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Incorporating RSS Feeds Into Your Marketing Strategies

Jim GoldsteinSr. Manager Web Strategy

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Informatica at a Glance

• Founded: 1993

• Headquarters: Redwood City, California

• Employees: 1,200+

• Offices: North and South America, Europe, Asia Pacific

• Revenue:$267 million (2005)

Fast Facts• Market share leader (Gartner Dataquest)

• Customers: 2,700+

• 83 of Fortune 100

• 80%+ of Dow Jones

• Government organizations in 20 countries

Our MissionBe the clear leader in data integration by enabling customers to gain the most business value from all their data assets

Our Singular FocusData Integration Products and Services

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Informatica Goals & Challenges

• Improve Customer Relationships

• Refocus Marketing Efforts

- Thought Leadership

- Product Releases / Updates

• Minimize Tendency to Over Email Customers

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RSS: Delivering Content Worthy of Subscribing

• What is RSS?• Pure & Simple A Subscription Mechanism• Technically Speaking Structured XML• The Future of RSS

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_future_of_rss.php

• RSS Readers: The Other Half of the Picture• FeedDemon, Google Reader, MyYahoo, BlogLines.com, and

numerous browsers (IE7, Firefox, Safari), etc.• #1 Benefit: Mechanism of Digesting A Lot Of Information

• Syndication: Spreading Your Net• Google, Feedburner, syndic8, etc.

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Is RSS Right For Your Audience

• Viewer Types

• Viewer Goals

• Technology Comfort & Familiarity

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Looking Inward

• Tendencies

• Strengths

• Weaknesses

Evaluate Your Company Culture

& Department / Author Reliability

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Technologies & Marketing Approach

Lead Generation

• Micro-sites

• Registration pages

• List Building/Buying

Outbound

• Email Blasts

• Newsletter

• etc.

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The Corporate Dilemma

• Number of Groups, Teams, Messages, etc.

• Number of Email Hitting Customers

• Negative Impact

Balancing The Needs Of The Many

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The Challenge

• Abuse: Behavior vs. Technology

• Developing A Plan To More Intelligently Market

• Building & Expanding Audience

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New Goals

• Showcase Industry Expertise & Leadership

• Develop Trust and Relationships with Readers

• Foster Dialogue

• Provide Easy & Intuitive Access to Information: High Value Content & Lead Generation Programs

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Cost Savings By Building High Value Lists From RSS Subscription Conversion

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The Mechanism

• Blogs - Driving viewers to value rich content

• Comments Enabled- Facilitating dialog & return visits

• RSS- Pushing updates to high value contacts and leads in an effort to drive return visits

• Solid Blog Design Template- Optimize content placement & RSS link

• Syndicate RSS Feeds

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The Transition

• Supporting Old Ways• Minimizing Reliance on Email• Newsletter

• Marketing New Blogs / RSS• Site Optimization• Optimized Blog Templates

• Communication / Opt-Out Refinement Announcement

• Return On Blog (ROB)• In-House Metrics• Feedburner Subscription Metrics• Converting RSS Subscribers To Leads

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Gotchas

• Legal• Corporate Policies• Corporate Culture

• Review Processes (PR, IR & Legal)“Material Nonpublic Information”

• IT• General Knowledge• Security• Policies

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Gotchas II

• Marketing• Writing for the Web and RSS• Covering Everyone’s Needs• Localization & Foreign Authors

• Logistics• Well Architected RSS Feeds & Controlling Them Tightly• Recognizing Where This Model Doesn’t Fit• “After the Party”

Organizational Follow Through & Ownership

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Initial Results

• Raised Internal Awareness

• Launched Four (4) Blogs & Podcast Feed

• Curbing Bad Behavior• Cutting Outbound Email by ~50%

• Growing RSS Subscriber Base • Syndication, Events, User Meeting, Press Release,

Press Partnerships, etc.

• Converting RSS Subscribers To Leads• Metrics• Blog / Event Tie-In

• Business Impacts• Internal Policies• Acquisitions

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The Road To The Future

• Keeping Close Tabs on the Here & Now

• Eye On New Technology Developments

• Expand Corporate Identity & Voice

• Expand As Appropriate Through Social Media

• Educating The Organization

• Nurture & Expand Customer Interaction

• And…

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It’s All Down Hill From Here?

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Questions

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Thank You