I just returned from the International Direct Marketing Fair in London, where I had the chance to talk with some of the best direct marketing minds in the UK and catch up on the latest direct marketing news, developements, products and trends.

While there was no shortage of internet marketing sessions, there was no mention of RSS or blogs in any of them. Very sad, considering that 2005 has been dubbed as the year of RSS and blogs.

The greatest surprise was that the speakers I did ask about RSS (even those speaking about search engine marketing, for which RSS is a real blessing) only demonstrated acknowledgement of the channel, but no real understanding of its marketing potential and were more or less oblivious on the subject.

A wake-up call to the direct marketing industry is in order: yes, RSS is a great direct response and customer management channel, which might prove even more effective than e-mail in due course. And yes, if you’re in search engine marketing, you need RSS to achieve best results. Knowing that RSS exists is not enough, it’s time to start using it.