As I detail below, here are the top five reasons for private proactive engagement:

• Message Targets - With private messaging, you can target your fans based on your particular campaign objectives. A number of services allow you to target based on geography and interests as well as allowing for personalizing the engagements. With public messages, target your top prospects and/or influencers. With the limited number of tweets that are reasonable to push out per day, it’s crucial for your brand to get the most out of your directed outreach.

• Message Varieties - With private messaging, all you have to do is perfect the one message that resonates best with your target audience. With public messaging, it’s important to add a variety of messages as many of your targets will click-through to your feed and you don’t want them noticing the same message repeated.

• Message Types - With private messaging, an initial communication can be a question or even a call to action that includes a link because you have already developed trust with your fans. With public messaging, be very careful when sharing links as users are often skeptical of random mentions that contain shortened links.

• Message Timing - With private messaging, all the messages can go out at the same time. With public messaging, you’ll likely want to stagger your directed messages and fill your stream with ‘filler content’ that can break up the similar messages.

• Message Frequency - With private messaging, you should ideally put your targets on a drip strategy to optimize your desired action. With public messaging, be ready to stop communication if the targets are not responsive.

Strive to build a meaningful audience as quickly as possible, and turn your social followers into the second coming of your email list. Good luck activating your audience!

• The inevitable continuation (and acceleration) of marketing data/analytics providers migrating from offline to online

• The inevitable continued migration of advertising budgets from search-to-display

• Increased demand for data (as we're still in the 2nd or 3rd inning of a long game)

• Consolidation taking place as highest-quality data providers rise to the top

Migration of budgets from offline to online is something that direct marketers have been experimenting with for some time, and this New Year is no different. Marketers, who have leveraged offline data to reach consumers through direct mail and other traditional offline channels, will continue to follow their target customers as they migrate online and onto mobile devices. Offline data companies that stand still will be left behind as marketers test, scale and leverage high-performing online data, sometimes on a stand-alone basis and sometimes integrated with offline data.

Along with this trend is the continued tendency for consumers to spend a significantly greater proportion of their time browsing rather than searching. To capture these audiences, sophisticated marketers will continue to migrate their budgets from search to display in order to mirror consumer media consumption patterns, reduce customer acquisition costs, and leverage scalable media sources as well as integrated and available third party data.

With consumers spending more time online and on mobile devices, demand for high quality, aggregated third party data will continue to increase as test budgets translate into permanent demand for high-performing data.

Finally, as the need for data grows, the Luma chart will become more consolidated as data-providing companies with high-performing, unique data sets rise to the top of the market.

Despite no shortage of proponents in each camp, we think the conclusion is simple: it’s pointless to compare email marketing with social media marketing. Each has a unique value. More importantly, we believe that email and social media should be used in tandem, not against each other, for effective digital media and marketing campaigns.

The problem with comparing email marketing and social media marketing is apparent: one (social media marketing) is a brand strategy while the other (email) is a direct-response strategy. Each requires the other in some form to be effective, and each builds off the other for greater value and efficiency.

The infographic isn’t without merit. It offers some valuable insight marketers can use to understand how, when and where to use and integrate email marketing and social media marketing to improve their lead-gen and digital engagement efforts.

But first, it’s necessary to look at the facts.

Email Still Generates Results

Email marketing continues to produce eye-popping results. According to HostPapa, business spending on email marketing campaigns has increased 60 percent in the past year, accumulating 17.4 percent of U.S. brands’ digital marketing budgets in 2011. Email open rates continue to rise, too, improving 12.6 percent in Q1 2012, according to a report by Epsilon and the Direct Marketing Association.

Those are no small feats; especially for a form of digital communications many believe is dead/has died/will die.

Social Media is Garnering Big Money

Those numbers pale in comparison, however, to the growth of social media. The figures are widely known but worth repeating for full effect. Facebook has 900-plus million users worldwide. LinkedIn has 161 million active members. Twitter has more than 100 million active users. That doesn’t take into account the $4.7 billion businesses are projected to spend on social media marketing in 2012. Or data indicating that small to medium-sized businesses are projected to increase their social media budgets by 100 percent this year.

HostPapa concluded in its infographic that email “wins” because of its allegedly superior reach, features and usage. But that misses the larger point addressed above: social media isn’t about generating a direct response or a purchase. It’s about connections, relationships and engagement between brands and their customers. Of course it is different than email; comparisons between the two are futile.

What does this mean for brands still confused about how, when and where to integrate social media into their digital marketing campaigns?

1. The natural synergy of email and social media. Direct marketing (email) is more effective when there is branding (social media) behind it, and branding is improved when there is direct marketing behind it. Look for ways to integrate best practices from each into your next email or social media marketing campaign.
2. Social goes beyond engagement. The common perception of social media is that it doesn’t offer a direct sales component. It’s great for engagement but bad for lead generation. That’s true … to a point. Brands can turn social media marketing into leads if they include a way for consumers to opt-in to their email marketing campaigns within specific social media messages. From a tactical perspective, the digital age demands that email marketing and social media marketing are interconnected and integrated.
3. Let social do the soft sell and email go direct. Know where you are placing the appropriate function, how it will be consumed and how audiences will react to the message. Include social components in every email marketing campaign to ensure that first-, second- and third-tier readers can share your content and advocate for your brand.

Keith Trivitt is director of marketing and communications at MediaWhiz, a performance marketing and integrated digital media agency. Steve Goldner, senior director of social marketing at the Ryan Partnership, a MediaWhiz sister agency, also contributed to this post.

To be sure, these brands also are avid users of social media, and they do a great job making sure their emails and offers are easily share-able on social networks. Social media is a partner, not a threat, to email marketing because together they strengthen your message, and provide new channels for getting in front of both new and potential customers.

Unfortunately, many businesses – especially smaller ones – simply do not have the time to figure out how to integrate social media and email marketing in an effective and measurable way. If you're crunched for time and want to get the most bang for your efforts, here are five easy ways to make your emails more social.

1. Include live "follow" buttons to your social media profiles in your email. Yes, perhaps I'm preaching to the choir, but you'd be surprised at how many companies still don't have them. A little HTML knowledge is all you need to accomplish this, and there are lots of different (and free) graphical buttons online for you to choose from.

2. Make sure your email service provider offers hosted versions of your emails. This is simply the email you've created hosted on a Web page, so that it can be accessed by anyone (e.g., someone who clicked on a link that was shared on a social network). Your email service provider should offer an easy way to insert a link that has been automagically created anywhere in your email.

3. Embed social sharing icons in your emails. These are different from the buttons I recommend in No. 1; these icons allow your recipients to post a link to the hosted version of your email on their social networks. Some email service providers provide tracking and reporting on how many people posted your email to their networks, which is valuable information about your email's overall effectiveness and relevance.

4. Make it as easy as possible for current subscribers to share your email by adding both "forward to a friend" and "sign up for emails" links in the email body. The "forward to a friend" link allows them to do exactly that; the "sign up for emails" link should lead to a landing page where their friend can simply type in his/her email address and automatically be added to your subscriber list.

5. Add an email sign-up form on your Facebook page. This is a fantastic way to let your Facebook fans know that you have an email newsletter they shouldn't miss. Simply create a separate tab on your page so that visitors will know exactly where they can sign up for more information. Include a reason or two why they should sign up, such as recent "email only" offers or promotions.

So, there you have it. You've got no excuses now!

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a provider of email marketing, social media, online survey and direct mail marketing solutions.

In email marketing, it's never done. Every email is an opportunity to test and refine the creative. A simple tweak in your email campaigns could squeeze in some additional clicks, opens and even extra revenue from your subscribers.

You can pretty much test anything in an email, including the name of the sender, subject line, pre-header, header, image-to-text ratio, number of links, even the color of your font and call-to-actions … which can make the whole testing thing a little confusing and overwhelming, especially if you’re just starting an email campaign.

So you know you need to test, but where do you start? Here are some key essentials.

Develop a control email

A control email is you putting a stake in the ground as far as what you think will work for your audience, and the email to which you’ll be comparing your test emails. Take your best stab at developing your creative, copy, offer and messaging with your control email, and always test against this. Once you’ve beaten your control (in other words, achieved better results), then the new, more effective email becomes the control.

Test your list

Divide your list into two segments so that you can send one email to one group and the other email to – you guessed it – the second group. This tends to work better with larger lists (more than 1,000), because smaller lists may have a sample size too small to be statistically valid.

You also might want to separate your list by “customer” versus “lead.” This way you can eventually shift leads over to being customers, and send out different offers for each group.

Test different components within your email

Here’s the fun part. Select what you want to test. The subject line is a big one; if it doesn’t pique your readers’ interest, they won’t even see the content of your email. At VerticalResponse, we recently conducted a test where we created two exact copies of an email and only changed the subject line. One read “Get 50% Off Email Credits – Up to 1000!” and the other said “Get Your VR 10th Birthday Gift!” Guess which performed better? If you guessed the first one, where the offer is loud and clear, you're right. This subject line had a 3.8 percent lift in open rate and made 45 percent more revenue. (For more about this test, read my “Adventures in Testing” post on the Marketing Blog.)

Another popular element to test are call-to-actions. You can try text links with one email and buttons with the other.

When you try a new idea, make sure it contrasts sharply with your control email – it’s the only way to really determine what works and what doesn’t.

Test timing

There are a lot of opinions out there regarding the best day of the week and best time to email, and the truth is, it’s different for every company and industry. But timing can have a significant effect on response. Does your audience consist largely of people with desk jobs who check email throughout the day, or do they check personal accounts in the evening hours? Figuring out the best date and time might take a bit of trial and error, but it’s definitely worth it.

Soon enough, you’ll be able to spot what works and what’s less effective, and your email marketing campaigns should improve considerably.

Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse, a provider of email marketing, social media, online survey and direct mail marketing solutions.

Either way, the recent announcement that web analytics industry pioneer Rand Schulman is joining the Board of Directors at the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation represents a watershed moment in that organization’s forty-six year history. And Terrie L. Bartlett, President of the DMEF, seems to agree. Recently she said that while the DMEF board has a number of illustrious figures, Rand would represent what amounts to a “very new set of eyes for the DMEF”.

The similarities between what Direct Marketing has been, and what Digital Marketing is today, go more than skin-deep. Ms. Bartlett says Direct Marketing can be defined as “marketing that’s measurable”—and it used to mean postcards in the mail (for example) that had certain identifying characteristics that could be tied to response. To a digital marketer, those sound like very familiar descriptions of what they expect out of their on line marketing efforts. In fact, there is no shortage of evidence to suggest that some of the seismic shifts in ad spend taking place today—mostly moving mountains of marketing dollars away from print and into digital—are due in large part to the fact that digital marketing is the most measurable of available media.

So one of the most senior members of the web analytics community now joins the board of one of the foundational organizations in direct marketing. Are we to expect our physical mailboxes stuffed full of postcards with digital memory chips? Not any time soon. But what we know is that the DMEF (affiliated with the perhaps better known Direct Marketing Association) is committed to attracting, educating and placing the next generation of marketing leaders into key marketing positions. And if you did not know, I can tell you now that Mr. Schulman is deeply committed as well to educating a new breed of marketers who understand both business and interactive technology.

Can Mr. Schulman’s “new eyes” and Ms. Bartlett’s organization make marketing music together? In all likelihood it will take some time to get the orchestra playing a new song tuned to digital. But the rehearsals will be shortened because we are now seeing a generational confluence. Schulman is actually an ex-direct marketing guy. He knows what Pantone colors are; and knows too the value of a “clean list” of prospects. And yet he also brings to bear a deep understanding of web analytics, which has been called “the art and science of measuring web user behavior to inform marketing decisions”. In quantifying that understanding, let’s briefly note that Schulman is ex-CMO at not one but two major web analytics tool vendors, WebTrends and WebSideStory (now part of the Adobe Omniture suite).

With the rapid changes taking place in media generally and marketing in specific, it only makes sense to seek a blend of time-tested “measurable marketing”, and the exploding universe of digital marketing—which has always been inherently much more measurable than any other form of the art.

Marketers everywhere stand to benefit. For as groups like The DMA and the DMEF work to aid the direct marketing industry, they will be able to work even more effectively when their efforts are tuned more finely to the opportunities and needs proposed by their digital constituents.

Some day the last direct marketing mailers may drop at the last distribution point; and from that point on, there may only be one kind of direct marketing—the kind that shows up in your browser. And with the timely changes taking place at a longtime player like the DMEF, it will be good to know that the marketers working to keep content free because of measurable advertising will have a source for academic research, location and nurturing of great young marketers, and no small amount of much-needed advocacy.

Disclaimer: Mr. Schulman is a member of the Board of Advisors to Technology Leaders.

There is a clear, if unacknowledged, difference between jamming messages down their throats and building a customer-friendly sequence of messages that keep you top of mind without turning off your prospects. 

New research by MarketingSherpa casts some light on the topic by documenting the mis-match between marketers' perceptions and their prospect's perspective. The key take-away is that the two are out of synch. Marketers love the tools they've bought and used time and time again like white papers, research studies and content considered "educational." 

But many customers could care less about getting this stuff. This corresponds to my experience with many brands who have put carpet bombing e-mail programs in-place with little regard for frequency, segmentation or the content needs of prospective buyers. The marketing effort is rooted in and measured by showing outbound activity rather than on creating relationships, persuasion or sales. 

Buyers say they are looking for news and information to stay current, tools or data to help them compare and sort out prospective vendors and make decisions. It's okay to send them an article, a link or a picture with a quick note. In fact, an FYI often builds more gratitude and interest than a full-fledge pitch message. Prospects actually want to get promotional materials so they can see what deals are available and gauge a vendor's sensibility about price, service and extras. From the buyer's perspective, less is more. The lighter touch and the lesser frequency are more persuasive, less intrusive and give the buyer a sense that he or she is respected and in-control of the relationship and the process. 

To optimize the nurturing and persuasive quality of your e-mail communication to prospective buyers, do these 3 things: 

Dissect the Decision-Process. Every product or service has a definable process flow. Understand how your customers buy and where the inflection or hesitation points are. Plan your e-mail nurturing to anticipate these points. Leverage timing, parse information or make specific offers to pro-actively drive the process forward. 

Isolate Key Variables. Every sale rests on a finite number of variables. Price and financing are always key considerations as are services, value-adds and the quality of the relationship. Use e-mail to influence the favorable perception of these critical variables. Factor in frequency of messaging, tone, manner and voice. Link the messages credibly to the individuals directly involved in closing the sale and ask for feedback. 

Optimize for E-mail Scanning. Since everyone scans e-mail, the big idea or the dominant offer ought to be set apart in bold type for emphasis. Bullets, lists, short sentences and white space help buyers get the point quickly. Don't get prissy about branding. Logos and graphics are a secondary concern, they add little connective firepower and often impede efficient e-mail delivery.

A new report out from Forrester gives affiliate marketing a pretty healthy prognosis in light of the seemingly endless recession.

Written by Patti Freeman Evans, the report states that U.S. affiliate marketing will double by 2014, with a valuation of $4 billion. And while it has slowed considerably during 2009 -- for obvious reasons -- as the economy improves, Forrester anticipates double-digit growth will return by 2010. Growth will continue incrementally based on the fact that affiliate marketing "is a low-risk strategy for online marketers," that relevant affiliate content drives traffic, and because "marketers will not artificially cap affiliate marketing spending."

Online marketers have also indicated strong interest in working with affiliate networks in addition to independent affiliates. Forrester attributes this shift in behavior to marketers finding value in the services that affiliate networks provide, and because network fees are lower.

The report also expects that within the next five years, the biggest spenders in affiliate marketing will be retailers, financial services firms, and online education providers.

"Search will remain the main driver of traffic to affiliate sites, and it will not be displaced by other channels such as social networking websites or display advertising," the report states.    

I know, I've "Geek-ized" a pop sensation. I couldn't help it. The temptation was too strong. It seems analytics has become the talk of the town in marketing. Everyone is discussing measurement and ROI and how analytics is helping them make better decisions about marketing spend.

However, as all contestants are not created equal, neither is analytics. The discussions I've seen span a wide spectrum of tactics described as analytics — from the most sophisticated cause-and-effect analysis to the most basic calls and clicks response tracking.

I categorize analytics discussions into three categories: arithmetic, mathematics and statistics:

 Arithmetic. The first, and most basic, primarily delves into the primary reporting of response and conversion metrics, such as calls received or accounts generated.

 Mathematics. The intermediate, combines reporting with high-level trends and insights obtained through effective data mining.

 Statistics. The most advanced, delves into cause-and-effect relationships to determine the effects of the often tangled nature of various marketing stimuli.

None of these is right or wrong, and each level acts as a springboard to the next higher level, but each provides answers that can lead you in different directions. So let's look at three examples and what each area of analytics will tell us. (Note that while the situations I present here are real, the numbers and results listed are hypothetical.)

In our direct mail campaign, response to the listed URL is less than the response to the toll-free number. Do we drop the URL?

Arithmetic answer: The toll-free number had a 20 percent response rate and the vanity URL had a 10 percent click-through rate. Given an equal conversion rate, we are getting half the sales from the URL and, therefore, we should use only the phone number.

Mathematics answer: Among the three regions where we advertise, Region A has the highest response rate at 35 percent, followed by the Region B at 22 percent, with Region C coming in lowest at a dismal 3 percent. Interestingly, the trends are reversed for click-through rates, with Region C the highest at 25 percent, followed by Region B at 13 percent and Region A at 4 percent. Given an equal conversion rate for all regions, we should switch to using only the toll-free number in Region A.

Statistics answer: The customer segmentation model has revealed that the better performance of the toll-free number in Region C was the result of higher brand perception in the offline-senior segment versus lower brand recognition and acceptance in the young-techies segment; the former contributed to higher call-response performance and the latter segment took to the Web, improving the click-through rates. We should work to improve brand recognition uniformly in all regions among all segment, to improve our direct-response results to both our toll-free number and our URL.

DRTV advertising performance is going down. Should we reduce or abandon our efforts?

Arithmetic answer: Because our DRTV response rates have decreased over the past four quarters from 8 percent cumulative (call and click) to 5 percent, we advocate no further investment to DRTV investments.

Mathematics answer: We believe the decline is potentially due to creative fatigue and lack of new offers. Our competitors are updating their creative and offers, with results that consistently perform better than ours. As such, we advocate no further investment in DRTV advertisements until we develop new creative and offers.

Statistics answer: Over the same time period our DRTV results have declined, we have reduced our direct mail spending. Our marketing-mix models show that our DRTV and direct mail programs are highly correlated. The models also show that an increase of 20 percent in DRTV spending coupled with a 15 percent increase in direct mail spending will lead to a net ROI increase of 2.15.

We tested credit card advertising in newspapers and received a great response. Should we repeat it?

Arithmetic answer: Both the conversion and response rates for the recent newspaper placements were great. Conversion increased from 10 percent to 25 percent, giving us 1,200 more cardholders. We should definitely repeat these placements.

Mathematics answer: While the conversion rate jumped to 25 percent, our analysis of new card members reveals a high proportion of subprime borrowers with a high likelihood of defaulting on their payments. Further segmentation also shows a high portion of these lower quality card members were acquired through the general category newspaper placements rather than financial category placements, which result in higher quality conversions (though at a lower conversion rate). We recommend the placements be repeated, because the present value analysis of both the lower- and higher-quality acquisitions in relation to the cost of the investment still resulted in a net positive ROI.

Statistics answer: Our three-fold regression model analyzed the interaction between our website banner, SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and newspaper spending and found a net positive impact in conversion rate when a prospect is exposed to all of these marketing campaigns. However, newspapers seem to have a dampening effect on the results, especially when reviewed in combination with banners and SEM, separately; the latter of these resulting in the highest net present value. Given the aggregate positive ROI of newspapers though, and the above information, we suggest that future placements be run in markets with limited banner and SEM overlap.

I hope these examples help elucidate the differences between the three methodologies. My nomination for the winning "American Marketing Idol" goes to … Statistics. (Surprised, aren't you?)

And no, it doesn't (well, it shouldn't) take months of data-gathering to be able to use statistics for analysis, especially once you have built the models and only need to tweak them over time. Statistics is the only one of the three that improves with time, does not need to be completely repeated every time and provides you with the most confident answer.

Satnam Singh is Vice President of Analytics for Javelin.

(The first wave of layoffs came in the first quarter of this year, and the remaining 3,400 jobs are now on the chopping block.)
 
AdAge attributes this cutback to the pinch many multinational firms are currently experiencing "as profits plunge and trading conditions dive to levels not seen since the end of the Second World War."

And as for Sorrell, well, who really knows the story there. But BNET speculates that he's either leaving WPP in shambles, or he's doing the respectable thing of taking the blame for falling revenue under his watch.

According to BNET, WPP has so far denied that Sorrell is about to leave, "calling the succession plan a normal process that any large corporation would undertake."
  
With a client roster of big-name brands like Ford, Colgate, IBM, HSBC, and Kellogg's, WPP and its subsidiaries -- JWT and Ogilvy, etc. -- are credited with making the bulk of their revenue from direct marketing, PR, and research. Maybe this is a sign that WPP will be reinventing its stripes in the coming fiscal year.
  
BNET claims that potential internal replacements for Sorrell are Ogilvy's Shelly Lazarus, and Dominic Proctor of Mindshare.
  
To read the full story in AdAge: http://tinyurl.com/ce6qzb
To read the story on BNET: http://tinyurl.com/cbgmtl

Each minor step you make will increase process flow and drive incremental conversion. The objective is to instantly orient visitors and make it as easy and as intuitive as possible for them to do what you want them to do. Everything starts with the understanding that a click onto your landing page is a gift from God with a half-life of a nuclear isotope. It begins degrading as soon as it granted (8 seconds) and it represents the BEGINNING of the conversation not the end.

As a site operator or marketer you must do everything possible to extend the 8 seconds into a registration, a download or a sale. Most of the moves are logical and require no extra technology. According to MarketingSherpa, the average e-mail landing page converts between 5.6 and 11.3 percent of those who click, depending on the offer. E-commerce landing pages produce conversions in the 5.6-7.6 range.

So here are the "rules" -- for LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION -- BEST PRACTICES

1. Use Readable URLs. Don't get fancy. The URL validates your credibility and reassures visitors that they are in the right place doing what they came to do.

2. Mirror the Offer Copy and Design. Where they land absolutely has to look, feel and read like where they came from. The e-mail, the mailer, the keyword all must be reflected in the landing page. If not, your prospect is confused and given an incentive to exit. It helps if all of this looks like the website too.

3. Repeat the Call- to-Action High on the Page. You hooked them with this in your communications. Remind them why the came and what you want them to do as soon as they get there.

4. Create Distinct Landing Pages. Too many marketers dump clicking visitors onto their home page. You might as well abandon them in Grand Central Station. For each marketing vehicle you need a separate corresponding landing page that mirrors the look, tone, copy and call-to-action of the ad message. These can be easily templated and cloned. Its about creating distinct and simple URLs and mapping marketing vehicles to landing pages. Its also about focusing on one task and one goal at a time.

5. Focus on Action Sequences. Site visitors expect a logical step-by-step flow. Give it to them. Anticipate how they think and what they want and build the landing page to deliver simple, easy-to-follow buying or registration sequences.

6. Use Short Copy Above the Fold. Never Scroll. It’s a game of glimpses and nanoseconds. Say it short and in 250 words per page or less. If the copy is dense signal impact or call out key ideas by using subheads. The population is aging so 10 point type is the minimum readable size. Use images to reinforce and illuminate. You are not writing an epic, you are writing a postcard. If they have to scroll, they abandon. Fight for simplicity. Most successful pages are dark type on a white field. 

Also relax the need to include every branding element and hero shots on the page. Clickers know who you are and where they are. They are anxious to do something other than romance your brand or fight your intramural battle. You have captured the attention of a prospect now capture the order. Most successful pages lose the hero shots and have minimal brand elements. A landing page is not the forum to work out your entire branding gestalt. It’s about facilitating action.

7. Limit Navigation. The purpose of a landing page is to close. Eliminate any choices that don't focus on the goal. Don't kid yourself about up sells and cross sells. Get the download, the registration or the sale first, then make your second move. If they want to see your whole site, they'll go there.

Right now they've granted you a click. Your job is to eliminate extra opportunities to go elsewhere and do other things. Reduce clickable elements. Eliminate as much navigation as possible. Its a magic focused moment. Keep it that way. Keep your eye and their's on the prize.

8. Collect Only Absolutely Necessary Data. Don't be too nosy. If you can get bye with just an e-mail address take it and follow up later. Forms scare a healthy number of site visitors who instinctively understand that if they give you data, you'll be hocking them till the end of time.

Obviously orders and payments require collecting more data. But streamline everything you can. Make it as easy to enter data as possible. Don't ask visitors to type the same stuff over and over. But do ask them to opt-in for future communications either newsletters or by permission to message them again. 

However, today the Direct Marketing Association has upgraded its DMAChoice tool -- a "newly expanded consumer choice portal site" in the words of the release that purports to let consumers (a word I've recently ranted about in this very blog) control the sorts of physical direct mail and email that they receive.

According to both the press release and the DMAChoice site itself, the portal empowers consumers to opt-in or opt-out of email for a three year term, and the association divides direct mail into four groups:

   1. Credit
   2. Catalog
   3. Magazines/Subscriptions
   4. Everything else

Why is this happening? DMA President & CEO, John A. Greco, Jr. notes, "DMA is proud to expand on its 37-year history of empowering the consumer. As the leading direct marketing trade association in the nation, we take great pride in knowing that our newly designed and simplified DMAchoice site demonstrates our continued commitment to consumer choice. This makes sense for the consumer and marketing community alike."

Although hardly as strong as the FTC's DoNotCall list -- a merciful coup de grâce for most of those annoying, dinner-interrupting calls... all except the political ones ruining meals for the remaining days until the election -- this all sounds good. It sounds like a neat, pre-emptive move on the part of The DMA to forestall legislation that would force its members to do this and criminalize non-compliance. And I hope fervently that this works.

So why am I skeptical? Why am I scared to give this thing a try even though I bemoan the metric ton of junk mail that weighs down my real and virtual mailboxes daily?

First, it's hard to trust the fox to guard the henhouse. The DMA exists to serve marketers, not customers, and Greco knows this. His statement about the association's 37 year history rings false.

Second, if you dive into the rhetoric of the press release and the site it's all about controlling your direct mail, channeling it in the direction you want it to go, reducing the irrelevant mail... and only, secondarily, grudgingly, does it mention that you can also (ahem, spoken quietly) simply opt-out of all direct mail and email sent by companies from which you have not already made a purchase.

Third, this will only work for compliant companies, and how many of them will there be? Will The DMA's 3600 member companies all toe the line? Maybe, but if one of them doesn't then the customer has to follow a formal complaint procedure to seek redress, and its unlikely that customers will bother. Furthermore, if somebody does bother, then how will The DMA enforce its rules? This isn't made clear in the press release and I had to dig around on the DMAChoice website to find even sketchy details. Enforcement does not seem to be a priority.

Finally, I should admit that it's the digital immigrant side of me that is most leery of this. For years, both when I worked as the digital editor at EarthLink and since I came to iMedia in 2004, and axiom of working with email has been never to click on the "take me off this list" link at the bottom of a piece of spam that comes from a company you don't know. Sure, if you signed up for a newsletter and now want to unsubscribe, click the link and that might work. But for those re-fi offers? The erectile dysfunction bargain basement prices? If you click on one of those all you are doing is verifying to the spammer that he has reached a working address... and you'll get even more spam. I'm worried that registering with this portal will put me in the position of Hal the deer in the famous Far Side cartoon.

But I sure hope it works.