I have always been intrigued by the technical jargon, the language and concepts that result from the innovative ideas that are created in the high-tech market. The latest buzz—for "Interactive Marketing"—has especially caught my attention. All of a sudden interactive marketing appeared in news articles, on websites, and in product marketing literature. Also, many marketing and public relations firms began claiming expertise in the matter. The first time I came across an article that mentioned interactive marketing was in January of 2002. This article was published by the Association of Interactive Marketing (AIM) and outlined many ways in which interactive marketing could be leveraged, with a higher focus on e-mail as a way to reach consumers at that time. Currently, many organizations are planning to spend large amounts of money in 2004, in order to capitalize on the new opportunities that the Internet continues to present. Some organizations have gone as far as creating an interactive marketing department or division, headed up by a director or VP of Interactive Marketing.

In efforts to gain a fuller understanding of what interactive marketing is and what people and organizations hope to accomplish with it, I began the search for the ultimate definition of interactive marketing. My research also began as a result of being exposed to Pinpoint Selling—a Canada-based organization that specializes in helping organizations reduce wasted time on unqualified leads, while making the pipeline bigger through an interactive marketing NetRep. An interactive marketing NetRep, could this be a virtual salesperson?

My research began on the Internet. I typed the magic words into several well know search engines. The information I got back was not very descriptive and most of the results were connections to information technology and marketing organizations that specialized in various forms of marketing. I did, however, come across an article titled: "Marketing Intelligence & Planning," by Rowley J. In this article, the author stated that in the digital world, marketing is concerned with creating presence, creating relationships, and creating mutual value. The Internet as a marketing channel is interactive, accessible, ubiquitous, and integrates marketing communication with commercial transactions (sales) and service delivery. As a channel, the Internet both sends content to an audience, and acts as a route to a group of customers or potential prospects. The most popular forms of interactive media (marketing) on the Internet today include: banner ads, click throughs, networks, URLs and portals.

We also have the ability to track all sorts of information on the interactions that individuals express on-line. The potential for building relationships is inherent in every transaction and dialog. There is, however, a slight problem: We have so much information and technology that at times it has become bothersome and overwhelming. Many, I am sure, have suffered at one point or another from pop-ad overload, and don't really believe and click on the flashy banner ad that states you have won a prize or something. Not to mention spam.

As I continued my search, my focus started to lean more towards integrating interactive marketing, sales, and the Internet, because in the end, I believe that what companies hope to accomplish is an increase to their bottom line. Marketers often need to decide on the best mix of communication tools, at the lowest cost. In fact, Henry Stewart Publications with the Institute of Direct Marketing believes that with technologies that prove its effectiveness, and production and media costs dropping, many marketers will embrace online advertising in 2004. Microsoft spent $35M on Internet advertising alone in 2003. "Our online presence will continue to grow," Microsoft's Delman said. My question to him is how much are you getting in return? Or, how much are your customers really getting in return by advertising with you?

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