What works so well for Handspring is the consistency between all of their advertising and information delivery media, and how they are able to keep in front of the customers through their great eMessaging products and Web site. The effectiveness of their convergence marketing certainly played a factor in that increase, and solidified their position as the industry innovator of Palm OS computing. What we can learn from Handspring is that sales and marketing staff must remain open to all marketing possibilities in order to be successful. Advertising agencies and communication firms, who have their client's success in mind, are allocating staff, technology and creative energy into these newly forming convergence-marketing opportunities. But this takes guts.
Every creative firm wants to play to their strengths.
It takes a strong background and knowledge of how markets think, react and respond to a message. No one has all the answers. But the commitment from the creative firm and the client needs to come from a willingness to try new opportunities and a flexibility to adjust the program in mid-stream. The deliverable would be unique, the recipient will see it right at their computer, and inline links would direct the recipient right to the supportive Web page allowing the customer to buy the product. A foundation of branding is presenting a consistent message in multiple media and backing up that message with consistent service and product.