March 7thSimpleFeed Unlocks RSS Power for Marketers
Christopher Kenton
After hosting a videocast explaining the fundamentals of RSS in an interview with [tag]SimpleFeed[/tag]’s Mark Carlson, SimpleFeed deserves their own profile as one of the leading companies improving the utility and adoption of RSS as a marketing tool.
RSS makes the syndication of all kinds of content easy over the Web, enabling users to subscribe to blogs, videos, music, news, even product sales and coupons, and have that content delivered directly to their desktop. The attraction of RSS for consumers is they don’t have to trawl all over the Web for the stuff they like, and they can subscribe anonymously without fear of giving up personal data just because they want to view a video or blog post. But raw RSS provides significant challenges to marketers. If users can anonymously subscribe to content and unsubscribe on a whim, how can you gather information and metrics to refine your marketing programs and retain subscribers?
SimpleFeed solves many of the challenges of leveraging RSS for marketing. They have the ability to customize RSS feeds to retain brand image; they individually code each subscription so behavior can be followed even without an identity; they provide metrics so subscriptions and click-throughs can be monitored; and they dovetail with broader Web analytics tools so cross-channel campaigns can be managed and tracked.
RSS provides a significant alternative to email and Web marketing–one that an accelerating number of consumers embrace because it’s more relevant, less intrusive, and allows them to control their connection. SimpleFeed provides a suite of tools to help marketers make the most of this new channel, without limiting the benefits for consumers. They have targeted solutions for media publishing, financial services, ecommerce and Web marketing, and they’re constantly innovating new tools and techniques to improve RSS capabilities for marketers. For example, Mark mentioned in his interview the notion of secure RSS feeds in the future, which would open up a lot of new possibilities for RSS services and transactions.
The video below is a short demo showing the consumer experience of SimpleFeed’s templated RSS feeds in a desktop RSS news reader. The examples are Sears, Consumer Reports, and EMC.
[flv:http://www.marketingrev.com/wp-content/videos/SimpleFeedDemo.flv 352 240]
On a personal note, and I guess a disclaimer: I’ve known SimpleFeed for a couple of years. I met them when they were leasing space in the same building, and I’ve been following their progress ever since. They’re a very sharp group of engineers with a strong understanding of marketing. I don’t have any business connection with SimpleFeed, but I do hope to use their technology with my agency in the future.
After hosting a videocast explaining the fundamentals of RSS in an interview with [tag]SimpleFeed[/tag]’s Mark Carlson, SimpleFeed deserves their own profile as one of the leading companies improving the utility and adoption of RSS as a marketing tool.
RSS makes the syndication of all kinds of content easy over the Web, enabling users to subscribe to blogs, videos, music, news, even product sales and coupons, and have that content delivered directly to their desktop. The attraction of RSS for consumers is they don’t have to trawl all over the Web for the stuff they like, and they can subscribe anonymously without fear of giving up personal data just because they want to view a video or blog post. But raw RSS provides significant challenges to marketers. If users can anonymously subscribe to content and unsubscribe on a whim, how can you gather information and metrics to refine your marketing programs and retain subscribers?
SimpleFeed solves many of the challenges of leveraging RSS for marketing. They have the ability to customize RSS feeds to retain brand image; they individually code each subscription so behavior can be followed even without an identity; they provide metrics so subscriptions and click-throughs can be monitored; and they dovetail with broader Web analytics tools so cross-channel campaigns can be managed and tracked.
RSS provides a significant alternative to email and Web marketing–one that an accelerating number of consumers embrace because it’s more relevant, less intrusive, and allows them to control their connection. SimpleFeed provides a suite of tools to help marketers make the most of this new channel, without limiting the benefits for consumers. They have targeted solutions for media publishing, financial services, ecommerce and Web marketing, and they’re constantly innovating new tools and techniques to improve RSS capabilities for marketers. For example, Mark mentioned in his interview the notion of secure RSS feeds in the future, which would open up a lot of new possibilities for RSS services and transactions.
The video below is a short demo showing the consumer experience of SimpleFeed’s templated RSS feeds in a desktop RSS news reader. The examples are Sears, Consumer Reports, and EMC.
[flv:http://www.marketingrev.com/wp-content/videos/SimpleFeedDemo.flv 352 240]
On a personal note, and I guess a disclaimer: I’ve known SimpleFeed for a couple of years. I met them when they were leasing space in the same building, and I’ve been following their progress ever since. They’re a very sharp group of engineers with a strong understanding of marketing. I don’t have any business connection with SimpleFeed, but I do hope to use their technology with my agency in the future.