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Have you noticed that consumer notices are suddenly sexy?
It may well be a reasonably inescapable conclusion given the amount of guidance marketers received at the end of 2007 and will continue to receive in 2008.
The fact is the Direct Marketing Association issued its Commitment to Consumer Choice program, with a new notice provision for each solicitation. Further, the Internet Advertising Bureau is working on its own best practices document for disclosures. Even the Federal Trade Commission held a town hall meeting on behavioral advertising, focusing much of the discussion on notice to consumers.
That’s an awful lot of attention for something that is sometimes relegated to the legal department. Marketers take heed, because these notices are the foundation to your ability to achieve a prosperous multichannel future!
Marketers would do well to be sure they have meaningful, multichannel-enabled notices for their firms and brands that provide greater transparency than ever before. And, make certain the notices capture all of the new businesses and partnerships that may have been struck since the last time notices received this much attention.
In my day job, far away from the hot spotlights of Washington, D.C., DMA and IAB, I see how marketers struggle with optimizing across new channels and media. How they seek advice on updating old policies that were developed in the late ‘90s when the word multichannel was not yet even a gleam in the eye of marketers. Many of their business models have evolved, and they need their policies to be brought up to date.
Adding to the “buzz” about notices is the fact that new entrants are coming to the remote commerce party. Brand advertisers are adopting multichannel strategies.
Whether these are marketers trying direct techniques, small start-ups leveraging the power of inexpensive and broad-reaching interactive channels, or, for that matter, new employees at “traditional” direct marketing organizations, the need for developing meaningful consumer notices is steadily growing.
Some things to remember:
• Make your notices easy to find, easy to read and easy to act upon.
• If you’re using targeted marketing techniques to drive traffic to a call center, or even mail order, don’t forget to include notice about your uses of data about consumers.
• Driving traffic to a Web site should include something like a www.mybrand.com/privacy link.
• More and more, mail-order forms are being reconsidered by marketers who are struggling with increasing postal and printing costs. But keep in mind that this real estate normally contains your notice. Make sure the baby is not inadvertently thrown out with the bath water.
It may well be a reasonably inescapable conclusion given the amount of guidance marketers received at the end of 2007 and will continue to receive in 2008.
The fact is the Direct Marketing Association issued its Commitment to Consumer Choice program, with a new notice provision for each solicitation. Further, the Internet Advertising Bureau is working on its own best practices document for disclosures. Even the Federal Trade Commission held a town hall meeting on behavioral advertising, focusing much of the discussion on notice to consumers.
That’s an awful lot of attention for something that is sometimes relegated to the legal department. Marketers take heed, because these notices are the foundation to your ability to achieve a prosperous multichannel future!
Marketers would do well to be sure they have meaningful, multichannel-enabled notices for their firms and brands that provide greater transparency than ever before. And, make certain the notices capture all of the new businesses and partnerships that may have been struck since the last time notices received this much attention.
In my day job, far away from the hot spotlights of Washington, D.C., DMA and IAB, I see how marketers struggle with optimizing across new channels and media. How they seek advice on updating old policies that were developed in the late ‘90s when the word multichannel was not yet even a gleam in the eye of marketers. Many of their business models have evolved, and they need their policies to be brought up to date.
Adding to the “buzz” about notices is the fact that new entrants are coming to the remote commerce party. Brand advertisers are adopting multichannel strategies.
Whether these are marketers trying direct techniques, small start-ups leveraging the power of inexpensive and broad-reaching interactive channels, or, for that matter, new employees at “traditional” direct marketing organizations, the need for developing meaningful consumer notices is steadily growing.
Some things to remember:
• Make your notices easy to find, easy to read and easy to act upon.
• If you’re using targeted marketing techniques to drive traffic to a call center, or even mail order, don’t forget to include notice about your uses of data about consumers.
• Driving traffic to a Web site should include something like a www.mybrand.com/privacy link.
• More and more, mail-order forms are being reconsidered by marketers who are struggling with increasing postal and printing costs. But keep in mind that this real estate normally contains your notice. Make sure the baby is not inadvertently thrown out with the bath water.
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