Re: RSS and the Sale Papers of Tomorrow

From: David Yancey <dyancey_at_adjunction.com>
Date: Fri 29 Apr 2005 19:49:16 -0500

(I_ve posted this response to the Mediacenter's Morph blog, but here it
is to save O-A readers_ time.)

Can RSS be a more effective channel to reach local consumers? Sure.
But it will take a good deal of time to aggregate even a solid minority
of them, since few are actually getting RSS feeds today. Why am I so
sure? Because, since our new Vivante.com search tool focuses on both
local needs as well as the interests of grown-ups, we go to some trouble
to assess their needs and behavior as search users. Very few of this
premium target audience of busy women and active seniors:

- read blogs (other than a few national political ones)
- know what RSS is, what an RSS reader is, or know how to configure
their email client to receive posts
- want stuff to just appear in their in-box - - even if, a week
earlier, they *asked for it*.

So RSS will be a useful messaging channel for local selling, but not
this year or next, in any meaningful commercial numbers.

As to how to integrate local sales messaging with local RSS news
streams, Terry Heston may be correct in nominating local media sites.
But I think it is far more likely that most busy consumers will elect to
get feeds *by topic*, EG, wine enjoyment, rather than be deluged with a
steady stream of RSS posts about trivial local "news" -- which is much
easier to filter and track with good 'ol local cable TV.

What this means, if I am right, is that the more important missing link
is for special interest blogs and sites to learn how to merge *locally
geo-targeted commercial messaging with the feed subset that is then
targeted for a specific area*.

The result will be a direct-marketing-supported piece of desired
content, assembled on the fly, and satisfying the reader_s content
needs, as well as providing *topically-relevant* ads for near-by
bargains etc. This will give local merchants and services providers
with a very powerful, highly targeted, high ROI messaging channel.

Anyone who wants to learn how this can be done can email me.

David Yancey
dyancey at-sign proactics.com




Received on Fri Apr 29 2005 - 19:49:16 CDT