Mass Blast no more... but how?

Talking to a number of folks in the CRM and digital interactive marketing spaces over the past months and weeks, the ancedotal truth that the old "mass blast" form of marketing is either on its way out into extinction or may already be there.  I think that there may be a place for it in some way (TV, radio, print advertising that is) but it is no where near the force that it once was in the brand managers' world.  

That's the bad news... the good news is that with all of the digital media outlets that we have today, there is a plethora of data out there for marketers to mine and gain insights into segmented or even one-to-one marketing.  The better news is that there are technologies out there today that allow companies to store and harness that information (data warehouse appliances, analytical toolsets in SaaS delivery, user friendly BI tools, plug-in application delivery mechanisms to user connection points, etc.), so in a sense a company can actually know you and market to you individually if they wanted to.  

But there's some bad news about that... This can (and does) creep people out.  Like, in a "1984" kind of way (the George Orwell book, not the Macintosh ad)... or think about how the billboards were talking to Tom Cruise's character in the movie "Minority Report."  Technically, something along those lines could be possible with the data and delivery mechanisms... the problem is that it is (or can be) a major invasion of a person's privacy if permission to market has not been given.  In a harmless way, people like me are clearing spam out of their inboxes because of all of the marketing aimed at us based on some action or actions we have taken online... in a less harmless way, people start to feel uncomfortable and start bailing from good services that they once trusted.  

The key for a marketer in this world, I believe, is gaining permission to market to a consumer... to engage in a dialogue with them that feels more like a "pull" than a "push."  In a sense, consumers that trust companies they do business with and engage them on their terms ("market to me on my terms") will become raving fans and will be more loyal.  The trick is how to obtain permission... because we have the tools and the technology.

Now, we need to earn the trust.... and not betray it.  

Food for thought.