What is an interactive agency?

New media agency. Internet marketing agency. Online marketing agency.

All of these terms are synonymous with “interactive agency”, yet what do they actually mean?

With the advent of the Internet as the newest, most far-reaching way to market to consumers, interactive agencies sprung up as the business to call for creative online design and support for marketing web sites. An interactive agency offers such services as Web site design and development, internet marketing consulting, online advertising/marketing, online interactive media and email marketing to name a few.

Typically in the history of interactive agencies, they would not grow out of a traditional marketing agency, but begin as their own distinguishable entity, marketing online from the beginning of their creation. They are brought on board by traditional agencies to tackle such highly targeted Internet marketing fields as search engine marketing and viral marketing.

An interactive agency embraces the Internet and its vast potential to market to consumers in new and creative ways unavailable in traditional marketing schemes.

Goals
Any marketing agency will work to advertise goods and increase revenue, but an interactive agency goes beyond these simple goals to facilitate long-term success. An interactive agency works to increase return on investment, to create buzz that spreads virally online, and to create brand loyalty. The Internet holds endless opportunities for an interactive agency to easily create brand awareness with unprecedented results, atypical of traditional media, even through leveraging consumer generated media and social marketing.