Interactive marketing, sometimes called trigger-based or
event-driven marketing, is a marketing strategy that uses two-way communication channels to allow consumers to connect with a company directly. Although this exchange can take place in person, in the last decade it has increasingly taken place almost exclusively online through
email
Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...
,
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
,
blogs
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
and live chat platforms.
History
As far back as 1995, interactive marketing was seen as the future of e-commerce and digital advertising.
By 1997, the ''Journal of Direct Marketing'' had re-branded to become the ''Journal of Interactive Marketing'', which continues today. In 1999,
Salesforce.com was founded, allowing marketers and salespeople to directly affect and guide potential customers through their company's sales process using Salesforce's cloud-based
customer relationship management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategic process that organizations use to manage, analyze, and improve their interactions with customers. By leveraging data-driven insights, CRM helps businesses optimize communication, enhance cus ...
(CRM) technology.
With the advent of
content marketing
Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used in order to achieve the following business goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand t ...
in the late 1990s and the founding of
Hubspot
HubSpot, Inc. is a US-based developer and marketer of software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. Its products and services are meant to provide tools for customer relationship management, social media marketing, conten ...
in 2006, interactivity has seen a fundamental change from simple two-way communication to
gamification
Gamification is the process of enhancing systems, services, organisations and activities through the integration of game design elements and principles in non-game contexts. The goal is to increase user engagement, motivation, competition and ...
and beyond. This particular type of interactive marketing is known as interactive content marketing, and many
SaaS
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...
companies have been founded to respond to the need for new kinds of content and differentiation between competitors.
Applications
As interactive marketing relies on having a means of open communication with customers, social media channels have been a large part of this strategy, usually headed up by a company's marketing or
customer success departments. The most common application for interactive marketing is using it as a lead generator in a
sales funnel
Sales process engineering is the systematic design of sales processes done in order to make sales more effective and efficient..
It can be applied in functions including sales, marketing, and customer service.
History
As early as 1900–1915, ...
. Interactive marketing is nearly inextricably linked to content marketing, so companies can produce audience-relevant content that is shared many times, or "goes
viral", and eventually establish themselves as an authority in their particular industry. Consumers tend to trust those who are designated
thought leader
A thought leader has been described as an individual or firm recognized as an authority in a specific field.
A thought leader is a person who specializes in a given area and whom others in that industry turn to for guidance. As the term implies, ...
s in their industry, so this strategy can bring in many inbound leads, coming through gated download pages, for example, that they are nurtured via more content created specifically for them off of the information they've previously shared.
See also
*
Content marketing
Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used in order to achieve the following business goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand t ...
*
Digital marketing
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based Information technology, digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones, and other digital media and platforms to promote products and service ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Interactive Marketing
Customer relationship management