Interactive Marketing

Capture consumer interest with a successful interactive marketing campaign
By Shannon Tani As consumers become immune to the tactics of traditional marketing techniques, many businesses are turning to interactive marketing in order to capture attention and sell their products.
 

You can find interactive marketing taking a variety of forms, but the important thing is that they all require customer interaction and engagement. One of the most successful companies that does interactive marketing is Amazon. As consumers view items and make purchases, Amazon tracks these actions in order to make recommendations of other things that the customer might be interested in.

Before you look at an interactive marketing directory, consider the following:

1. A successful interactive marketing attempt usually incorporates several different types of advertising, perhaps including television, radio, street ads and Internet ads.

2. Usability is an important factor in interactive marketing. Information should be easy and fun for customers to retrieve.

3. Try to personalize your interactive marketing campaign to each consumer. Use their name, track their preference and try to customize the advertising to their likes.

Use an interactive marketing provider that offers opt-in services

Using interactive marketing requires you to be able to get in touch with your customers. Unfortunately, if you email them without permission, you may face heavy fines for spamming. That's why it's important to work with a company that will manage your customer opt-in requests.
Try: If you are looking to build an email list, Aweber offers an easy to use plan. They have a tiered level of service, so that you pay less when you are starting and don't have as many customers on your list. Text messages are another great way to interact with customers, especially if you are targeting a younger crowd. Cellit will help you create a text messaging campaign and manage subscriber information.

Find a website developer to create a website for interactive marketing

A website is required if you want to do interactive marketing. List the types of things that you want your customers to be able to do on the site and make sure that you find a developer that has the skills necessary to carry out your wishes. Games, forums and multimedia presentations are all good things to consider for your site.
Try: SpectraCom can help you with all levels of your interactive site design, from the research and planning to increasing traffic. Pop Art can also help with a variety of site development issues, including usability and creating a site that people like.

Use a tell-a-friend script as part of your interactive marketing campaign

One of the best ways to get out the word about your company or product is through word of mouth. A great site becomes "viral" where many people send it to their friends. Special scripts make this happen.
Try: Taming the Beast offers a free tell-a-friend script that you can use on your site. If you aren't sure how to use it, or want something custom designed just for you, you may want to hire a freelance developer at Elance.

• Be open to feedback from your customers. The goal of interactive marketing should be to interact with and learn from your customers. You'll be able to create better products with their input.