Unit- 5

Interactive marketing
Interactive marketing is a two-way approach to marketing focused on interaction and
collaboration as per the reaction and inclination of the customers. It is also known as event-
driven, trigger-based, or one-to-one marketing.
Hence interactive marketing campaigns are directly proportional to the results of consumer’s
actions, expectations, behaviors, preferences, or even demands. It is known as trigger-based
marketing simply because it uses triggers to communicate with users for example polls, contests,
quizzes, etc.
As a result, interactive marketing is highly reliant on data gathered while interacting and
engaging with the prospects.

Definition: Interactive marketing is defined as a type of marketing campaign that interacts with

existing and potential customers as per their actions, reactions, and inclinations. Interactive
marketing strategies are triggered by the behavioral preferences of the prospects.
The advancement in technology, internet penetration, and the popularity of social networking
platforms has bought an enormous shift of focus for interactive marketing. This marketing
technique was applied in digital marketing for years but, now the focus is shifted to
personalization.
Unfocused marketing campaigns are almost an ancient phenomenon. Consumers now expect
highly personalized marketing efforts targeting their interests. Interactive marketing is a form
of direct marketing that is highly customer-centric in its approach.

Types of Interactive Marketing

There are various approaches to interactive marketing. However, the goal is always the same.
Get people to respond to your content. Here are ways you can make this happen:
1. Interactive Storytelling Via Content
This form of marketing allows marketers to seize various opportunities to be as creative with
their content as possible.
Creating ads that depict a story or adding animations or infographics to a blog post, the range is
enough to scratch the creative itch of marketers. The discovery of information through
innovative channels creates more interaction.

2. Layering Information
Companies now strive to share and disseminate as much information they can to their customers.
Creating information-heavy content can become too dull for many. As a result, interactive
marketing acts as a marvelous approach to layering information for consumers. A way to do so
is to break detailed information into smaller pieces of creative content. An easy-to-read
infographic would appeal to larger audiences than an all-informative blog.

3. Personalized Content
Personalized content can only be created if the company has an insight into consumer behavior,
preferences, demands, or expectations. This means that the company needs a lot of data about the
consumer to guess their likes and dislikes.
Most companies maintain a database with essential information about their customers. This
includes their demographic, psychographic data, their contact information, email ids, etc. The
more you know about your consumer, the better your ad can target the customer.
This helps in creating a more meaningful marketing experience which leads to higher
conversions. The relatability and relevancy of content matter a lot.
4. Two-way Interaction
The content you share in a public space should have the ability to start a conversation of some
sort. That is what makes interactive marketing a successful endeavor. Active participation on the
part of the consumer is the goal of these campaigns.
To make your content interactive, a marketer needs to keep communication open for the
customer. There are various types of interactive tools a marketer can incorporate into their
content. A few of the tools mentioned above include:

a. Contests-
Companies have been hosting contests for ages now. It is one of the oldest tricks in the book of
interactive marketing. Contests have evolved, but they succeed at catching the audience’s
attention. Raffles, giveaways, or social media contests are proven ways to capture the audience’s
attention. Now contests are not approached as a standalone strategy. Contests are a single aspect
of the complete and holistic marketing strategy. They are a fun way to approach all your clients
or focus on a specific group of clients based on the prize that may interest only that group.

b. Quizzes-
In 2015, 90% of the most shared Facebook posts were quizzes. That data may not be so outdated
yet. You may have hated quizzes back in high school, but companies have found ways to make
quizzes fun. The best thing about a quiz is that it is an inherently shareable piece of content. If
one customer takes the quiz and likes it, that quiz will likely be shared with friends and family of
that customer. Nowadays, companies first encourage customers to take a quiz before showing
them a catalog of their products. Based on how the customer fares in the quiz, products that will
suit them are suggested.

c. Polls-
Polls are usually quicker to complete as opposed to a quiz or a contest. An incentive to finish a
poll is that people want to know how similar or different their views are from others. This
encourages them to at least finish the poll and be rewarded with immediate results. Polls are a
great tool to enhance user engagement but are not great at lead generation.

d. Videos-
Interactive videos can be of many types but, these include a different call to action. As a result, it
is easier to capture and retain the audience’s attention as they are constantly re-engaging with the
content. Interactive videos have become so popular that now they have entered the film industry
in the form of interactive movies. An interactive video is also a great way to layer information
for the consumer.
e. Emails-
Email marketing is a prevalent practice followed by most companies if they have access to your
email address. However, with the increase in spam and junk emails, it isn’t easy to ensure that
your email marketing efforts are fruitful in being interactive.

Advantages are as follows:

Increased sales: Increasing their conversion rate is what most businesses strive for, and with
good reason. Well, luckily for you, this is what interactive marketing does. It works to increase
the odds of your ability to deliver what the customer is looking for as well as offering items that
are related to past and current searches.
Lower costs than traditional marketing efforts: Firstly, online advertising of any type costs
significantly less than traditional marketing efforts including television, print as well as radio and
can often produce a much greater return rate.
Customer satisfaction: As we now know, interactive marketing is based around fulfilling the
customer's needs. More often than not, you’ll be able to match your consumer with the right
product or service, and thus, offering more satisfaction with the least amount of effort. Further, a
happy customer is more likely to be loyal as opposed to one who is unable to find what they’re
looking for.

Disadvantages of interactive marketing

As with any marketing strategy, interactive marketing requires careful planning and
implementation. Although a system will ultimately record and decipher many factors for you,
you will still require the tools to understand what these measures mean.

Comfortability factor: For some consumers, ads that are targeted towards their wants and needs
may come across as creepy or unnerving. Delivering recommendations means tracking what
your customers do, and for some this is uncomfortable. Targeting ads in their direction may
cause them to pull away from your company slightly. But of course, many technologically aware
customers will be used to it.

Customer differences: Interactive marketing works on customer probabilities. However, just

because many people bought both items A and B, does not mean that this will happen every
single time. Unfortunately, this could go wrong in some cases while working to highlight that
you don’t know your customer as well as you think.  
Implementing interactive marketing in your business isn’t just about a simple click of the mouse.
It’s really about taking the time to understand your marketplace as well as the wants and needs of
your customers. 

Placing Ads and Promotions Online

A company has to decide which forms of Internet advertising will be most cost effective in
achieving advertising objectives. Banner ads are small, rectangular boxes containing text and
perhaps a picture. Companies pay to place banner ads on relevant Web sites. The larger the
audience reached, the more the placement will cost. Some banners on web sites are not paid for,
but instead are accepted on a barter basis. In the early days of the Internet, viewers clicked on
roughly 2 to 3% of the banner ads they saw, but that percentage quickly plummeted and
advertisers began to explore other forms of communication.
Many companies get their name on the Internet by sponsoring special content on Web sites that
carry news, financial information, and so on. Sponsorships are best placed in well targeted sites
where they can offer relevant information or service. The sponsor pays for showing the content
and in turn receives acknowledgement as the sponsor of that particular service on the web site.
A micro-site is a limited area on the Web managed and paid for by an external
advertiser/company. Micro-sites are particularly relevant for companies selling low-interest
products such as insurance. People rarely visit an insurance company’s Web site. However,
the insurance company can create a micro-site on used car sites offers advice for buyers of used
cars and at the same time a good insurance deal.
Companies can set up alliances and affiliate programs. When one Internet company works with
another one, they end up advertising each other. AOL has created, many successful alliances
with other companies Amazon has almost 1 million affiliates that post Amazon banners on their
Web sites. Companies can also undertake guerrilla marketing actions to publicize the site and
generate word of mouth. When Yahoo! started its Denmark site, it distributed apples at the
busiest train station in Denmark with the message that in the next hours a trip to New York could
be won on the Yahoo! site: It also managed to get this mentioned in Danish newspapers.
Companies can offer to push content and ads to targeted audiences who agree to receive them
and are presumably more interested in the product or product category.

Buzz Marketing
Creating a buzz about a brand, product or service in the target market base, so there is hype
amongst users or consumers to widen reach, boost lead generations and increase conversions is
called Buzz Marketing.
In this post, we will dive deep into buzz marketing, understand what it is, learn different types of
buzz marketing and finally go through various examples of buzz marketing. So, let us get
started with the introduction first-
Buzz marketing is the oldest, highest, and most reliable marketing method.
Buzz marketing is a marketing method in which a business or brand follows all possible
strategies to create a buzz to prompt their new product in society. This marketing method will
generate some excitement at a product on a person’s mind and in turn; the person automatically
suggests that product to others that ultimately creates hype around that product.
It is a chain reaction in which the buzz of a product will be around until the product gets outdated
or useless. It is usually either word by mouth strategy or mouth by ear strategy. There are lots of
methods and techniques used in Buzz marketing because buzz can be created in various ways.

Types of Buzz-Marketing
1) Buzz Campaigning
Campaigning is one of the oldest Buzz marketing methods.
It is done by sponsoring some events or creating their game to prompt their product.
Campaigning is done on sponsoring something that is always an option, but there will always be
an event launch to launch their product.
In which the company will explain its product, product specifications, and advantages. It
considered crucial for their product promotion to creating an eagerness in people’s minds to buy
their product.
2) Online campaigning
Online campaigning has also become an essential method for Buzz marketing. The world is
online nowadays, so it has also become a necessary platform for campaigning their product.
The company will post an advertisement online at all the social media platforms to create talks
about their products. I think it is the method that all the companies use nowadays to create a buzz
about their product.
For example, did you remember the advertisement of Vivo Apex?
That was the first mobile phone advertisement to create a buzz about all display or full display
mobile phone.

3) Offline campaigning
Offline campaigning is prompting a product, employing person to person communication.
This method consists of services like customer care, feedback, and so on.
This method will give satisfaction in the consumer mind that their product is safe, and it also
helps the company to improve the product to the next generation based on the customer reviews,
and the customer needs.
This method is followed in all the companies as mandatory to connect themselves with the
customers.

4) Using Influencer or prompting through a famous Blogger

It also creates a buzz of a product because the influencer or blogger will explain the features of
that product very clearly.
If a person is waiting for a product to be launch, then watching their favorite blogger
to blogging the outcome of that product will also give them excitement to buy that product. It can
even convince consumers to buy that product.
The video or written blog released by that blogger can reach many customers, and that helps to
create a buzz about that product. For example, unboxing of phones or review about the new
products is an example for the famous bloggers who blog about products that are going to be
launch or blog about product features after its launch. It is the easiest way for the company to
reach its customers.
Influencers also play a significant role in informing their followers about any new product
launch.

5) Creating demand for that product

All the company follows it, but to explain it better; I want to use one example.
Lamborghini and other exclusive car companies make only a limited amount of cars for the
customer, which creates a buzz and makes them sold out very fastly.
Another example is the limited edition of mobile phones; the mobile phone company creates a
limited edition mobile phone based on the trending matter that is happening in the world to
create a buzz for their product.
Whenever you heard the word defined edition, then the company that selling that product is
trying to create a buzz on that product.

6) Rumour Spreading
Buzz marketing is not only done by creating leverages but also by creating rumors about other
products.
Rumors about other product can also create a buzz which will automatically make us buy the
competitive company product to that rumor product.
For example, if a mobile phone company has rumors that their security is weak, and the company
has less protection so that hackers can hack the users’ data of that company. What will you do
then if you want to buy a mobile phone?
You will consider other company’s mobile phones rather than the rumored company mobile.
This is also another method of buzz marketing.
After going through different types of buzz marketing, let us now delve into various steps that
can help you in running an effective buzz marketing campaign-
Advantages of Buzz-Marketing For Your Brand
Buzz marketing has many benefits like
 Free advertisement for a company.
 Best reach to the customers.
 I am selling products very quickly.
 Getting feedback and improve that product to create the next generation of that product.
 The fast reach of a product to the people
Buzz marketing has many advantages, and it is one of the oldest marketing methods that are still
in use and used by all the companies in the world.
By using Buzz marketing method, you can easily reach the people in all the corner of the world.
This marketing method can reach to the remote place very quickly because this method is a
mouth by ear strategy.
This method can make a better understanding of the company and customer, even if the customer
is illiterate. It can make a company reach people very efficiently and also it can make the
company achieve great heights.
Along with these advantages, there are some disadvantages of buzz marketing as well. Let us
have a look upon those as well-
Disadvantages of Buzz-Marketing:
The downsides or limitations describing buzz marketing are-
1. Interpersonal communication in this process lacks control. This makes the whole process
less trustworthy.
2. The investment is required for goods and distributions. Hence financial stability is
needed.
3. It isn’t effortless to make the product go viral in the process. Hence it is a complicated
process.
4. The dependency on the customer increases for the sale of the products and services.

Tips for running a Successful Buzz-Marketing

For running an effective buzz marketing campaign, few key tips need your attention, so let us
have a look upon those-

1. Widen the reach of your Product through Communication

When you plan to run a buzz marketing campaign, your primary means of communication are
your consumers. You need to incorporate a communication strategy that focuses upon
your target audiences, and let them be aware of the hype that your product or service has.

2. Your product satisfaction level should match the viral you created
When you are running a buzz marketing campaign, it is essential that your product matches the
expectations of your consumers and satisfies them. When the product matches the real buzz, it
helps in increasing the market presence and credibility more effectively.

3. Create a viral for emphasizing your uniqueness and superiority

When you launch a product and create a buzz around the same, you need to ensure that your
product is better than your competitors, or your product has some uniqueness that differentiates it
from other existing products. Running a buzz marketing campaign that can help you overcome
the competition in your target marketing is quite essential here.

4. Your viral should be directed towards the virtualization of your campaign

When you are running a buzz marketing campaign, you need to support it with some other
powerful means that can visualize your campaign and widen its reach by penetrating more
favorable markets. You can use advertisements, referral campaigns, social media
campaigns, influencer marketing, etc. for making your buzz marketing to be viral.

5. Use online channels for optimizing the reach and conversions of viral
Marketing experts recommend the use of multiple online channels for optimizing the outcomes
of your buzz marketing campaign. Using online advertising and marketing tactics will be quite
useful in boosting the conversions of your buzz. You can use content marketing, email
marketing, online advertising, social media marketing and advertising for increasing the virality
of your buzz marketing.

6. Use monitoring tools to measure the success of your viral campaigns

As in any other campaign, you must measure with your monitoring tools what is happening to
know how your strategy is working, if you must change something, what actions to strengthen,
etc.

Examples of Buzz-Marketing
1) Apple
The Apple Company does the most exceptional representation of Buzz Marketing.
They have come up with highly effective campaigns for their Macintosh, and word of
mouth became their most significant friend along with ads for creating the buzz. Being different
from the rest of the manufacturers has been the USP of Apple.
Thus you can say, a good Buzz marketing campaign is not focused purely on the commodity or
the inbound links, it is highly dependent upon the credibility in the market. So, without having a
positive interaction, you would not be able to do so either.
For ensuring success for their brand via buzz marketing, a high amount of advertising
strategies that assist and improve the spread of information is incorporated by the Apple
marketing team.

2) Clorox Lounge
Along with having some USPs and great word of mouth, some other key factors play a crucial
role in optimizing the outcomes of a buzz marketing campaign.
Understanding the requirements of consumers and channelizing campaigns as per their needs is
also essential for creating a buzz. Clorox did the same with their Clorox Lounge campaigns.
In this, an interactive website is provided to the customers in which contests, customer forums,
and surveys are incorporated. By using this, the company develops a connection with their
potential and existing consumers. It also allows customers to share their viewpoints about Clorox
products.
This strategy becomes quite useful in widening the reach, engaging with customers and building
credibility that ultimately convert into conversions and increased market presence for the brand.

3) Starbucks
Starbucks is yet another illustration of the process of Buzz marketing.
Starbucks acknowledges that its primary marketing is name recognition via word of mouth. But,
along with this, the company also ensured the top-notch quality in its every product. Offering
customized services with a highly amicable ambiance has also been a prime factor of positive
buzz around the brand.
Some of the instances of such features are-
 1. The name of the customer is illustrated with a happy expression on the bottle.
2. The staff will always be there with a smiling face to attend you.
3. The company is known for offering the best quality in the market superior to all of its
competitors
4. The atmosphere is pleasant, with spaces to sit down comfortably and soothing orchestral
music.
5. They give consumers free wifi.
6. Gift a loyalty card to consumers.
So, all in all, the idea of having a coffee can be turned into an event thanks to the fantastic
experience ensured by Starbucks.
This generates the base for buzz marketing. Starbucks ‘ unique experience makes customers post
photos of the spot with their smiling drink on different social networks. This does
effective branding for the company.
Because of such an inspiring, customized, friendly and effective market presence, the positive
hype around the brand helped it to have a presence in 75+ countries around the world.
Buzz marketing experts may build a sensation about a potential item or company in a variety of
ways. These were only a few explanations of how companies want customers to chat, so they’re
going to want to do it first hand.

Conclusion:
So, on the concluding note, we can say that buzz marketing is a sales tactic targeted at creating a
healthy level of trust, hype, and loyalty within customers to widen the reach, optimize lead
generation and boost conversions.
Brands and businesses around the world need to create a healthy and productive buzz around
their products and services. The tips mentioned above will for sure help you in running a result-
driven buzz marketing campaign.
Buzz marketing also aims to stimulate discussions among the target customer segments about a
brand, its products or services. That is why; buzz marketing comprises significant advantages for
the brands that are planning for a product launch.

What is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is nothing more than a strategy that you can use to get people to promote your
app (or any other product) via their existing social networks.

How a Viral Marketing Campaign Works

Building and setting a viral marketing campaign into motion is basically creating content so
engaging and so relevant that people can’t help but share it with their friends: “Hey, you HAVE
to see this!”
You plan and produce the content. You make it as shareable as possible. Then you release it in
the hopes that it spread via word of mouth.
This is what makes it unpredictable. Not everything a marketer creates will resonate with their
audience. And even if it does, not every resonant piece will persuade users to spread it to their
circles.

Viral Marketing Advantages

Going viral has some excellent advantages:
 Low cost: It doesn’t need to cost much to produce something that people will want to
share. Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that resonate the most. And when done right, it can
give you excellent ROI.
  Reach: Going viral spreads your message and your brand much further than you might
expect.
 Credibility: Suddenly, your brand is on everyone’s feed. Or becomes the topic everyone
brings up at a party. If done well, this is your ticket to instant (and hopefully lasting) brand
awareness.

Disadvantages of Viral Marketing

But as with everything, there are cons to go with the pros. While a good viral marketing
campaign can bring massive awareness about your brand in a cost-effective manner, it also has
the capability to dilute your brand. Or at its very worst, build negative buzz regarding your
brand and products. This is when “too much of a good thing” may just hurt your work in
building your organization’s credibility.
Virality rests upon the idea that people share your campaign with their friends. But many will not
do so if they’re afraid you’re going to end up scraping personal information from them or if
you’re simply going to add their friends to a spammy mailing list. Remember, individuals  have
their own “personal brand” to protect.
Additionally, going viral may lead to a massive influx of new users who suddenly
disappear after checking out your app. These campaigns won’t automatically bring you loyal
customers who will last years.
Overall however, the advantages of viral marketing far outweigh the disadvantages.

10 Viral Marketing Principles to Follow

With that said, there are principles that are present in every single one of the viral marketing
campaign examples we tackle below. Let’s list them out here before diving into the best practices
you can use to prepare for potential virality in your own campaigns.
Effective viral marketing campaigns have:
1. Excellent planning
2. Audience involvement
3. Spectacle + press-worthiness
4. Humor + like-ability
5. A worthwhile cause
6. Celebrity star power (optional)
7. Low barrier to entry
8. A really good incentive
9. Exclusivity
10. Urgency

Mobile Marketing
Definition: The Mobile Marketing refers to the marketing activities undertaken to reach the
consumers directly via mobile phones, connected to a ubiquitous network, to which the
consumers are frequently connected.
With the advent of the smartphones, well compatible with the internet connection, the companies
have started to send the videos, audio clips, images of their products to consumers, so as to
enable them to have a feel of the product.
 Mobile Marketing Methods

1. Short Message Service (SMS): The SMS or text message is the most common and the
traditional method of mobile marketing wherein the customized messages according to the
customer’s demographics are sent to their personal mobile phones.
2. Multimedia Message service (MMS): The MMS is again one of the traditional forms of
mobile marketing, wherein the media or images of maximum length can be sent to other mobile
phones without any internet connection.

The MMS can be sent to any mobile phones provided their handsets are compatible with this
message service.

3. Quick Response Codes (QR): The QR code is a mobile application that can be

downloaded on the smartphones through which the consumer can read the barcode to know
about the details of the product.

The QR codes are the latest means of mobile marketing that redirects the consumer directly to
the website once they scan the QR code given online. Also the text, mobile numbers, addresses,
etc. can be stored in the QR code, such that, the same can be sent to others who can scan it using
their app, thereby limiting the sending of business cards.

4. Location Based Services: With the use of GPS, the companies can track the location of
the mobile users, and then send the messages that are customized according to the location in
which they reside.
5. Push Notifications: The Push Notifications are usually the text messages which are sent
by the server and do not require any specific application to be open on the mobile phone to
enable these push notifications.

The users can opt for the push notifications at the time they install any services and can manage
these pop-ups according to their convenience.

6. Mobile Advergaming: This is one of the latest methods of mobile marketing wherein the
companies make use of video games to promote their products and services.

The film companies are the ones who make a much use of the mobile advergaming, such as
spider man, iron man, resident evil, etc. are some of the movies on which video games are
developed and gained much popularity among the youth.

The mobile marketing is the extension of the Internet Marketing and is sometimes called

as Wireless Marketing. Through this method, the companies can reach a large audience at a
much less cost and can have an effective promotional activity.
Pros of mobile marketing
 
Instant Results
 
Users always carry their mobile phones with them. Most of the time, the user has his mobile
phone on as well, which means, he or she receives the message at the very moment it is sent.
Even if it is in standby mode, the message is received as soon as the user turns on his mobile
device. Hence, mobile marketing techniques are always almost instant.
 
Easy to work with
 
Drawing out content for mobile devices, whether it is text, images or video, is simpler and less
expensive as compared with the same for desktops or laptops.
 
The mobile medium also makes easier to issue promotions and marketing incentive services to
the user. Further, the user can keep the virtual information with him and carry it around till the
time he needs to use it.
 
Convenient to use
 
Since the screen size of a mobile phone is small, it limits the scope of content that can be
displayed. This makes it convenient for the creators of the content, who can keep it basic and
simple. Also, simpler content will adapt itself better to various mobile platforms.
 
Direct marketing
 
The mobile platform interacts directly with users on their mobile phones. This allows for
personalized interaction to a large extent. Using this benefit, marketers can even start a direct
dialogue with the user, getting instant feedback via SMS.
 
Tracking user response
 
User response can be tracked almost instantaneously. This helps the mobile marketer better
understand and analyze user behaviour, thus improving their own standards of service.
 
Huge viral potential
 
Since mobile content can be easily shared among users, mobile marketing can have huge viral
benefits. Users invariably share good information and offers with their friends and family, so
companies get a lot more exposure with no extra effort.
 
Mass communication made easy
 
Since a lot more people own mobile phones than desktops or laptops, mobile marketing helps the
marketer reach a far wider and diverse audience, especially in the more remote regions of the
world. Mobile marketing also gives the entrepreneur the advantage of geo-location and sending
location-specific messages to users, using GPS and Bluetooth technology.
 
Niche not highly concentrated
 
Mobile marketing is still only being explored, so the niche is still comfortable for any new
marketer. This means that he stands a better chance of success with his mobile marketing efforts.
 
Microblogging benefits
 
Mobile users are increasingly using microblogging platforms like Twitter from their mobile
phones. This microblogging feature can be very highly beneficial to the marketer.
 
Mobile payment
 
The latest mobile payment facility is very convenient for the users today. Here, users are offered
a secure online payment environment, which works via advanced mobile Web systems. This
means that the user does not need to cough up physical currency each time he wants to make a
mobile purchase or pay a bill online.
 
Cons of mobile marketing
 
Platforms too diverse
 
Mobile devices do not have any particular standard, as compared to PCs and laptops. Mobile
phones come in many shapes and sizes, so screen size is never constant. Besides, mobile
platforms vastly differ from each other, using different OS’ and browsers. Hence creating one
campaign for all of them can get difficult.
 
Privacy issues
 
Mobile marketers need to understand and respect the fact that users would like their privacy
online. So they should only indulge in promotional activity if they have the user’s permission for
it.
Navigation on a mobile phone
 
The mobile phone usually comes with a small screen and no mouse. This means that navigation
on a mobile phone may get difficult for the user, even if it has a touchscreen. In such a case,
most ads may go untouched, as the user may find it too tedious to look in detail through each one
of them.