March 2007 Archives

In the blog On Message from Wagner Communications, John Wagner strikes a chord with any of us who try to help companies tell their story. Fear of failure with regards to innovative marketing tactics and non-selling storytelling approaches kills many great ideas. We must acknowledge that consumers today are more adept at sorting through sell messages and have access to vastly more useful information than in the past. Wagner puts it well: "In today's world, public relations and marketing should be designed to facilitate dialog and stimulate interest that will lead someone to learn -- on his or her own -- more about your product or service. "That's a pathway that doesn't always lend itself to neat and tidy ROI measurement. But don't let that fear stop you from taking the road less traveled."

Previously, I wrote about how RSS could replace e-mail in terms of catering more to the individual's preference for receiving opt-in information. Chris Garrett makes an excellent point on this need for more personalization in RSS, calling for a next-generation RSS that would allow the feed to recognize and acknowledge the person reading the information. This has been done in direct mail and, of course, e-mail marketing for some time, but it is something I think we'll see very soon.