Before online advertisement became widespread, the common types of advertisements used mediums such as TV, magazine and billboards – what is now known as traditional media. Most buyers negotiated costs for 30 seconds ads with the local television station or radio station or how much a ¼ page advert cost in the local newspaper. There was no means to directly engage with customers, and no ways to interactively improve the advertisements voice or message.

In the not so distant past, having a website and a few door-to-door salesmen was what it took to be successful. We all know that this isn’t the case anymore. In today’s world, the computer is an integral part of the commerce experience.  Computers know what you’re interested in and what you spend time looking at.  Sites like Amazon, Google and Facebook provide lots of shopping options, and take careful note of items purchased in the past.  Whether you’ve found items that you were willing to purchase or not, Amazon.com and Google take note of both what you have purchased in the past and what you’ve looked at recently. They have captured your virtual self and taken not of your intent – maybe even if you haven’t  – consciously. This is the new world of Internet commerce.

Accurately anticipating your consumers’ wishes and desires, while paying attention to that individual’s perception of themselves, paying attention to individuals loyalties and affiliations is a value proposition that consumers appear to be willing to engage in.  Google’s Google Now and Amazon.com are two recent implementations of this phenomenon.  Both require that the user identify himself or herself, or opt-in, to uniquely identify themselves.  This opt-in requirement allows a tailor-made experience for the user.  It allows both Google and Amazon to act as a virtual concierge for the individual – alerting the customer to opportunities that they have demonstrated interest in, or are likely to demonstrate interest in.

The customer’s willing participation provides the service the data necessary to intuit the customer’s intent. A well designed website with user friendly layout provides the customer with an easy opportunity to complete engagement. Most importantly, this symbiotic relationship allows the customer to be their own marketer, providing huge value to both merchant and customer alike.

A business without customer engagement is akin to a person a soul, both are empty-shells and not very satisfying nor enticing. But how do you find your businesses soul online? How do you create a satisfying, personalized, customer friendly and soulful experience for your audience?

Customer’s want a fulfilling end engaging experience tailored to their intentions. The experience can be emotional and/or logical, but at the end of it there must be a substantial result for both parties.  Putting yourself in their shoes is one way to understand your customer’s journey making it easier for them to find a value to engage and, hopefully, continue to engage with you once discovered.

There are a new flurry of lightweight tools cropping up which show you exactly what your visitors are doing on your website by capturing every gesture they make during their engagement. Viewed individually, you can replay your site through eyes of your visitors. Viewed cumulatively, you can see where your site, even your advertisements, cause engagement drop off. Spending time on the cumulative heat maps of user experience allows you to understand how the public at large interacts with your online presence.  Best of all, it can allow you to improve that engagement positively.

In last several weeks, I have been experimenting ClickTale’s customer experience analytics. I signed up for an account to try ClickTale on my Word press blog. After one week of using it, I saw some unexpected finding which made me believe the importance of visualizing visitor interaction.

• I can see what visitors do on my blog by watching the recordings of their sessions one on one. It’s as if I’m are looking over their shoulder
• Using JavaScript in my blog, the process does not appear to have any noticeable effect on site performance, but this allows me capture every mouse move, click and keystroke for all users, building me a heat map of where people spend their time, and where they do not
• From a blog point of view, I can what articles and sections are attracting time spent. Many people read with their mice, so while I am not able to watch their eyes, I’ve got a pretty good idea of their consumption.

While I’m just at the beginning of this journey, and I am very interested in allowing more data to accrue, I’m looking forward to see if I can improve the experience and value proposition for Add3’s audience.  Right now, I’m watching you read this and I’m thanking you for spending your time with Add3.

Last time I was in NYC, I wanted to take advantage of my proximity to Broadway and take in a play.  NY and London are both famous for their live theatre, but that’s about all I know about “The Stage”. While I’m pretty self sufficient, and usually turn to the web to aid in my selection. This time, however, I took advantage of the hotel concierge to advise me.

What’s really great about human interaction is how seemingly non-related banter that plays into final outcomes. In my case, spending 10 minutes chatting about my experiences and my interests produced a great recommendation for a great play. This was made even better by the concierge’s personal connections for a better than web discount and some pretty amazing seats.

That “seemingly non related banter” with the concierge produced a great result in the form of a great experience for me.  It also reflected upon the hotel – I’ll go back just to interface with that concierge staff again.

So – how do you impart a great experience in a scale web interaction? Better yet, how do you make your marketing and advertising experience relate to your consumers in a personalized way?

Put on your seatbelt as Addthree takes you through a multi-part discussion on how to engage with your audience in a meaningful and repeatable way.

– From Team Add3 –

We have been very  fortunate to have Saya interning here for the past few months and sadly, she will be finishing up her last day here (and in Seattle) this week! As a farewell, we would like to highlight Saya on her blog so the readers can learn a little more about the person who has been a part of our team.

【Saya being very Japanese】

Here is Saya’s last work:

What is the most valuable thing you learned while here at Add3?

Saya: “Definitely, it’s how Add3 satisfies the workers. Not every agency can do this. It’s the coolest, most fun working environment I’ve ever witnessed!”

What did you like most at Add3?

Saya: “The way people joke around via email, in the team meeting, and in the regular work. Everyone at Add3 works hard, but they are able to have fun doing it! I think that is great!”

What’s your next step in your career or life in general?

Saya: “I’m going to graduate from Hitotsubashi University in 2014. After that, I’m not sure. But I think I want to keep working at some fun, marketing company, and travel around the world someday!”

【Saya with the Moai Statues in Easter Island】

What was your favorite meal/food you discovered while living here in the United States?

Saya: “California rolls are awesome. I never saw it in Japan, so I think I can say I discovered it in the US!”

What’s a hidden talent of yours we didn’t get the chance to see yet?
Saya: “I’m pretty good at copying the voice of the Pokemon, Sonans, but no one has ever been interested in my hidden talent.” This is Sonans’s voice:

Hello Kitty or Pikachu – who wins in a drag race?

Saya: “I would say Hello Kitty. I’m sure about it. Why? I’ve met Pikachu in real life in Tokyo. When I was hanging out with my friend, Pikachu just randomly walked out of an electronic store. He was as tall as me, and about ten times fatter than me. I don’t think he will even fit in a car.”

【Saya running into Pikachu in real life in Tokyo】

What do you find the most bizarre or funny about our Seattle culture?

Saya: “I love the way people smile to strangers they meet on the street. It makes me feel happy. If you do that in Japan, you might get reported to police. haha If you visit Japanese police websites, you will see quite a few warnings to citizens about men who smile at women or kids they don’t know!”

What is your favorite place in Seattle?

Saya: “Seeing the night view from Kerry Park in Queen Anne. I love Seattle’s night view because it’s always breathtaking regardless of the weather.”

【Saya with the night view of Seattle from Kerry Park】

Will you come visit Seattle again in the future?

Saya: “For sure, I will visit Seattle again to see the wonderful people I met here.”

–

Thank you for your work Saya!

【Farewell lunch for Saya at Boom Noodle】

Keeping everyone socializing is a common value at Add3. When Add3 was founded, the co-founders made sure that the work place is fun and the workers here communicate with each other on a daily basis. We believe that’s why we have such an outstanding team.

You can see a variety of tactics to keep everyone socializing in Add3’s office. Let me introduce some of them here.

1.Ping Pong Table

We have a ping pong table, many rackets, and many ping pong balls in our office. Everyone plays ping pong to take a short break and keep their focus on work.

This was Brian’s idea. He has his own ping pong racket. It cost $100 while other rackets in our office cost $60 each.

Me: “How is it different from other rackets?”

Brian: “The raver is nicer!”

Add3 just had our annual ping pong tournament last December. In the final match, Adrian beat Brian and won the title ‘Ping Pong Prince’.

Brian: “I will dedicate hours of practice in 2013 to squash any dreams Adrian has for trophies this year.”

Adrian: “Brian says that, but he won’t. I have the confidence that I will defend my title!”

2. Music

We always have cool music playing in the office using SONOS. This was Paul’s idea.

Paul: “We saw a lot of people wearing headsets listening to music during the work. And I thought why don’t we have music in the office? That way, people will socialize more.”

3. Kitchen & Free Food & Lunch Room

Add3 has a kitchen and a lunch room in the office. Healthy food is served for free. During lunch time, there are usually five or six workers eating and chatting in the lunch room.

We get fresh food delivered from Amazon fresh and Costco every week. People make salads, sandwiches, and soups for lunch every day. Here is the lunch I made the other day.

This was Tim’s idea to keep everyone socializing. Currently, Katie is in charge of purchasing healthy food for everyone. There is a white board in front of her desk, and everyone writes the food they want on it.

4. Free Coffee

There are two coffee shops near our office where Add3’s workers can get coffee for free. Add3 pays for them at the end of the month on behalf of workers.

One is Tim’s favorite – Cupcake Royale, and the other is Brian’s favorite – Porchlight Coffee.

Normally, three or four workers go grab coffee together instead of going individually. Thanks to this incentive, grabbing coffee is a great opportunity for workers to socialize and have fun.

These incentives and tactics have kept workers satisfied and interactive. As a result, team Add3 has become more and more effective and successful.

Because Add3 satisfies its workers, we can employ capable, passionate, fun, and motivated workers, which results in our customers’ satisfaction. It’s our philosophy!

Miles is Add3’s

SEO Account Manager who just started working here in January 2013.

Miles: “In a game of Apples to Apples, my friends and I declared that the cards you won by the end of the game describe you as a person. This was me. Spot on!”

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Miles: “Baller onna Budget”

【Miles is also a model in his spare time.】

Miles is half Japanese and half American, but he doesn’t look like half Asian at all!

Miles: “I’m the third child, so maybe I got the watered down genetics. Haha. Actually, my siblings look half Japanese, but I look like kind like a mutt.”

What was your major in college?

Miles: “Marketing. I originally was an accounting major, and that was just hell! It’s all about memorizing a bunch of rules and applying them to a system. I hated it! Haha.”

Why did you choose marketing?

Miles: “Honestly, I just defaulted on business. I didn’t know what else I wanted to do. The things I learned about marketing in school were mostly common sense. But I love my job. It’s a lot different from what I learned in school.”

【Visiting one of his best friends in Hawaii and looking like an awkward weirdo.】

How did you find Add3?

Miles: “Actually, Chris recommended me. He knew I was looking for a job, and eventually they scooped me up!”

What do you love about Add3?

Miles: “What don’t I love about Add3? I love the super hella dope people. They are really smart, driven, and relaxed. I also love the artwork and ping pong.”

Who is your ping pong rival?

Miles: “At this point, it’s Chris, but I need to practice a lot. I’m really looking for somebody to just stay with me an hour or two after every single day so I can practice. Haha. Finally then I would dominate Chris and maybe move up in the rankings a little bit. Someday, maybe I would play as the top dog! But I’m taking baby steps.”

What do you do when you are off work?

Miles: “I work out, read, and go to concerts a lot. I mostly read fiction. I used to play soccer for ten years, and ran really competitively. But I haven’t done any sports for the last several years.”

Do you have any unknown fact or hidden talent?

Miles: “I was born in Japan… That’s not really unknown… And… Oh, I’m really good at juggling a soccer ball. BUT that doesn’t mean I’m good at soccer at all! I am very average as a soccer player.”

What was your dream when you were little?

Miles: “I didn’t wanna do anything as a kid. Haha. I just wanted to grow up and earn money. A VERY large amount of money. I had a lot of schemes as a kid like… sell lemonade… and kidnap Bill Gates. I was like, ‘Why hasn’t anyone thought of this?’”

【Some say Miles was a modeling prodigy.】

What’s your dream now?

Rob is Add3’s energetic, fun, and motivated SEM Account Manager.

【Rob & his girlfriend】

Rob is a big guy, standing over 6’6″ tall.

What was your major in college?

Rob: “I majored in management information systems. It was more about project management than computer science.”

Rob moved up to Seattle after graduating college with his girlfriend, and got a search marketing internship at Expedia. He found Add3 on craigslist after his internship at Expedia was up.

What do you love about Add3?

Rob: “The fun environment, the people I work with, and the job I do. I enjoy coming to work every day. My job always keeps me on my feet. It’s always about discovering new ways to approach things. It’s fun. ”

What’s your goal in ten years?

Rob: “I want to be married and own a house. I want to keep being successful and moving up. I want to keep learning as much as I can.”

What makes your life meaningful?

Rob: “My family, girlfriend. Also, I think I’m really fortunate to be able to have such a good job and be successful for my age.”

【Rob & his frineds in Tahoe】

What do you think makes you successful?

Rob: “The biggest thing I learned in my life is to take a risk. If you don’t take a risk, you never learn. I think we shouldn’t be afraid of taking risks. At the same time, we have to be careful. So I think it’s about finding a level where you take enough risks but not too much. For example, we might spend up the budget and see the profit doesn’t follow as much right away. But we should take a risk to keep optimizing it and see the results in a long run. Down the road, we would see a lot more success. ”

Who is your ping pong rival?

What do you do when you are off work?

Rob: “I like to fish, golf, and anything outdoor. I’m really active on weekends.”

Do you have any secret?

Rob: “Not really. I’m kind of goofy sometimes, but I guess it’s just my energetic side coming up. I like to have fun. Life is too short to be serious all the time.haha”

When was the most shining moment in your life?

Rob: “Probably when I got a scholarship playing football when I was in University of Montana. I’m pretty good at football!haha I was fortunate to have the opportunity.”

【Rob playing football】

What was your dream when you were little?

Rob: “I wanted to be a police and a firefighter. My uncle was a police officer. He once took me to ride around the police car, and I thought it was really cool!”

【Rob with his family on Christmas】

Chris is Add3’s laid-back, curious, and friendly SEM Account Manager, who just started working here on November 5^th last year.

Chris: “Right now, I’m passionate about learning as much as I can. I’m trying my best to grow fast.”

【Enjoying margaritas (and large sombreros) in Mexico!!】

Chris graduated from University of Washington last year, and this is his first career. His major was marketing.

Why did you decide to major in marketing?

Chris: “I like to be creative, and I really like to work in teams of other creative people.”

When was the moment you shined the most?

Chris: “Um..probably graduating UW. After I graduated high school, I did concrete testing for a construction company. But it was kind of a dead end. As I was working, I realized that I needed to go to college to move up. I went back and put myself into a community college. It took me a long time because I could afford only one class at a time. Also, I had to make sure I had a high GPA to transfer to UW. At last, I got enough credits and a high enough GPA to transfer to UW. It was such a long road. It took me seven years in total. But it was pretty moving when I graduated UW. So I think I shined the most on graduation day. ”

It’s really impressive!

【Tree swinging on Decatur Island】

Chris got married while he was studying at UW.

Why did you decide to marry before you became financially stable?

Chris: “That’s a good question! haha My wife and I were together for six years before we got married. We just wanted to make it final, we couldn’t wait any longer. We wanted a piece of paper to make it real, I guess.”

What do you like about your wife?

【Chris and his beautiful wife on their wedding day】

What brought you to Add3?

Chris: “I found Add3 on craigslist. It caught my eye because it was kind of funny. Their post was like ‘if you are a ping pong master, you like English soccer, and know about SEO/SEM, please call us’. It was more creative than other ads.”

What do you love about Add3?

Chris: “I love the startup environment and how the bosses are right next to us. And we are laid-back, but get lots of work done. Everybody is really nice, and we get along pretty well.”

Who is your ping pong rival?

Chirs: “I don’t know…maybe everybody. I’m at the bottom, and there are a lot of people above of me. I have to slowly chop them down.haha”

What do you do when you are off work?

Chris: “I like to go bowling a lot, and watch movies, play video games. Right now, I play the video game called ‘Hitman’. I sneak around and kill people. haha My favorite movie might be ‘Dumb & Dumber’. It’s like stupid funny. I’ve seen it like 200 times.”

What’s your goal in ten years?

Chris: “I want to have lots of kids. And I want to be stable so that we can go on lots of vacations!”

Do you have any hidden talent?

Chris: “No, not at all. I barely have any talents at all! haha”

【Arriving at the honeymoon suite!】

Jason is Add3’s VP of Owned and Operated and one of the co-founders. He helps design and build websites, and monetize the sites.
【Photo booth at Sister-in-Law’s wedding】

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Jason: “Family, basketball, and fun!”

Could you tell me a little bit about your family?

Jason: “I’m married with two daughters. One is seven and the other is four. They are beautiful girls. They are both at a fun age and I’m enjoying their time right now. I’m preparing myself for their teen years.”

How did you meet your wife?

【Another photo booth pic – same wedding】

What was your major in college?

Jason: “Psychology. I like solving problems and figure things out especially when it comes to people. I liked understanding how things affect them. But when I was getting close to the graduation, I’d realized the low wage for psych majors fresh out of college so I had to change course!”

Why did you jump into the marketing field?

Jason: “That’s because of Brian. I’ve known Brian for about twenty years. We went to high school together and we’ve always stayed in touch. The whole internet thing started taking place, and he had some good ideas. So I moved up to Seattle and started our own business.”

What do you love about Add3?

Jason: “The people. The dynamic, smart, and fun people here. We’re a small group but we are continuing to grow.”

Who is your ping pong rival?

Jason: “Probably Brian and Adrian. I play mostly with Tim right now, but his not my rival. If we play ten games, I usually win about nine and a half!haha But it’s fun playing with him!”

What do you do when you are off work?

Jason: “I spend time with my family, try to work out as much as possible, and play basketball.”
【Family At Molly Moon’s Wallingford location】

What’s your goal in ten years?

Jason: “To retire! I want to travel. I love white sand beaches and warm water. That’s me. I’d like to go anywhere tropical. My favorite places are Hawaii and Tahiti.”

【Family at Vashon Island】

Brandon is Add3’s freelance content writer, who comes to the office every Wednesday. He creates the contents of the websites.

Brandon: “My major in college was English, which is why I like writing. It’s fun because I can be creative and come up with great ideas that haven’t been done before.”

【Golly! Cherry Pie! For all you Twin Peaks fans out there, this was taken at Twede’s cafe, where the show was filmed.】

What are you careful of when you write the contents?

Brandon: “I make sure it’s coherent, every sentence flows to the next, and people want to read it. I think of what exactly the visitors want to know for the certain subject, and I try to answer their questions.”

【Brandon’s friend took this. It was at his art instillation in Pioneer Square.】

How would you describe yourself in three words?

Brandon: “Wandering Free Spirit. I love discovering new things about the city. Usually, I love walking, I love exploring Seattle or wherever I am.”

Where is your favorite place?

Brandon: “Berwick Street in London. I also like collecting records, and that’s the place with three very good record stores. The cover of one of the albums of Oasis was taken on that street. I went there, and my friend and I reenacted the picture!”

【The album cover】
【the album cover re-enactment picture】

Could you tell me a little bit about your career?

Brandon: “After I graduated from college, I worked for the opera for a year. I sang.”

Me: “Really?!”

Brandon: “No, I was an assistant there.haha Then I worked for Zumiez, and got a referral to Add3. After that, I started interning here for Victoria.”

What do you love about Add3?

What do you do when you are off work?

Brandon: “I wander around. The other day, I walked from Capitol Hill to South Lake Union, to Fremont, and to Ballard just because I was bored. And I like browsing record stores. I virtually know every single store. My favorite record varies from time to time, but right now, it’s Cure’s ‘Standing on a Beach’. Every song in it is just so good.”

What makes your life meaningful the most?

Brandon: “The ability to find something new.”

What’s your recent discovery?

When was the most shining moment in your life?

Brandon: “Tomorrow.”