Those concerned about the Internet stealing some of their business will take heart in the results of a recent survey by Forrester Research that indicates Net marketing works best when used in tandem with a traditional and proven promotional medium.

It makes sense; the object of online marketing is to draw responses, and (hopefully) business from visitors to a site. With that in mind, businesses with an existing web site who had tested other promotions were asked: 1) which form of promotion they'd recently tested, and 2) which had been most effective for them.

Holding down the top slot in both categories was free merchandise -- which very often involves items with logos -- tested by 60% of respondents and considered most effective by 31%. In fact, the only medium tested more often than free goods was coupons ... but it pulled a far lower rate of effectiveness.

Here are the survey's overall results:

(Original source: "The Counselor," published by Advertising Specialty Institute)