 RSS
Specifications
5 Internet Marketing Opportunities Through RSS
5 New Internet Marketing Opportunities Through
RSS
Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik
When it comes to new internet marketing opportunities
for your business, RSS just might be the answer you were looking
for. Here are just some of the new opportunities it can provide
you with …
1. PODCASTING AND VIDEOCASTING
Podcasting (delivering internet audio content) and Videocasting
(delivering internet video content) allow you to communicate via
rich media messages, not only making your content more attractive
and powerful, but also enabling a more personal »conversation« with
your audiences.
Up until know, the internet was predominantly a textual
channel. Adding audio and video to the mix, delivering both via
RSS, goes beyond the basic capabilities provided by »traditional«
internet content delivery channels. Rich media personalizes the
internet experience and gives your company a distinguishable face,
while at the same time providing you with a media platform to convey
your message so that it is easier to understand, see and feel.
Think about ...
--> Delivering press releases in audio or video
--> Sending your customers a personal video message from the CEO
--> Doing audio interviews to expand your reach and provide more
content to your visitors
--> Delivering video demonstrations of your products
--> Using video and audio to demonstrate how your customers and
readers can easily resolve various issues that you are helping them
with
--> Delivering important messages to your readers, customers and
business partners via a more personal audio experience, instead
of using impersonal e-mail communications
--> And so on ...
In addition, Podcasting and Videocasting form the
basis of new business models, giving you the opportunity to expand
your product base to include these formats with higher perceived
value. Customer education & support are improved as well, since
you can now demonstrate key product usage points via online video
providing customer support content in a format, which can
easily demonstrate everything you need to convey to your customers.
2. HIGH FREQUENCY CONTENT UPDATES
High frequency content updates, even on a daily or
hourly basis, are now finally possible with RSS. No more need to
hold on your important messages, news and other content for a week
or even a month to include it in your e-zine --- with RSS you can
update your content as often as you want/need, and your subscribers
won't mind.
3. APPCASTING
Appcasting goes one step further, giving you the ability
to deliver critical software updates and patches to your existing
clients, without them having to visit your web site every week to
see if the much needed update is already available or not.
4. PRODUCT NEWS, RELEASES AND UPDATES
Product news, releases and updates are now finally
possible in an easy-to-consume way. Using RSS, you can provide your
customers or prospects with simple tools to create their own »product
feeds«, through which they'll be immediately notified when new products
that precisely match their interests are available. As soon as your
product portfolio changes, so does the content in the RSS feeds
that your customers are subscribed to.
Just think of the following possibilities ...
--> The search tool is one of the most often used
in larger web stores, giving your visitors an easy way to find the
products they are interested. But the same search results can be
delivered via RSS as well. Imagine your customer doing a search
for one of your product categories, and then also receiving a link
to the RSS feed for those very same search results, to find out
immediately when a new product matching his terms is released or
available for order.
--> This works for complex searches as well. If your customers are
in the habit of searching for specific product categories, but only
in a specific price range, you can deliver those very same results
to them via RSS, but with a small twist as soon as a new
product matching their terms, including the desired price, is launched,
they are notified about it via RSS instantly. No need to visit your
site again to do the time-consuming search; the release comes directly
to them.
--> Of course, the same approach that many are already using for
e-mail alerts can be used for RSS. Give your visitors a simple form
using which they enter their criteria, and then give them access
to an RSS feed bringing them product updates based exactly on their
criteria. Why not just use e-mail? Because no one really wants more
e-mail messages in their inboxes and no one wants to give away their
personal information, while RSS is anonymous, doesn't require an
e-mail address and is read when the customer decides he has the
time.
5. PERSONALIZED CONTENT SERVICES
Personalized/customized database listings are quite
similar to product updates, but relate to any kind of complex information
you provide to your visitors, such as …
--> Job listings
--> Dating
--> Real estate
--> Etc.
Using RSS, your visitors can decide exactly what kind
of »content« (in this case, an individual content item could be
a new job listing) they are looking for and then have that content
delivered directly to them, via their own personalized RSS feed.
And yet, all of these are just some examples of what
you can do with RSS. The possibilities for new content delivery
& business development models are quite endless.
For example, some companies are already giving their
visitors the opportunity to track their FedEx, UPS and other packages
via RSS feeds. Yet others are creating new services that allow you
to receive critical information from an RSS feed to your mobile
phone via SMS (such as getting an SMS notifying you that a new job
matching your criteria is available). Yet again other sites enable
you to keep track of when you need to return your library material,
and even when your holds are ready and when they are about to expire,
all this using RSS.
All of these are new business opportunities made possible
with RSS, and each of them in a way improves lives of end-users,
without placing a larger burden (more e-mail messages) on them.
About the Author:
Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing & Publishing
Power of RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide
on marketing with RSS by top RSS industry leaders, experts, developers
and top marketers. Find out all you need to know about RSS and how
to use it to get your content delivered, win back your customers,
make more sales and increase search engine rankings http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html
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