Internet Marketing Solution

Marketing is a constantly evolving thing and it has changed constantly over the years for many decades. And this trend is continuing even today. Interactive marketing seems to be the latest trend and this involves engaging the consumer in more ways than ever before, and this is where it is different than traditional marketing. John Deighton of Harvard University has defined interactive marketing as “It is the ability to address the customer, remember what the customer says and address the customer again in a way that illustrates that we remember what the customer has told us”. Thus it can be said that rather than being transaction based, interactive marketing is customer centric. It can also be said that in interactive marketing, more than the company that is marketing and even more than the product that is being marketed, and also the brand, it is the customer who is important. So where does the brand stand in this? We shall see that later in this article.

There are 2 keys to interactive marketing and they are the customization or personalization and the Internet (Internet technology) that has made this a reality. An example will explain this better. Amazon.com is an extremely popular online store that uses interactive marketing to find out customer preferences and make a record of them and then the website displays these preferences to the visitor when he/she revisits later. The website is also able to display what the person purchased earlier.

Amazon.com is a hugely popular brand as well and this is thus a classic example of a successful brand and interactive marketing exercise.

Interactive marketing is the future

In a world of online stores, mobile phones and touch screens, interactive marketing is here to stay. It is definitely the way forward. Supported by technology, interactive marketing is cost effective too, and the reach is fabulous as well. There are 15 million people who use mobile phones in Australia, and already 34 million people in Oceania/Australia are on the Internet – and when you consider the entire world, the figure is simply mind boggling.

This is why so many businesses are trying to create their brand using interactive marketing. Here are a few ways you can also create a successful brand using interactive marketing techniques…

Branding using interactive marketing

Interactive CD’s

Let us assume you are a travel planner who is into hotel booking and you also sell cruise vacation deals. Now instead of just handing out printed brochures or telling them to visit your website, what if you decided to hand them over interactive CD’s – perhaps a walk in of the cruise ship or a smart peep into the hotel room, restaurants, the lobby and perhaps even of the places to be visited from the destination. The interactive nature of the CD is sure to capture the attention of the viewer. You will definitely see an increased number of bookings, and making that CD is not that costly as well – you just need to make this once.

Such marketing interactive CD’s are sure to give you better returns at trade shows and exhibitions. There are so many stalls at these events that often it becomes difficult to grab the attention of the visitor. You can run the CD/DVD at your stall and also give it away to all those who visit your stall. Chances are, they are sure to remember you.

Mobile Advertising

All of us have mobile phones now in Europe, America and Australia, but there are still thousands who do not in Asia and Africa. However the number of people with mobiles is increasing at an amazing rate. But what is fantastic is that, all kinds of people have mobiles – the rich and the poor, the busy executive and the poor pool cleaner, the matinee idol and the sports star. With just a single message, you can reach millions of people or you can also select the segment of audience to whom you want your message to be delivered. And it is quite cheap too. That is the power of mobile messaging. You can make mobile users read your SMS and you may also make them visit your WAP website if you want to.

Email

The email is a very personal thing but you can also market and build your brand with email marketing. But to begin with you must have an email database of all those people who have opted-in to receive your emails. Perhaps these people were your customers before – now you can inform them about your new products and may be of a special discount scheme that you have just announced.

Your email may have text or it may have images. But do remember to include your web address in the body of the email which the receiver can click to come back to your website.