Marketing Studies

Rok: I don't want to take us away from the main topic, but I am interested in this. You say that as far as the Daily goes you are not concerned with how many dollars it makes. But isn't the Daily your primary "marketing" channel and as such "responsible" for generating leads and converting them to customers on the long-term?

In relation to this, could you explain your marketing strategy to us and what part the Daily and direct-to-desktop marketing play in it?

Also, if just for a minute you presume that SPAM is no longer an issue with e-mail, why would direct-to-desktop be a better tool for your strategy than e-mail?

John: I'll start my reply by answering the last part of your question first. Presuming Spam is no longer an issue is ridiculous. I have seen nothing to convince me that the Spam situation is improving. Matter of fact, as far as I can tell it is still getting worse.

But the reason I prefer direct-to-desktop marketing and direct-to-desktop publishing over email publishing and email marketing is that there is a fundamental difference in attitude between the two. Using email is :push technology" - shoving your messages into your prospects' faces. Using channels is "pull technology" - putting your prospects in charge of what they read and when they read it without overloading their inboxes with a lot of crap they don't want and often did not request.

As far as the Daily goes, yes, it is specifically set up to acquire what you refer to as leads. I prefer to see them as people - readers. That is one of the problems with email delivery. It treats people as objects rather than subjects. And don't go spouting that personalization gibberish either. I don't but it and even when I was doing email I thought it was a bunch of horse shit.

My channels are more personalized than any marketing email I have ever seen. A good direct-to-desktop marketer TALKS to his audience in ways that email has never been able to for more reasons than I want to get into here.

As a guerrilla marketer, I believe that all communication with people about my business is marketing. Therefore my channels are part of my marketing, but they are not geared to sell products. My web site does that. What the Daily sells is my integrity, my expertise, my honesty, and my knowledge - all for free. The Daily is designed to build that most tenuous of profits - credibility. That is done through content and content alone. One of these days people will come to realize that I know what I am talking about.

One final comment on your question: the main function of direct-to-desktop publishing and marketing for me right now is to get my message to the right people. My main focus for some time has been to keep strengthening my search engine rankings for those keywords that the people I want as readers find important, the people who are as fed up as I am with the stupidity and dangers associated with using email for business.