RSS and Direct Marketing

Can you use RSS for direct marketing? yes says Rok Hrastnik, author of Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts.

Here’s why he thinks RSS is a good choice for direct marketing experts.

Contrary to general opinion, RSS meets the needs of even the most demanding direct marketer, actually providing most of what e-mail marketing does, except for the strong push factor.

Most direct marketing reasons against RSS are in fact the result of inadequate understanding of RSS by most marketers.

a] Scheduled and autoresponder messages

There are already a few services and software packages on the market that allow for scheduled and autoresponder messages via RSS feeds. Once your visitor subscribes to your special RSS feed, he can receive a pre-determined set of messages in a specific time frame, determined by you.

b] RSS metrics

RSS can in fact be tracked: track anything from the number of your subscribers, their reading habits, their reading frequency to your click-through rates and activities after clicking-through from your feed.

c] Message targeting

Since RSS feeds can be dynamically generated on a per-user basis, you can easily track the interests of your individual subscribers and then target marketing messages directly to them, making each message relevant to their needs and interests in order to increase your sales success.

d] Message personalization

If you generate your RSS feeds for each individual user, you can also personalize these feeds. Basic personalization includes elements such as the reader's first name, while more advanced personalization might include personalized content and product recommendations and so on.

e] Data capture

RSS can be used in the same way as email marketing if you give your visitors access to the RSS feed only after they've filled in a simple or complex opt-in form.

Good news for direct marketers is that these capabilities are already available in many RSS publishing/marketing solutions, available at very acceptable prices, accessible even to the smallest companies.