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Most email marketers missing out on blog & RSS revolution

December 30, 2004

More than 68% of marketers are concerned about rising email inbox clutter, yet only 23% of the marketers read blogs via RSS Feed and more shockingly, few marketers can even define RSS according to a survey by WordBiz Report, a weekly report offering tips, tools, case studies and interviews on marketing effectively with Internet copy and content.

This is solid documentation that many legal marketing consultants and companies are clueless when it comes to offering their clients and customers the most cost effective Internet marketing solutions.


i-Newswire reported yesterday that when WordBiz Report surveyed email marketers about RSS (Really Simple Syndication) they found:

  • 74% claimed to be familiar with the term
  • Only 37% had downloaded a newsreader or subscribed to a Web-based RSS reader
  • Only 30% subscribed to blogs or other syndicated news feeds
  • A scant 23% regularly read blogs via RSS

Per i-Newswire, the WordBiz survey highlights the fact that most marketers still don’t understand the significance of RSS as an online publishing strategy; namely, that RSS sidesteps delivery through email. Incredible when these are their concerns:

  • 68% of the more than 370 marketing pros surveyed identified their single largest concern about online marketing as “rising above inbox clutter”
  • 60% claimed spam filters as their biggest headache

Debbie Weil, Publisher of WordBiz Report, hits the nail of the head:

Despite the recent attention to RSS in the mainstream press, we’re still at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding and adoption of RSS as a business communications channel. With RSS feeds, you can reach a willing and waiting audience — without worrying about spam filters or inbox clutter. With the simplicity of My Yahoo!’s RSS feeds, I predict that 2005 will be the year of RSS adoption.

The legal marketing arena is a perfect example of people who do not get it. I see law firms doing email marketing via email newsletters all the time. They have no idea that blogs and RSS would reduce their expense and get their content out to more people. (Note all blogs have RSS built into them for disseminating content)

We have legal marketing companies and consultants who do not have a clue what RSS means and the impact it is having on marketing. These companies are not using blogs & RSS to market their own services, let alone are they in a position to advise their clients & customers how to effectively spend their Internet marketing dollars. These folks are content to take in a lot of money for over priced solutions & ideas like email marketing that are really a thing of the past.

If you are an in house legal marketing professional or lawyer working with companies selling Internet marketing services and solutions, demand that your consultants and suppliers know about RSS & blogs. If they do not, you are spending more for less effective Internet marketing.

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