This just in: 18-24 year olds think of email as a “formal” medium of communication. This is ironic, maybe even laughable or disturbing to some. I remember when email was first coming into broader adoption in the mid-90’s I read editorials discussing the demise of manners due to the loss of the personal, handwritten letter.

College students just think differently than us older (ahem, established career) folks. We recently hosted a panel of students from Ball State’s Center for Media Design (CMD) who hit this point home. For them, social media and SMS round out the top forms of personal messaging, and email is the realm of the formal, the land of the adults, parents, professors, and even grandmas. One student on the panel even said: “An email is like getting a letter. It’s just above a Facebook wall post of “sweet things.” Awesome.

This perception of greater importance, gravity, and formality of email could actually serve marketers well. For businesses that know how to respect the rights of their subscribers, and send relevant, permission-based and personalized content there is simply no evidence to support the pundits predicting the demise of the email. Email is still incredibly viable for all age audiences for messaging and permission-based marketing.

The 18-24 demographic is very savvy with technology, however. Growing up with email, they are masters of “making it work” for themselves so it fits with their lives and preferences. At our panel discussion the students commonly reported having multiple email addresses – each address with a distinct purpose. For example, one student said, “I have my college email address for emails from my administration and professors, then a Gmail account for the signing up for ‘stuff I want,’ to get about products, etc…and I have a Yahoo address for spam, which I use when I’m on a gamer site and I just want to play, not get their crap. It’s kind of a throwaway address.”

Everyone likes a handwritten letter. Why? I think there are two main reasons. First, letters are a symbol of caring due to the time investment required to create one. Second, the personal nature of seeing a friend or relative’s handwriting is simply compelling, flattering, and human. Letters are formal and show that the sender “cared” enough to take the time to write, etc. Direct Marketers figured this out in the 80’s and companies like Intelligent Ink sprouted up to add a new type of personal, human touch to direct mail. They employed an army of minimum wage workers with good penmanship to personalize envelopes. Though this technique may seem trite today, when these first hit mailboxes a few decades back the concept was new and differentiated, and the response increase was through the roof!

Think how you can improve your program by adding personalization and a bit of care to your next campaign. Start by thinking of your subscribers as individuals and you’re on the right track.

The future for email, however, is much brighter than it is for direct mail. Even in this down economy, a new study from eConsultancy says that 59% of companies plan to increase their spend on email marketing in the coming 12 months. Now if I could only get a fancy wax seal on my email...

Israel has a new anti-spam law that takes affect today, December 1^st, 2008. Ultimately, it seems to boil down to: Opt-in is king. Companies who don’t already live up to the opt-in standard (with appropriate tracking of opt-in permission) seem to be rushing to reconfirm their email lists. ExactTarget’s contract requirements already require opt-in, so that’s a great start. But, if you send mail into Israel and/or have a presence there, I’d strongly recommend contacting an attorney for guidance. My (very limited) Hebrew skills make decoding the Israel Internet Association’s anti-spam website a bit difficult, but it does suggest to me that getting permission in writing is a requirement, as is labeling the message as an advertisement.

There’s definitely some confusion out there regarding what’s allowed and what’s not allowed under the law, and it’s unclear to me what ability there would be to take action against senders located outside of Israel, but it’s not the kind of thing that I recommend you find out for yourself. Our recommendation is always to comply with the legal requirements of every jurisdiction you’re knowingly serving mail to.

Jason Baer understands the game-changing value of adding digital marketing expertise to an agency’s service offering. Before he founded Convince&Convert, a social media and email consulting firm that helps agencies beef up their digital marketing capabilities, Baer headed the interactive division of Off Madison Avenue in Tempe, Arizona. Recently, I sat down with Jason to get his take on why agencies must get serious about developing digital marketing capabilities.

Joel: Why is it critical for agencies to develop digital marketing capabilities?

Jason: 500% more people in the U.S. have a MySpace account than watch American Idol, which is far and away the #1 TV show. More dollars will be spent on Internet advertising this year than on radio advertising. We're at the point in the development of the Web that digital marketing capabilities are no longer optional, they are required. To be any sort of marketing consultancy today and not having digital expertise is akin to not having the expertise to write a press release or design a logo.

Further, the inherent tracking and testing opportunities that digital provides can dramatically enhance ROI of offline marketing, when those techniques and philosophies are applied universally. For example, using banner ad rotations to test creative messaging that is then rolled out in print, radio, TV etc.

Lastly, in this uncertain (at best) economy, clients will be gravitating even more toward digital because it is definable and measurable and the production costs are minimal in comparison to other tactics.

Joel: What “land mines” agencies should avoid in developing digital expertise?

Jason: I find three primary problems when traditional agencies try to enhance their digital capabilities.

First is the guru syndrome. I've written about this on my blog. Many agencies want to find a Web genius who can handle everything, and that will make the pain go away. Unfortunately, digital marketing is so broad and so nuanced now that one person cannot possibly stay on top of all of it. Also, if you accept the proposition that eventually digital will be baked in to essentially EVERY marketing program, having that digital knowledge siloed creates huge operational challenges for the agency. The guru ends up doing nothing but going to meetings, and does little actual digital marketing.

Second is the notion that digital marketing begins and ends. The reason digital marketing works is that it's a process, not a project. The ability to tweak and improve based on a careful study of analytics and other feedback mechanisms is a concept that is outside the historical world view of many agencies that specialize in "making stuff" like TV commercials, radio ads, outdoor boards, etc. The idea that once it's made, that's just the beginning of the marketing program, not the end is a big change for many agencies.

Lastly is the belief that digital marketing is a young man's game. So many small and medium-sized agencies make the junior staff handle all the digital work because it's familiar to them. That's a huge mistake. The potential for digital to transform a client's business - both positively and negatively - is real (especially in email and social media). Consequently, senior staff not being in the digital trenches creates missed opportunities, both for agencies and the brands they represent.

Check back on Wednesday for Part 2 of my interview with Jason as we talk about what agencies must do to master digital marketing.