First there was Jamaicanlifestyle.com (JL) started by Thalia Chung three years ago and now there is Digitaldirectjamaica.com (DDJ) by Jamie Ranston.  The market addition and competition is welcomed.  Only few still believe in monopoly.

JL boasted an email database of high single digit thousands that criss cross industries and dominated the fledgling market and charging US$100 per mailing for primarily music and entertainment events and places.  And their sales pitch to potential advertisers is – “The Jamaican Lifestyle.com's journey direct thousands of individuals in Jamaica and all over the world by linking all to have further access to other avenues of the Jamaican Lifestyle.”

DDJ just a few months old, came out with a distinct business edge in how they marketed themselves on their website.  Their pitch – “DigitalDIRECT offers a superior email marketing solution dedicated to maximizing your sales dollar and building your business.” They offer their service for US$80 per mailing and an opt in choice to be part of their mailing list.  They claim a database of 7,000 email addresses, but how they formed that initial database when they only just begun offering an opt in choice to potential list subscribers is also open for discussion.  JL built their database primarily by asking people to send names and email addresses of friends, people they think would want to receive the JL mailings.  The send-to-a-friend approach.  But by virtue of the six degrees of separation effect, some people owning many email addresses got multiple mailings and others simply didn't wish to be on the list yet mailings persisted, spawning credibility issues for JL.  In terms of tracking mailings to give advertisers a detailed report on who their message may have hit, to yes, determine some return on investment is being offered by DDJ but not JL at this time.

Email marketing is about using the highly effective and targeted tool of email to connect with potential consumers who may want to buy your product or service.  But with any other marketing medium, an advertiser wants to know who they are reaching and if it's worth it.  So it’s one thing to have an email database of thousands of email addresses, it’s quite another to know who they are and what they really want.  The owner of the email database who can tell you more about whom they have in their database and what they want, will in the end win.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is a tech and telecom industry trend analyst who has been covering Tech and Telecom in Jamaica and the Caribbean for the past seven years.  She also has 12 years experience in media, communications and publishing.