Pheedo, SilverPop and SimpleFeed co-sponsored the third RSS Roundtable Dinner in San Francisco Oct 17 in conjunction with the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Annual Conference.

Yes, this was still back in 2006. But the lessons learned still remain, and since I'm doing house-cleaning after 6 months of inactivity, why not start with this.

One thing was made painfully clear at the roundtable, speaking with the attendees --> everyone wants to do RSS marketing, they just still don't see how to make it work as a marketing vehicle.

The answer is clear: it's just marketing.

Many of those using RSS today have forgoten or choose to ignore the years of lessons and experience from the direct marketing world. But in the end, it's just marketing.

Problem #1: Capture Subscribers

No one is subscribing to your feed?

Well, what incentive are you giving them to do so?

"Here's my feed, please subscribe" just won't work. It doesn't work with e-mail, it won't work with RSS.

Information overload is worse than ever. And as lead generation marketers have learned long ago, cutting through the clutter with your free subscription offer demands a bribe. As simple as that.

The Solution
Migrate from saying "Here's my feed, please subscribe" to giving additional value to those that reward you with their subscription --> whitepapers, additional content access, discounts, free video, free webinar access, free consulting, etc.

Problem #2: Customize, Personalize & Target

Most e-mail marketers have learned long ago that their response rates and consequently sales increase when they precisely target the right offer to the right person.

It's database marketing 101. Pure & simple.

And RSS and the good companies behind it support it.

If mass communications & content delivery don't work for e-mail, why do you think they will for RSS?

The Solution
Capture additional data from your RSS subscribers and track their behavior. Then get the right content and promotions to the right person.

The Ultimate Solution

RSS is just another marketing channel. Don't ignore the decades of marketing expertise just because it's a new channel. The same success principles apply.