Posted by
JohnnyRocks on Friday, October 24, 2008 12:00:00 AM
Traditional advertising and marketing utilizes a combination of radio ads (spots), TV ads (broadcast spots), print ads, outdoor boards (billboards) and direct mail. While there is a "synergistic" effect of a running a campaign that includes all of the above, the budget for such a campaign is EXTREMELY expensive. In addition, this type of campaign is NOT personalized but targets the masses.
Interactive marketing in contrast, targets individuals by name (title, etc.) and appeals to the specific interests of the recipient. A tool that has been used with very impressive results in the interactive space is the PURL (Personalized URL). A PURL is a Web site that is uniquely personalized to a very specific target market and addresses the recipient by name. Automotive clients have experienced great success in facilitating test drives; the key component to closing the sale in the car business. (Maybe it's the smell of that NEW leather)
Another available tool is a solution by a division of Sony called eBridge. This solution is similar to PURL but uses a disc (CD or DVD) to distribute the initial content rather than a printed piece as used in a PURL campaign. eBridge is extremely beneficial if there is video to distribute rather than just still images.
While the fundamentals of a sound marketing campaign are very similar, the choice between traditional and interactive marketing can produce drastically different results. In addition, the interactive campaigns give you immediate feedback as to who is responding and what actions they are taking. In fairness, radio, TV and outdoor boards still do much of the "heavy lifting"...they CAN get your message out to the masses in rather short order. On the downside, you aren't able to compile specific results from your campaign as you can with PURL or eBridge.
Other interactive "sleeping giants" are outbound email campaigns, blogs and podcasts. The comparitive low cost of an interactive campaign along with very attractive ROI make the interactive model an obvious choice.