RSSDirect is the first commercial-grade solution for IRSS content creation and distribution.

Marketing is undergoing tremendous changes. Traditional marketing channels are no longer serving the needs of companies eager to establish solid relationships with their customers. Consumer attention is fragmented, and reaching audiences is becoming both more difficult and more expensive.

Silverpop's new RSSDirect^SM solution gives marketers a strong and dynamic way to reach their customers and in a format growing in popularity every day. RSSDirect is a next-generation, individualized RSS (IRSS) solution that combines the targeting of direct mail, the measurability of email, the timeliness of online communications and the security and deliverability of traditional RSS.

RSSDirect is based on an open standard called RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. This technology distributes new Web-based content to consumers without requiring them to check back with each site several times a day. Instead, RSS readers, or aggregators, “pull” updated content from the sites and organize it into folders for users to review at their leisure. Its ease of use has spurred dramatic growth.

Silverpop's new product improves on the basic technology behind the syndication of blogs and online news by transforming it from a one-to-many communications medium into a targeted, one-to-one marketing channel. 

Essentially, Silverpop has developed a technology that enables companies to supply RSS feeds that are completely individualized, much the same way Silverpop targets, segments and personalizes email messages. RSSDirect recipients receive text, images and promotional offers uniquely matched to their expressed interests and desires. The individualized feeds enable marketers to communicate with subscribers based on demographics, past behavior, or any other segmenting attribute. As with targeted email campaigns, RSSDirect programs are measurable, with the system able to deliver reports that track and analyze the actions of individual recipients.

Messages sent through individualized RSSDirect feeds keep the same level of 100-percent deliverability as traditional RSS feeds. They also retain the same high security. The origin of an RSSDirect message can't be imitated or "spoofed," and online communications can't be used for phishing. RSSDirect messages can also be password-protected on demand.

Companies using Silverpop’s new RSSDirect solution can communicate over virtually every RSS reader available today and those likely in the future. And, because RSSDirect is built on Silverpop's top-ranked marketing platform, the integration is seamless. For customers who already use Silverpop, RSSDirect activity is fully integrated and presented side-by-side with email marketing results. A single campaign can be delivered through either RSSDirect, email or both, and each can be analyzed either separately or side-by-side using Silverpop's extensive reporting and drill-down analytics.

RSS usage has grown from less than 1 percent of Internet users to 11 percent in just the past 12 months. That growth rate is matched only by the rise of the World Wide Web, which grew to 50 million users in less than five years. The growth of RSS is expected to explode when Microsoft integrates RSS into its new version of Windows (Vista), its next upgrade of Internet Explorer, and its next release of the Microsoft Office suite of desktop applications.

RSSDirect's individualized RSS solution gives marketers a valuable complement to email for reaching present and potential customers. Assured security, permission, and freedom from spam and phishing enhance consumer confidence and participation, while assured deliverability increases marketing response and return.

First launched into the spotlight as the technology powering blogs, RSS offered companies and consumers an exciting new way to communicate online. Now truly able to be individualized, RSS is poised to follow email's lead as an invaluable tool for cultivating online business relationships.