Marketers experience painful push-backs from consumers from time to time. An on-going barrage of commercials and advertising in all media are increasingly being viewed as anything from minor irritants to major interruptions in many instances. Or, they’re just being ignored.

The message is being driven home. Marketers are increasingly questioning their dollar allocations in traditional media venues, as they search for newer, more creative ways to engage the consumer. Given today’s highly interactive society, it’s time to rethink how to connect with the consumer in more meaningful ways.

Traditional advertising is a one-way street. We’re not advocating a cessation to all advertising, but it might be time to pull back some of the advertising spend, reassess it and evaluate what other channels might be used to engage consumers in dialogue. What do human beings respond best to: being talked at, or being actively engaged in a two-way conversation? Consumers have shown a willingness to interact with company brands in an interactive manner. Two-way conversations accomplish that.

Let’s face it, social networks and Web 2.0 may be all the rage in business speak these days, but marketers have to ask themselves if the cost and commitment of launching these kinds of initiatives are worth it. Since this is still a brave new world lacking meaningful metrics, some companies are loath to get in too deep. Or they’re not sure which interactive avenues to take yet. So how about the idea of launching forms of social media that offer some form of entertainment value? These might yield the best marketing results.

Savvy marketers are setting up blogs that enable consumer conversations to happen easily and naturally. If blogs are perceived to be true communication channels, sans conventional advertising pitches, they can become very active, and well-received. Proactively engaging consumers in two-way conversations within company blogs can reap real rewards. As consumers talk to marketers and with each other, they share their brand experiences, and all become influencers in a deepening relationship. Smart marketers will take heed of criticisms, observations and expressed customer desires and act on them. Check out sites like www.dellideastorm.com to see what we mean.

While consumers understand they are being marketed to, if their online brand experiences are memorable ones, they are likely to have a positive response. Besides, there is a perceptive difference between the notion of being “interrupted” vs being “invited” to have a potentially enjoyable experience, isn’t there? So how about inviting consumers to play a branded interactive game? We all love to be entertained.

Advergames can be very entertaining and examples of well-designed ones abound. LifeSavers Candystand.com offers many different kinds of interactive games that meld brands and promotions with entertainment. Branded interactive games are a fact of life on the Internet, and are as diverse as brands themselves. MTV, ESPN, PepsiCo, Yahoo!, Mattel and Campbell’s all have well-designed advergames on their sites.

The beauty of Web 2.0, including the use of branded advergames, is that there are multiple platforms that can be employed to get marketers’ messages out, besides the Internet. In fact, smart marketers are using wireless, videogame consoles, CD-ROM and kiosks, as well.

Bringing out the Enjoyment Assets™ of brands has always been a powerful consumer motivator. Ultimately, the fight for mindshare is ever more contested and increasingly important. The fusion of brands to their products must also be cemented in the consumer’s mind. A tall order. With every consumer product company looking for the right angle to focus on, and the right approach to forging lasting connectivity to the consumer, providing entertainment, aka, enjoyment to that consumer, is well worth consideration and some experimentation.

Given the complexities of marketing in today’s highly interactive, quick-click world, and getting the message across cyberspace where thousands of competitors are vying for attention and mindshare, is no small feat.

Interactive media is increasingly blurring the lines between traditional advertising and entertainment, and if well done, consumers become very engaged with the brands they interact with. Using blogs, podcasts, advergames and other interactive vehicles also affords marketers opportunities for storytelling. Everybody likes a good story. In fact, the dissemination of facts, figures and information might be necessary, but it’s hardly exciting, or entertaining. Storytelling, on the other hand, presents listeners with an opening premise, engages them, presents the facts within the framework of a great story, and ends with a real conclusion. It creates an opportunity to share very human experiences. Tell us that isn’t connecting!

One of the hardest things marketers are grappling with, in my view, is the fact that they have less and less control over their brands. Scary proposition, that. As consumers take over and define brands, freely discussing their perception of them with other consumers, it is increasingly difficult for marketers to shape their brand images as they would like to. As they have done in the past. Control has been ceded to the consumer more and more, thanks to our interactive world. So look at it this way: interactive social marketing allows for shared control, marketers in tandem with consumers.