The more convenient opportunities brands give users, the more demanding and impatient users become. 

What is more, recent events have changed the ways we search, choose, shop, and make purchasing decisions. 

Before, technology was the engine of many businesses, but now it has taken up all the free space under the sun. This means that marketing is changing as well, and users want even more personal and engaging interaction.

Interactive marketing can solve this problem. In this article, we are going to talk about how to develop an efficient interactive marketing strategy and why it can be a winning bet in a crisis.

Interactive Marketing Definition

So, what is interactive marketing? To catch the essence, let’s draw a clear line between traditional and digital marketing.

• Traditional marketing always means a physical medium. Billboards and street banners that we see outdoors, as well as printed catalogs that your granny orders, are classic examples of traditional marketing. And by the way, they are slowly becoming part of the past.
• Digital marketing involves any interaction between a brand and an online user. Any interaction through mobile applications, branded websites, and social networks is an example of digital marketing. The approaches used in digital marketing can be classified into static and interactive. 

Thus, interactive marketing is a subsection of digital marketing and involves a more advanced interaction between the brand and the user. Interactive marketing is fully driven by user data and behavior, and this is its main difference from static marketing.

Let’s quickly analyze one of the commonplace interactive marketing examples, and you will catch what interactive marketing is since most probably, you are dealing with it every day. 

So, when you are reading a blog post written by any company, this is an example of static marketing. The content of the page isn’t customized depending on your preferences and behavior. You just read it as well as any other user reads it.

However, if you open the Amazon home page, you will immediately see the set of goods picked up based on your previous purchases or searches. Each Amazon’s user has a fully customized carousel of goods shown to him because everyone shows different patterns of behavior. It’s a brilliant example of interactive marketing.

This is how interactive marketing works – each subsequent action is always predetermined by the previous one. 

Important note! As you can see, interactive marketing is impossible without data collection. The world is already data-driven but 71% of customers still don’t want brands to collect their data. There is even research suggesting that mass data collection destroys your relations with your customers. 

But here is the winning recipe! Developing your interactive marketing strategies, make sure you are going to collect only those pieces of data that you really need and ask only those questions your clients are ready to answer. 

Interactive Marketing Ideas to Grab for Your Next Campaign

So, let’s start to pick ideas for your future interactive marketing campaign by analyzing the ways leading brands utilize this approach. 

Contests and giveaways

This is what modern users really like. They like it because there is always a chance to get something for free. However, having a  well-developed interactive marketing strategy in the form of a contest, you may get in return even more than you invest. 

Surely, you should launch a goal-specific contest. Here are the possible goals you may achieve:

• get more subscribers on your social media profiles
• get more likes, comments, and shares
• get more contact data, for example, emails and phone numbers of your users
• boost sales
• increase brand awareness as a pleasant bonus for each goal. 

For example, Glossier beauty brand has come up with a contest and asks users just to follow and tag a friend. What is more, a tagged friend was promised to get the prize as well as a winner. You have to agree, this is a truly engaging interactive marketing idea. 

UGC campaigns

Asking users to share their content with you is one of the best interactive marketing ideas. Doing this way, you kill several birds with one stone:

• get user-generated content
• increase brand recognition
• use it as a trustworthy testimonial for future customers. 

Let’s recall the most famous interactive marketing campaign launched by Apple  – Shot on iPhone. They asked users to personally test the camera performance, share the photos with others and thereby, increase the recognition of the already globally famous brand. 

Hint! You may easily get a lot of user-generated content if you ask your users to create it as one of the requirements to take part in your contest or giveaway. 

Recommendation engine

Yes, you know how it works, and we have already mentioned this technique in our recent guide to profitable b2c marketing strategy (which by the way, managed to increase revenue by 35% with the help of a recommendation engine). 

In a nutshell, this idea needs investment since a recommendation engine is an AI-Powered Search technology, but:

• this is the strategy that works while you are resting
• this is the thing the customers are already used to
• this is the way to boost sales with the help of additional and repeated purchases. 

Interactive videos

Using videos is popular and interactive video is an emerging trend that you may want to utilize. The main difference between traditional and interactive video is that the user may do something with video content presented to him.

The simplest example is 360 videos that users may turn right or left to get the full picture. This approach works especially well in the e-commerce sector and is one of the most prominent YouTube trends.

Interactive emails

In most cases, email marketing belongs to the static marketing approaches we’ve already explained. However, you may turn it into an interactive one just by adding a GIF image or video.

Dell makes it easy. Here is how.

By the way, you may immediately recognize the clearest benefit   – your customers don’t even need to jump to your website to find out how it works since everything is already in front of their eyes. 

Surveys and polls

Surveys and polls are a great way to engage and get more insights into what your customers are thinking about firsthand. You may ask them everything you want (within reasonable limits of course). For example, what content do they want to receive from you on social media and use their answers to develop your future strategies?  

Calculators

Developing a calculator is a win-win interactive marketing strategy if there is no fixed price. This tool may help your customers to make a decision as well as to pick the option that is most suitable for them without spending your time on personal consultation.

For example, it works well in the financial and energy sectors when a client wants to get a loan or pay a bill but gets confused in monthly payments, interest rates, and taxes. 

Chatbots

A chatbot is already a familiar way to interact, stay in touch, provide customized content, and answer users’ questions while freeing up your support team. What is more, this is an interactive marketing tool that is always with you – and your users may use it as they want, depending on the questions and necessities they have right now. 

For example, the H&M store has a constantly running, chatbot-based interactive marketing campaign. Their chatbot helps users to choose and combine outfits, find out what sizes are available at the nearest store, and make an instant order.

A chatbot assistant is an excellent marketing tool for any type of clothing retailer.

Virtual reality apps

Virtual and augmented reality experiences are a relatively new trend that is going to become even more relevant because a lot of people are not in a hurry to visit crowded shopping malls again. This approach is already used by IKEA and numerous other commercial giants. Their augmented reality app allows users to see how the chosen furniture will fit their interiors.

How to Plan and Launch an Interactive Marketing Campaign

Now you have a lot of ideas for your new interactive marketing strategies. Let’s find out what should be done in practice to make it successful:

1. Define goals. Any interactive marketing approach should be goal-specific, otherwise, it will be a waste of your time and money. 
2. Choose tactics. As you may see, there are one-time (contests) and constantly running (recondition engine) interactive marketing examples. There is no universal advice on what you should choose first. However, if you have a limited budget, start with the tactics that will help you make additional profits (for example, social media contests) and reinvest the profit into further strategies. 
3. Test your ideas. For example, if you are going to develop an AR mobile app, you should always follow the LEAN approach and come up with MVP first. 
4. Prepare for data collection. Now you need to decide what data you want to get, where you are going to store it and how to use it further. 
5. Launch the campaign. Just do it, as Nike would say. 
6. Measure your results. Measuring the results will help you understand what is right and wrong with your idea. Surely, you should take it into account while developing your future interactive marketing strategies. 

Conclusion

As you may see, interactive marketing is not so difficult. What is more, some of the strategies may almost be free but offer you a lot in return. Your users are already waiting for something exciting so feel free to get started using our tips! And remember, ReVerb is always ready to help you realize the most fascinating interactive marketing ideas!