Personal media should never be used to replace mass media, but merely to supplement it. Smart brand marketers understand that unlike mass media, personal media requires constant commitment to checking that messages sent are welcome by each recipient and not perceived as a waste of time or invasion of privacy. Simply put, whereas mass media vehicles are often valued by sheer consumer reach (circulation, viewers) personal media vehicles in contrast are valued by sheer consumer feedback (number of subscribers, open emails, clicks).
The initial consumer feedback (or permission) comes from information each consumer offers when taking action to subscribe to receive messages.
Known as 'opt-in', this information has nothing to do with information obtained through sneaky pre-checked boxes (opt-out) or from a business card left behind (junk information).
Personal media services such as 51mymail-superbrand messages and Chinaloop already have millions of profiled subscribers who have offered profiled information and requested to receive selected categories of promotional messages. So instead of having to go out and build your own list of subscribers, these personal media services providers transmit your message to relevant subscribers.
Firstly, hand select each of the target consumers for your campaign by age, sex and location, or any other information offered by consumers during subscription. This will build your campaign 'population'. Note that reputable companies will never disclose personal details of their subscribers.
Next, create your message in web format (HTML) for email or text (used for SMS and newsletters).
Then transmit to your campaign population. In the case of email, the message transmission technology should give you feedback so that you know how each of the subscribers behaves toward your message (e.g. who opened it, which buttons/links they clicked on).
In mainland China, where the percentage of the population which can afford imported brands is comparatively low and spread out across many cities, brands such as L'Oreal, Ford, Esprit, Ericsson, Evian and IBM are discovering personal media is a more cost effective way of communicating directly with (as opposed to 'to')their target consumers.
