Day 1 - DMA's net.marketing - 3/4/99

From: <richard_at_tenagra.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 10:16:53 -0600 (CST)

Below is a special mailing to The Online Advertising
Discussion List about the Forrester Forum, written by
Ann Handley, editor-in-chief of The ClickZ Network. You will
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DMA's net.marketing Conference: Day 1

Ann Handley
Editor in Chief
The ClickZ Network
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Who owns your personal data?

At the Direct Marketing Association's net.marketing
conference,(http://www.the-dma.org) which kicked off this
week in Beverly Hills, it very much depends on whom you ask.

At one end of the spectrum are old-line direct marketers:
Those who cut their teeth on postal mail, who believe that
marketers -- and the companies they work for -- hold the
keys to your demographic and preference data.

At the other end is a new crop of email marketers: Those
with "opt-in" tattoos on their foreheads who believe that
individuals control their own personal data.

Those in the former camp believe that Internet users can be
pitched with a multitude of offers and services via email.
At least... until they yell Uncle and opt out of a list.
Those in the latter camp, however, believe that the users
should never receive offers to begin with, unless they
specifically ask to receive them by opting in.

Those in the former camp believe that a blanket prohibition
of unsolicited commercial email (or Spam) offends the
freedom of commercial speech. Those in the latter camp,
however, believe that it's actually the Spam itself that is
offensive, because an individual is not in control of his or
her data.

The push-pull of this issue was a central theme on day one
of net.marketing. But more of that in a minute. First, a
word about the conference itself.

The 82-year-old DMA is the granddaddy of marketing
associations. And while it may not fully grasp the subtle
differences and sensibilities of the Net, it clearly is
aiming to establish itself in the Internet space in a big
way.

The DMA's third net.marketing show is an event on steroids:
Organizers didn't have a total, but there are well over
1,000 delegates who turned up in LA to attend sessions on
multiple content tracks covering various strategies,
technologies and tools for online marketers. DMA delegates
swarmed the Century Plaza Hotel and Tower... jamming the
line at Starbucks, lingering around the lounges, and racing
between the two buildings for sessions -- like college
students hurrying to class.

Did the content deliver? Well... sometimes. But
surprisingly, the keynote speeches (notably IBM's Dick
Anderson) seemed unfocused and disappointing for a show with
this sort of muscle. Some of the individual sessions,
however, offered up lots of meaty content.

First up, DMA President and CEO Bob Wientzen took center
stage at the morning general assembly, outlining the DMA's
agenda on the Net. Mostly, he talked privacy and industry
self-regulation, but he placed himself squarely in the
"opt-out" camp when he said that the DMA generally is
opposed to the "blanket prohibition" of UCE, as it is
currently being pushed in some states and on the
international scene.

"We see it as a freedom of commercial speech," said
Wientzen. Slamming the door on Spam completely, the DMA
fears, will lead to the prohibition of its use as a
marketing tool entirely.

Those on the other end of the spectrum feel that Wientzen's
position is short-sighted and will ultimately give the
regulators more ammunition in their efforts to regulate
email marketing. It's not about opting-out, they say, it's
about opting-in. As Esther Dyson said last week at Silicon
Alley '99 in New York: "Let's forget this word privacy, and
think instead about personal control of your own data."

Rosalind Resnick<Rosalind_at_netcreations.com>, who as
president of http://www.netcreations.com NetCreations, Inc.
has adopted Opt-In as a middle name, defined the best
practices of email marketing during a standing-room-only
panel discussion Monday. For Resnick, the best email
marketing programs allow:

*A choice whether to check the box to receive your
information or not; *A chance to say Yes to email offers;
*An ability to opt-out at any time; and *Quality management
of an email list.

Sure, all of us get a multitude of unsolicited snail mail
offers in our postal mailboxes daily. But unlike email,
those offers are paid for and sent on the marketer's dime.
Unsolicited email, however, has the end user paying to
receive the offer at every step along the way.

"Unlike postal mail, it is the recipient who pays the
freight," Resnick pointed out.

Email Dos and Don'ts

There is clearly an art and a science to marketing via
email. And Regina Brady(rbrady_at_ix.directmedia.com) , who
heads up the Internet direct marketing efforts for
Acxiom/Direct Media (http://www.directmedia.com), spelled it
out:

*Be sure that the mailing looks like it is coming from you,
and not from an email service bureau. *Include multiple
hotlinks in any email offer, so you drive recipients deep
into your site with different offers. *Complete any online
registration form with as much information as you can for
users before you ask them to register on your site. *Include
an opt-out message in every email. *Better yet... include a
link with every mailing that asks them if they wish to
continue to receive mailings from you in the future or not.
"You want to give control to the consumer," Brady said.
*Don't think mass marketing. Direct marketers may be trained
to think of cost-efficiencies on a grand scale. "But that's
not the way to think. Think smaller, more targeted, segment
it," Brady said. *Do use time-release mailings, staged so
traffic flow comes slow and steady to your site. *Expect at
least a 5 percent reply rate, and have the proper systems in
place to handle that. *Personalize your messages. *Use both
text and HTML mailings. *Build your own email customer list.
*Be sure you track the results of any mailings. *Test
various mailings for the best price, creative, and offer.

Fun Stats

I know, I know. I promised that I wasn't going to include
any more statistics depicting Internet usage in any more
conference coverage. How many Forrester and Jupiter slides
can one market take? But still, I'm compelled to tell you
that... .

Number of surfers in 1993: 3 million Number of surfers in
1999: 150 million

Number of web sites in 1993: 50 Number of web sites in 1999:
Uh... a LOT. (No one can say for sure.)

Amount of money being spent online in 1999: $300 million.
Amount of money likely to be spent online in 2003: $3.2
trillion

The Really Interesting Statistic

Best of all is this statistic: In 1998, the
business-to-business market on the web averaged $3.1 billion
in spending. In 2003, it is expected to hit $31.1 billion.

Indications are that the B-to-B market will be four to five
times larger than the business-to-consumer market online,
says IBM's Dick Anderson.

Giving Membership Its Privileges

You're thinking of incorporating a rewards program in your
site. Do you build it yourself or buy it, through a vendor
program like Netcentives, Intellipost or CyberGold?

Build it, says Larry Kruguer, vice president of marketing
for SportsLine. Here's why:

*The program will be unique to you, and build loyalty to
your site and not the incentive program's. In a competitive
market, you'll need that edge to differentiate yourself.
*The program will be difficult to replicate by a competitor.
*The program will reward your visitors for their existing
behavior... and not require them to adopt other or
additional behaviors.

Quotes of the Day

"You can't have a growing web site without email as part of
your marketing strategy." - Tim Choate, FreeShop.com

"I've never met a cyber-statistic that I didn't like." - Bob
Wientzen, President and CEO, Direct Marketing Association

"We recently launched our own cyber-cast, which didn't have
nearly the audience of the Victoria's Secret cyber-cast,
much to my dismay." - Bob Wientzen

"We are moving from a world where the big eat the small to
one where the fast eat the slow." - Dick Anderson, General
Manager, Enterprise Web Management, IBM

"Targeted, one-to-one marketing is the Holy Grail of email
marketing." - Stuart Obermann, President and CEO, Revnet
Systems, Inc.

"E-commerce requires ease, ubiquity and trust... . I'm
afraid there hasn't been any software invented that can get
you [trust]. You have to earn it." - Bob Wientzen

"Every transaction we move to the web saves us 70 to 90
percent." - Dick Anderson

"Make rewards relevant to your core program - you don't want
to be giving out toasters on a sports site." -- Larry
Kruguer, Vice President of Marketing, SportsLine

"Traditional direct marketers know about building
relationships and trust. Online can learn from them." - Bob
Wientzen

Tchotchke of the Day

The DMA show is indeed a tchotchke-rich show. Roaming the
aisles, ClickZ contributor Nick Usborne had his arms full of
trinkets from a multitude of vendors: an insulated lunch
tote from Flycast, travel mug from AOL, water bottle from
L-Soft, a flashing light from MyPoints... need I say more?

What Nick needed was the cool black zippered briefcases
available from our friends at WebConnect, today's tchotchke
of the day winner. The best feature of the WebConnect bag
was its shoulder strap, so we could be hands-free on the
show floor... . the better to sweep those tchotchkes with,
my dear.

Honorable mention: Owen Davis of Thinking Media so
eloquently argued the finer points of tchotchke development
that I'm compelled to give a nod to the ActiveAds Squeeze
Brain. Owen, whose business card says Managing Director by
whose passion really lies in tchotchke R&D, insists that the
real key to tchotchke success is in its expression and
embodiment of a company's product. Clearly, he's thought a
lot about it.

So the gray matter branded squeeze balls say, "Our ads are
SMARTER than your ads." .Get it?

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Copyright (C) 1999 ClickZ Corporation. All rights reserved.
 May be reproduced in any medium for noncommercial purposes
as long as attribution is given.

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Received on Thu Mar 04 1999 - 13:27:50 CST