It's All Geek To Me - February 4th 2004

I consider myself a pretty good real world indicator for spam issues – an average day sees my anti junk systems eating about 850 messages in total. We have lots of old email addresses and lots of client specific ones as well – between being around doing this for the better part of a decade and letting clients use 'webmaster' type email addresses – I get more than my fair share of spam.

One Month into 2004 – also known as the year of the first real federal anti-spam legislation and it is time for a report card – it seems to us this effort deserves a big fat "F-". Don't know about you but I am getting more junk than ever – some geeks are referring to the act as the I CAN SPAM act (instead of it's real name: CAN-SPAM Act of 2003)

All depends upon how you look at the world but the concept that this legislation provides a template by which you can legally spam is not quite as sarcastic as it might sound. I suspect we will see marketers take legal action against ISPs in the next 18 months for failure to deliver messages. The CAN-SPAM Act also has provisions for other things to be adopted and implemented – like a “do-not-email” registry (which the FTC is authorized to create but not required to do so.)

So what does the act say – basically that senders have to label e-mail messages, provide an opt-out mechanism, and provide their physical address. It also prohibits deceptive subject lines and false headers – but doesn't get especially clear on what that means.

Why does this suck and what should you do about it?

There are many reasons why this sucks – but the most important of them might not be top of your mind...these issues dilute and degrade the real world of legitimate email marketing. This is a vision issue – a bit like people who were certain that because of credit card security issues they shouldn't sell anything on line. Are you hesitant to engage in email marketing because of spam issues – that'd be a major mistake.

The other minor thing which sucks is that you probably need some sort of filtering system. We've tried them all and lately I have been a fan of the one built into the paid mode of Eudora. Now – back to the point at hand...

Real email marketing is amazing stuff – this is a very powerful vehicle that is being overshadowed by all this junk mail discussion.

Email marketing works, and the unique power of the medium is just beginning to be understood. It allows for two way discussion with customers, a nice fuzzy feel to communications, and the best way there is to inform prospects, which sells them over the long haul.

How should spam issues play into your email marketing strategy? They shouldn't. I recommend you totally ignore the problem, use a good service and forget about it.

How does sending powerful, well-designed, compelling email marketing messages to your customers play in a spam-tacular world...so well you would hardly believe it.

If you have a website you should have a house email list – it should be simple to join your list from your site. Even if you have no plans to use it now, you should begin collecting customer email addresses today. (note: you must have a clearly stated privacy policy and should never abuse people who give you their valuable-as-gold email address)

You need to consider your e-newsletter for what it is – one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. A relationship builder, capable of creating tone and voice and genuine feeling in a way that no other medium can achieve. (how many of you know about my strong coffee obsessions? Nice human thing to know but I would never put an ad in a newspaper talking about how Ross loves coffee)

Now – remember that part above where I told you to forget about all these spam issues and focus on marketing to your customers and building relationships. Damn fine advice if I say so myself but I kind of am obligated to point out the exceptional danger I might be creating here – use a good service.

Email marketing services are really important – you need one. We have seen our clients emjoy good success with a wide array of systems but the one we use and recommend is Constant Contact. For a small or medium business there isn't a better one – but the list of what a good service includes is pretty simple.:

• full list management capabilities (sub and unsub, import, export, etc. )
• custom html capabilities
• tracking reports (who opened what and when)
• simple to use interface
• tight anti-spam policies and relationships with major ISP's to assure delivery

When someone visits your website you want them to buy something or contact you – also known as the MDR (most desired response).

What if they aren't ready to do so – is your site ready to accept the SDR (secondary desired response) – join our e-newsletter list here.

KISS News

KISS is happy to announce the launch of our official “quarter-free” arcade in Eastham. If you are a fan of the classics we invite you to come by and try your hand at Asteroids (the original 1979 B&W version), Rolling Thunder, or Centipede.

Be aware, if you beat Ross's high score at asteroids you should not expect he will be capable of doing any work until he has regained the position of number one asteroids score.

Tech Tip

by Michael McGrath We heard some speculation this week that the perpetrators of the MyDoom virus attack were disguised in Penguin costumes. Let's examine the facts: · The virus is attacking only Windows-based systems. · Windows is a Microsoft product. · Microsoft's web site is an announced target of an organized attack this week. · SCO (a company claiming proprietary interests in the Linux OS code) was battered by the MyDoom distributed denial of service attack that knocked out its web site on Sunday. · SCO is suing a number of companies that distribute the Linux operating system claiming it owns much of the Linux code. · The main targets, then, of this virus seem to be those with whom the Linux community might have a beef. · The final piece of information you need is that the Penguin is the generally accepted mascot of Linux. Does that mean the virus was unleashed by the Linux community? I don't think so. I think it's just a bunch of punks who consider this to be cute and funny, and who went after the easy targets. Having a Linux-based home system makes me invulnerable to the MyDoom virus. However, I still have a firewall installed, and I still use an anti virus software, which leads to the Tech Tips, your take-aways of the week: ·Firewall up, people. ·Anti virus up, also. ·Keep your virus definitions files current. ·Don't open any attachments to emails you receive. Finally, consider Linux as an operating system. At the least, you can sit back and relax when the next virus attack comes along, as it's likely to be going after Windows, and not me or you.