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  The characteristics of interactive marketing communications 

 To best exploit the characteristics of digital media, it is important to understand the differ-

ent communications characteristics of traditional and new media. In this section, we look at 

eight key differences. 

  1  From push to pull 

 Traditional media such as print, TV and radio are 

push media

, a  one-  way street where 

information is mainly unidirectional, from company to customer. In contrast, the web is 

an example of  

pull media

 , more idely known today as inbound marketing. It means that as 

prospects and customers only visit a website when it enters their head to do so – when they 

have a defined need – they are proactive and  self-  selecting. But online pull means marketers 

have less control than in traditional communications where the message is pushed out to a 

defined audience. What are the digital marketing implications of the pull medium? First, we 

need to provide the physical stimuli to encourage visits to websites. This may mean tradi-

tional ads, direct mail or physical reminders. Second, we need to ensure our site is optimised 

for search engines. Third, email is an online push medium, so it should be a priority objective 

of website design to capture customers’ email addresses in order that opt-in email can be 

used to push relevant and timely messages to customers.