MBO Spotlight: Chris Lucas of FormSpring

Posted in Online Marketing
by Clay Mabbitt on October 2, 2009

We continue our series interviewing the experts of Masters of Business Online with Chris Lucas of FormSpring.

SS: Why should business owners worry about marketing online?
CL: One big reason is that it is a lower cost investment (usually) than traditional marketing. You can reach many more people online in a short amount of time for a much lower cost. Also, with online marketing you have the immediacy that you cannot get with other forms of marketing. You can quickly track and monitor if your online marketing is paying off by incorporating some simple and cheap tools. Finally online marketing is easy to test.The online space allows you to react quickly enhancing initiatives that work and stopping ones that are not. You don’t have to wait weeks and months to see results from certain online activities.

SS: What will online business look like in 5 years?
CL: We are already seeing a push from one-to-many to one-to-one marketing. I think we will see an even bigger emphasis on this… but we also have to be weary about all the data that will be available about our customers. We will have to walk a fine line of knowing what our customers want vs. not scaring them with all of that information. Marketers and companies who understand how to listen to customers, take in all the pertinent data, and use new online tools to connect and offer services or products that are relevant, will be effective in creating online advocates of their products.

SS: Why do you think social media has become so popular?
CL: Social media has become popular because of it’s ease of use. “Social Media” has been around for many years, but we are now seeing technology both infrastructure (wifi, broadband etc) and software, i.e web applications, meeting to make it very easy to share and consume information quickly. We’ve reached the proverbial “Tipping Point” from that perspective, and it allows people to interact with one another and share information that they find interesting with a low barrier to entry.

SS: What website do you spend the most time at?
CL: I spend a lot of time using/reading my RSS feeds which allows me to gather a ton of information quickly and read it when I want it. I spend time on Twitter, Facebook, and Smaller Indiana as well.

SS: Who is doing things right online?
CL: I think a lot of companies are doing things right online. I think the big takeaway is that you have to do what is right for your company and for your customers and that one size does not fit all! That being said, from companies that I follow, I would have to say Freshbooks. They are an online invoicing company. They have managed to build an incredible community of advocates and know how to take their online personality and translate it offline as well.

Chris Lucas - Marketing Specialist, FormSpring
Topic: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Online Forms