Software developers

These companies have paid huge sums of money to have software developers convert their company materials into RSS-compatible content. They've hired professional designers to come up with attractive, customized "reader" applications they can send to their subscribers. And they've put tons of money into developing flashy graphics, streaming audio, and video clips to send out.

There is a tremendous opportunity for marketers to be at the very front of the curve, taking advantage of this red-hot new technology to get secure, direct access to the desktops of your customers... But unfortunately, it's next to impossible for the average person to get set up with direct-to-desktop technology right now. You need to know a programming language like XML to create your content "feed." And unless you're willing to hire some expensive software developers, your subscribers will have to use a generic "newsreader" application to receive your messages.

Now, these newsreaders are decent applications for reading things like news headlines, but the problem with them is that they give you no control over the way your message looks, so you can't customize your subscribers' experience with your company name and logo. Plus, generic newsreaders can be used like e-mail inboxes to view messages from a number of different companies... meaning that your message can once again be lost among messages from your competition!

The same thing happened with e-mail marketing. At first, it was just a few entrepreneurs testing the water to see if there was a way to avoid paying postage for direct mail promotions - and now, thanks to e-mail automation software like Mail loop, it seems like every company is using e-mail to distribute their promotions and newsletters.