Advertising feature on Radio 4

I was listening to Radio 4 on the drive home from work yesterday (stuck in a rush hour traffic jam, you know how it is), and they had an interesting feature about advertising and communicating with customers. They mentioned a "brave new world" in which people will sign up to receive useful info by text. This is information that people want:- permission marketing.

Away from the internet it's time-consuming and costly to keep your lists clean. Just think of all the offers you get in the mail. Some poor person has got to handle all those return to senders, and update their database-- be it on a computer, or on paper.

With autoresponders and email this process is automated. Every email you send out will have an unsubscribe link, so that your clients are in effect cleaning their own database-- with the help of your autoresponder.

Of course, it's so easy to press delete with email, and store your mail unread, but it's just as easy to throw a letter in the trash. And once you get to trust, like, and look forward to emails the chances are you will open that one & read it immediately. One newsletter I always read immediately is Phil Wiley's. It's easy to read, personable, entertaining with some useful content.

Google was inevitably mentioned on this Radio 4 program as the way for companies to prosper in the future. Google provide relevant, targeted content for people. And they are constantly adding new features to the Google brand. For example, Google Adwords, Google Adsense, and Froogle to name a few.

So I think that any company that is innovative, permission based, and targets its adverts and message will prosper-- especially on the internet.