Widgets offer a range of digital marketing techniques, including online PR, strategic viral marketing, brand advertising, direct response sales, and lead generation through affiliate marketing.

Although they may seem like trivial and playful applications on your desktop or  social networking site of choice, widgets are actually the new marketing phenomenon with lots of potential.

Sanaz Ahari, Microsoft’s Lead Program Manager, believes widgets will introduce a new form of marketing in the near future. I can see a whole new level of advertising through gadgets,  she stated in a FastCompany.com interview last year.  An early example was when Google had that Da Vinci Code gadget a replica of the ‘cryptex,’ the cylindrical decoder device from the book and movie. You could take the puzzle and put it on your Web page for your friends to discover.

According to iMedia Connection, marketers see widgets as both an exciting opportunity (e.g. free advertising) and a daunting challenge (e.g. uncontrolled advertising). In reality, neither of these points of view captures the implication in any robust sense.

In social media applications, widgets are primarily driven by RSS feeds, which creates tons of opportunities for marketers to develop lead generation programs, and more opportunities for publishers to monetize their content.

They’ve evolved from cool, cute toys of self-expression to major media and marketing tools. Apple, Firefox and Typepad, for example, have used widgets as a way of enhancing user experiences, and some companies are already starting to take advantage of the opportunity.

Typepad’s array of widgets are offered by companies that are primarily trying to increase their share of voice in the crowded market of social networking sites  according to the Influential Marketing Blog. Offering widgets allows them to gain free exposure on blog sidebars, and drive awareness and trial of their services from the growing ranks of Typepad bloggers.

Apple’s Dashboard widget does the same, but they can become even more higher profile  with some past Apple ads even showcasing new and funky widgets in the ad.

Widgets present a host of new and creative opportunities, as marketers we just have to figure out the right way to use them. Perhaps we should form a Widget Brainstorming group. Wouldn’t that be fun?