This is open discussion and it’s great to hear everyone’s perspectives. I love it!

You said, “I worry that this type of “death of” declarations can hurt someone starting out. It appears David Meerman Scott is a well-known speaker who has a huge publishing house (Wiley) behind him and his book. It’s easier for him to declare the old way dead when you have the marketing/PR departments of Wiley behind you.”

I believe that David’s publishing company damn near flipped when he said he would make his book available for free on iTunes. I think he did that for a week or so.

Also, I believe there is no better time to be starting out with an online presence. With the ‘old way’ of building your list it required several joint ventures, great ppc campaigns, and a variety of other methods.

Now you can put out a video and become a hit over night. Some of my friends have built a following of 100’s of thousands of people through subscriptions on YouTube. There’s no opt-in box there, but the subscribers are notified when the publisher puts up a new video.

I’ve been on David’s blog feed for a little while now. I’ve never received a direct response email from him. I’m only notified when there’s a new blog post. I didn’t even get an email about the release of his book… no hyped up email direct response campaign at all. Yet I rushed out and bought the book because I was reading his blog every day.

With social media it gives the little guys and gals a chance to become stars a lot faster than the ‘old ways.’

You are absolutely right Alan… as of right now, the changes that I’ve made is “HOW” I get people to opt-in and not totally eliminating the opt-in box all together.

I’m using that opt-in just as a blog broadcast and to get the important questions from my followers.

I believe this is a wonderful time to get creative with our marketing and the ways that we attract and keep in touch with our customers. There are so many options at our finger tips and for the social bugs out there like me, all of these options make marketing a whole lot more fun.

We’re all different. Some people would rather just run a bunch of ppc ads and never write an email or ever try to build a relationship with a customer. And for some people that method has made them millions.

I guess that’s what makes it so great. There are a large number of options for us and it’s up to us to match the best options that suit our personalities and styles.

Alan, it’s been great to hear you share your passion for direct response business and I look forward to seeing how you evolve those methods. Keep up the great work at your blog!

Scott Tousignant

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a believer of putting out a crappy PLR report as bait. The most important thing in my list building efforts is that I build a relationship with my subscribers. I take their trust in sharing their email address with me very seriously. I do not flog them with a barrage of sales pitches. Far from it.

With that out of the way, I worry that this type of “death of” declarations can hurt someone starting out. It appears David Meerman Scott is a well-known speaker who has a huge publishing house (Wiley) behind him and his book. It’s easier for him to declare the old way dead when you have the marketing/PR departments of Wiley behind you.

By having people opt-in via your RSS feed, you’re still list building and you still have an opt-in box for that, so it’s not really death of opt-in-boxes. But perhaps the method of getting people to opt-in.

That’s what I see is different is that you’re changing the way you get people to opt-in by not forcing them to do so to get your reports. But that opt-in box is still front and center on your site as it is in David Meerman Scott’s blog.

I’m with Derek on using a hybrid model. I provide a lot of free information on my blog without strings attached.

But there is a reason why Amazon sends me emails about new books, etc. Because that model still does work.

Thanks for the bringing this subject out. I see where you’re coming from but I also see arguments for the other side of the coin as well. I love the direct response business no matter the medium (TV, direct mail, Internet) and I’m always open to different ways of doing things and this is something worthwhile to test out.

Love your blog http://jtpedersen.net I just added it to my Google reader.

I’m really glad that we’ve connected. Are you on Twitter?

As a product manager (and roes previously), it always amazed me how many colleagues seemed to have a hard time designing with the ‘customer’ in mind. We’re all customers of ’something’, so why the inability to think as a customer when designing your own offerings? As such, your own self-observation of behavior was important.

If it’s ‘free,’ that should mean ‘no strings.’ As with you, if I cannot get the ‘free’ product without giving of myself first, I recognize it for what it is. And, most of the time, the ‘bait’ tends to be just another watered-down doc not worth what I gave up (my identity).

Yes, to an extend, social network ‘followers’ do serve similar to a list. Posting status updates does tend to drive traffic depending on topic.

Good post.

I also checked out your website and it’s great to see that you are offering inspirational advice to others and trying to make a difference in the world.

I also appreciate how you are ‘keeping it real’ on your website and sharing your true thoughts and feelings.

I understand the frustration when it comes to the false promises, hype, and misinformation when it comes to learning how to make money online.

My first year of online business was very frustrating. I spent a fortune in products and only made $20 and that was during a time when I had just claimed bankruptcy after closing my health club so money was extremely tight to say the least.

Hiring a mentor was the best thing that I ever did. It provided me with a shortcut to success.

No I’m not bull shitting you and no I do not broadcast ads…

What I do is share my experiences with my followers, let them know what is working for me, and provide them with information to help them make an informed decision.

I’m not broadcasting ads… I’m recommending products or services that have had a positive impact on my business and life.

I love what I do. I love that social media allows me the opportunity to connect with my followers. I love that I can build a relationship with someone half way around the world even though I have never met them. I love to share my experiences with people and I am passionate about make a positive difference in the world.

There is hope Stan. There are great people out there who have your best interests at heart.

Keep up the inspiration on your site and share your journey with your followers. You are an example to them and can have a big impact on their lives.

Scott Tousignant

What an awesome product you’ve got there. I’ll look into it in greater detail after I comment here.

I totally hear you Derek. There a many free reports buried in my computer that I have never read. Follow up emails help as a reminder, but in many cases they still didn’t get me to open it up.

Heck there are actually programs sitting in my computer that I paid for and still didn’t open up. I know that I’m not alone in that.

I think it’s best to catch the person in the moment. Get them to open it up in their browser immediately, even if they don’t download it.

I do think it’s possible to create that reminder without having an opt-in box. Take David’s blog http://www.webinknow.com

David never sends me a follow up message or any email other than the blog broadcast that lets me know there is a new post.

I visit David’s site every day. There have been times when I haven’t downloaded a free report or watched a video that David recommended. I say to myself that I’ll read it later or watch it later. Of course I get too busy and forget. But the next day when I go to his blog to read his post it’s a reminder that I should check out the report that he mentioned yesterday.

If you have a daily or weekly Ustream broadcast you can continually remind your followers about the free report as well.

I guess that’s the shift that I’m seeing. The raving fan and loyal followers that don’t need to check email because they don’t want to miss your video broadcast or online radio show, or your daily blog posts.

Let’s face it. Many of the people on our email lists don’t even open up the email. The people who do read your emails regularly would most likely read your blog posts if you just had an rss feed or blog broadcast.

I also believe that you can nurture a relationship without having a followup email system. The two ‘marketers’ that have built the best relationship with me have done so without having me on their email list. I feel connected to them because I read their blogs daily, listen to their radio show, and watch their videos.

Creating a community atmosphere is always great as well. Whether it’s a forum or a Ning community, it’s great to see interaction between the ‘guru’ and the followers.

I’m still in my infancy stages of this way of thinking. I’m basically doing what you are talking about with a ‘hybrid system’. That’s probably the best way to start and begin testing this new approach. So far it’s been working very well.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and opinions, I truly appreciate and value them. They have created a great discussion here. There is no one single correct way to do things that’s for sure.

Now… to check out your website and learn more about The Action Machine

Scott Tousignant

If you are making enough money.

Why do you need to continue to broadcast ads?

Or are you bullshitting?

Stan

Give them something full of value up front for free, and tell them that if they like your stuff, to provide their contact info to get more of it.

If you’ve triggered even a slightly positive emotional response in them, they’ll gladly give it you.

I also read David’s book, World Wide Rave, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

While I agree that great content that has no barriers to consume is much easier to share and go viral, one major flaw with doing JUST that is the simple fact that people forget.

How many times have you downloaded a great report/ebook with no opt-in, made a note to yourself that you’ll read it later, then later never came?

I’ve done it many times.

IF, however, you opted into a follow-up system (autoresponder), you were regularly send reminders about the report, the great content it contains, and the chance of you reading and benefiting from it increased.

People forget, unless you remind them, remind them, remind them.

You can’t do that without a follow-up system.

I think it really boils down to:

Do you want to spread an idea, or nurture a relationship?

One will get you exposure, the other will create a long-time customer client who believes you can consistently add value to their lives.

Let your YouTube videos and blog posts be your World Wide Rave mechanism – let them create the initial buzz about you or your product. But always make sure that after the ‘buzz’ mechanism has done its job, that you shift into creating relationships by getting their contact details and following up with them.

Both have their place, but I don’t think one totally replaces the other.

Derek

Where they do still have a role is for signing up to something that’s being delivered – regular updates, newsletters, &c – where an email address is an obvious pre-requisite.

So I predict a division emerging along roughly 80/20 lines, with 80%-90% of content available gatekeeper-free and the remaining 10%-20% accessed through opt-in with accompanying traditional list-building benefits.

Right now, we don’t have an opt-in list on our web site, just RSS feeds. My personal belief is, some people do like a digest of news, rather than read every RSS thread in their reader. Perhaps this is why you are getting a 50% click rate on your newsletter?