What are the factors that determine the success of an organization's
efforts in the area of interactive marketing?

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 09 Mar 2003 17:36 PST

It seems that interactive marketing is very broad in scope. What
aspect of interactive marketing do you want addressed? just let me
know. :)

---

Clarification of Question by jackieyu-ga on 09 Mar 2003 18:24 PST

Hi, the concept is very broad indeed, so what I am interested in is
not any tech detail, just want to have some references that talk about
general "affecting factors"

---

Request for Question Clarification by easterangel-ga on 09 Mar 2003 19:02 PST

Hi jackieyu-ga! I have found the "best practices" methods for the
three elements of interactive marketing namely Search Engine
Marketing, Web Design, and Email Marketing. Would this be considered
as a legitimate answer? If you say yes, I will post it as an answer
and collect the fee.

---

Clarification of Question by jackieyu-ga on 09 Mar 2003 19:21 PST

ok

Hi! Thanks for another interesting question and for accepting my
proposal as an answer!

Before we start with the "best practices" of different aspects of
interactive marketing let us provide a basic defintion first of the
main topic.

Interactive Marketing - "Any direct communication to a consumer or
business recipient that is designed to generate a response in the form
of a direct order, a request for further information that may
eventually lead to a direct order (lead generation), and/or a visit to
a store or other place of business for purchase of a specific
product(s) of service(s)."

"Internet marketing is the newest channel in direct marketing. While
still in its frontier stages, online direct marketing sales are
expected to reach more that $136 billion in 2005."

"DIRECT MARKETING"
http://www.ciadvertising.org/student_account/summer_01/shasheen/finalproject/Directmarketing.html

The best practices for interactive marketing in terms of search
engines, web design and email marketing could be found below.

"Interactive Marketing Best Practices" (Introduction Page)
http://www.harpercasei.com/bestpractices.php

a. "Search Engine Marketing Best Practices"
http://www.harpercasei.com/searchenginemarketingbp.php

b. "Web design"
http://www.harpercasei.com/webdesignbp.php

c. "Email Best Practices"
http://www.harpercasei.com/emailbp.php

In terms of internet advertising and email marketing, here are the
critical success factors.

"The advertiser must assess what he wants to achieve through an
Internet presence. Initially this calls for an evaluation of how well
the advertisers target audience and product portfolio suit the
Internet. Companies targeting well educated, innovative, affluent
males or students have great potential for success as their segments
were found highly represented on the Internet. Products and services
with high information intensity, high buyer involvement were also
found suitable for Internet promotion due to its ability to carry
large customized information at low costs. Mail order companies can
also take advantage of Internet purchase facilitation. Low product fit
or low audience fit companies can still take advantage of building or
reinforcing a brand image or getting a learning experience with
interactive media."

"Internet Advertising"
By Margrethe Dal Thomsen
http://smemn.org/Default.asp?PageID=28&Arg=19

"Following exploratory qualitative research among industry experts we
analysed 30 email marketing campaigns to identify factors associated
with higher response rates. We found the following factors were
associated with increased response rate: subject line, email length,
incentive, number of images. For nine of these campaigns we were able
to link demographic and lifestyle data to response. Analysis of these
campaigns suggests that recipients who have previously bought on the
Internet have higher response rates to email marketing. "

"Email Marketing: Success Factors"
http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw02/papers/refereed/rettie/paper.html

In general the MSN website for it's interactive marketing seminars
mentions the following as factors to consider for interactive
marketing:

"Building Brand – What are proven strategies and tactics for achieving
brand goals online? How can the Internet be successfully integrated
into your overall marketing mix?"

"Customer Response – In an era when metrics such as click-through are
less relevant, how are leading companies measuring their
response-oriented campaigns? How can marketers generate offline sales
results through online campaigns?"

"Creating Relationships – How are leading companies speaking to their
current customers where they are at online to build retention and
loyalty? What are the most effective methods for driving opt-in
results?"

"Interactive Marketing Best Practices Executive Briefing"
http://advantage.msn.com/register/BestPractices.asp

Samples of "Best Practices" articles could be found in the link below:

"Interactive Marketing Best Practices"
http://advantage.msn.com/services/bestpractices.asp

Search terms used:      
"interactive marketing" success factors "best practices"
     
I hope these links would help you in your research once more. Before
rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if 
you would need further information. 
     
Thanks for visiting us again.      
     
Regards,      
Easterangel-ga      
Google Answers Researcher