Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater, Texas Christian University, to discuss emerging media trends with the university’s Public Relations Tools Class. As I expected, these students were experts in all things Web 2.0 – facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like. They were somewhat surprised to hear how recently the social media revolution has taken place, but that did not come as a shock. After all, these “kids” live in the digital relationship world. Their lives revolve around text messages, status updates and iPhone applications.
However, what I found most interesting was the students’ opinions on two separate topics – e-mail marketing initiatives and the future of print media.
The students mentioned that they are frustrated by opt-in e-mail marketing campaigns that bombard their inboxes on a daily basis. In particular, they mentioned Victoria’s Secret as a big culprit. Instead, they would rather see a limited number of truly valuable messages that provide a benefit – sale information, special promotions or coupon deals.
Allyson Cross with PR students from TCU
Seems simple enough.
They also took aim at the time that e-mail marketing messages are delivered. As marketers, we may not give much thought to the time our e-mails hit our customer inboxes. But with the ubiquitous nature of the blackberry and iPhone, we should be cognizant of this. None of us wants to be woken at 3 a.m. from the e-mail notification sound on our phones.
Finally, companies with sister companies beware! You may be endangering your relationship with online customers who opt-in to your e-mail marketing program if you assume it’s okay to opt them in to sister company e-mail programs as well. So, Banana Republic, make sure you don’t use e-mails from the Gap database! (**Note that I use these companies as an example only. I have no idea if they actually do this.)
I also spent a lot of time discussing the future of print media with the students. Their insight was fascinating.
Students are willing to pay for information via the Web that they view as truly valuable. Examples they provided included sports magazines with in-depth information or publications with consumer report data.
To survive, the students recommend that print publications take a similar approach to iTunes. Give me an account. Charge me a small fee for each article I download. Don’t charge me a huge upfront subscription-based fee that may not prove worthwhile in the long run. They believe that this could be a wise solution for newspapers across the country.
Good advice. Maybe we should all go back to school every once in a while.
