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By Rok Hrastnik
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.
Rok Hrastnik is the author of »Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of
RSS«, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers
by leading RSS experts. The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.
marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa8
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