students are looking for new ways to learn from and interact with instructors; they’re interested in exercises and projects that use novel formats to integrate and apply information and receive prompt feedback and guidance. Courses that employ collaborative learning to encourage student engagement provide an attractive alternative to traditional instructor-driven, lecture-based education.

• Relevant, Dynamic Content – The student, like the buyer, goes through a decision process when adopting or becoming committed to new concept. It all starts with the content he or she is presented – content which is viewed through both the medium as well as the message. If the content is relevant and its delivery medium is dynamic and engaging, the student quickly moves from awareness of the concept to interest in the concept. Relevant content speaks to the student’s daily experiences and/or challenges his or her norm. Dynamic content is visually appealing and interactive and compels the student to invest his or her creative energies.

• Digital Delivery – Today’s students incorporate digital technologies into virtually every aspect of their lives. They are most comfortable receiving information through digital media. Digital technologies translate static print experiences into dynamic, interactive formats that can easily deliver updated information to students. Today’s business education courses must meet students where they’re at by introducing the same digital technologies they use socially to augment instruction and strengthen engagement.

Digital Marketing – The DILE in Action

Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values is a real-world proof of concept for the DILE. It focuses on marketing as an expanded business function traversing IT, HR, finance, and management. As organizations respond to rapid-fire changes in the existing business environment brought forth by digital technology, they are forced to restructure to compete and survive. Digital Marketing encourages organizations to harmonize their core values and business goals with their digital marketing strategies, tactics, infrastructure, and information systems across all business functions. It provides a roadmap for executives to transform their organizations both internally and externally in order to breakdown traditional silos and achieve long-term sustainability through organization-wide digital integration.

Executive’s Guide

Executive’s Guide to Digital Marketing: From Traditional Business to Digitally Integrated Organization

Digital is changing the way business operates, forever altering the content of messaging, control of brand, interaction with customers, and communication with stakeholders. We are all, to some degree, students of the digital evolution – executives and non-profit managers, owners and entrepreneurs, professors and instructors, undergraduates and MBAs.

Even though we each may have different experiences and responsibilities, we all face the same overarching challenge: to rapidly prepare for the Digital Tsunami already reaching our shores and learn how to effectively respond to the rapid digital transformation following in its wake. Doing so requires individuals and organizations have the confidence and understanding to make digital integration a strategic imperative.

Digital-Marketing-Executives-Guide (9 pages-pdf)

Digitally Integrated Organization

What is the DIGITALLY INTEGRATED ORGANIZATION?

Excepted from: Kaufman and Horton, DIGITAL MARKETING: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values, New York, Routledge, 2015.

Beyond social business is the Digitally Integrated Organization (DIO).

It combines digital technology and digital marketing strategy with core human values to generate abundance for all stakeholders – its employees, shareholders, customers, and community. It is differentiated from social business in terms of its intentions and projected results.

Social business is focused on impacting both the internal efficiency as well as the external environment of the organization. The DIO considers both internal and external efficacy, but also organizational values and long-term sustainability, as the guiding criteria of all actions. Social business uses digital technology to drive business goals (e.g. operating cost reduction, revenue growth, brand integrity, employee engagement) while the DIO builds on the work of the social business.

With a mandate that reaches beyond just a social mission, the DIO integrates digital technology and marketing strategy with core values to drive organizational goals that lead to sustainable outcomes for both the organization and its stakeholders, including the greater community to which it is connected.

The DIO is a learning organization, facilitating an interconnected way of thinking, collaborating, and innovating, continuously transforming itself to meet new challenges. Integration is the currency of the DIO. Structural integration paves the way for the organizational innovation and efficiency necessary to be competitive in the digital age.

The DIO is an Integrated Digital Marketing organization, especially as the role of marketing continues to expand beyond its silo to impact other business functions.”

Connected Digital Experience

Connected Digital Experience (CDE) integrates various digital technologies, including video commenting, augmented reality, and marketing automation, to revolutionize user engagement with print and digital media. The CDE transforms static media into dynamic, interactive, rich content that generates measurable data in real time.

The CDE integrates print, mobile, video, and internet media to provide the reader 24/7 access to rich content and current updates. The reader connects to expanded content via Discover More and Play Video icons, that leverage augmented reality technology from Zappar to connect you to expanded and updated content housed on our companion website, Digital Marketing Resource Center via your smartphone or tablet. In addition, the Play Video icons utilize Vusay’s point-in-time video commenting technology to enable interactive conversation alongside each video. These technologies come together to create a Connected Digital Experience.

Authors’ Interview

Exclusive interview with the authors of the ground-breaking textbook – Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values, written to close the “digital gap.”

Download Author’s Interview (5 page pdf)

Interview excerpt:

Why did you write Digital Marketing: Integrating Strategy and Tactics with Values?

In consulting with various corporations and nonprofits and in teaching students, we noted a widening gap between the expectations of the rapidly evolving digital marketplace and the preparedness of business practitioners and students. Digital marketing education as a distinct subject was almost nonexistant, and static print textbooks were quickly becoming an anconronism in the digital age.

Challenged to do our part to close the “digital gap,” we set out to develop a new approach to digital marketing education, one that updates traditional marketing concepts and rethinks traditional lecture styles and resource delivery methods in lieu of digital. The result is, we believe, an innovation – a comprehensive primer on digital marketing that offers practical guidance to current business managers and executives and relevant training to future business leaders.

Download DMG Author’s Interview (5 pages-pdf)