Apple iOS 15 and Privacy Issues: Why I'm Not Worried
There has been a lot to say by marketers lately about Apple’s latest iOS 15 release and how it will harm, even destroy our digital businesses. In short, if you've been living under a rock, Apple has put consumers in the driver’s seat allowing them to be selective in who they want to be tracked by.
And now with the upcoming release of Apple's desktop OS software, the nightmare further continues with tracking emails.
But this post is not about what Apple is doing; it’s about how we digital marketers handle and eventually evolve to meet the needs of consumers.
And while in the short term I'm as freaked out and frustrated as any marketer is about losing control, in the long term I'm far from worried.
Haven’t We Lived Through This Before …
When I was in college at NYU in the early 90s, in its Direct and Database Marketing Discipline, it was drilled into us that “the goal of all direct marketing is to be relevant to consumers.” We direct marketers were smarter then all those “general” marketers using shotgun approaches to marketing. We had surgical precision … lists, databases, targeting!
“Make the right offer at the right time to the right person!”
So here’s the thing. Do we really want to send messages to people who don’t want them? Waste money on clicks? Piss people off with emails. And the list goes on.
Old Enough to Know Marketing Life Goes On …
In my career I've lived through direct mail and catalogs being “junk mail,” leading to the “DMA Mail Preference Service” which enabled people to opt out of receiving said “junk.”
The telemarketing “Do Not Call Registry” allowed people to stop getting calls from telemarketers.
The CAN-SPAM Act made sure brands and retailers didn’t deluge people with unwanted marketing messages.
You Get Where I'm Going With This?
We're still here. We've evolved. We've survived and thrived. And we will get through this too.
After all, if someone opts out of being tracked, sent emails to, receiving calls, are they really going to purchase from us anyway? This marketer thinks not. Hang in there. We will figure this out!
Do you agree or disagree? Leave your comments below …
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Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
