Last week I presented the first half of a tarot card reading Joanna, a staff psychic at New Orleans-based Bottom of the Cup Tea Room, did on behalf of the direct marketing industry. This week, I offer the second part, in which the former technical writer/telemarketer/data manager talks about struggles – with a positive outcome – for the mailing list industry, and offers a physical description of someone who will provide valuable leadership to online marketers. I again caution that her predictions be used in conjunction with standard industry divination techniques.
Joanna used a three-column pattern representing (loosely) the past, present and future. I’ve approximated the layout at the end of this column, and readers may enjoy referring to it and “seeing” how the cards laid out. The cards were flying fast and furious, and while I was only able to capture the first full pattern she laid out – for the list industry – I have noted key cards she cited when reading for online marketers.
Joanna’s first intuition was that the mailing list industry would be coupled with an entity not usually associated with it. “There’s a decision that’s coming up that is going to affect that side of the industry. And there are some sorts of regrets, or negativity. But because of the Nine of Swords, they are going to blow right through it, and you have things being successful after that.”
She wanted to know if there was one point of contact for the mailing list industry. Aloud, I suggested the Direct Marketing Association’s List and Database Council, but I secretly recalled my grandmother’s oft-uttered sentiment, “three Jews, three temples.”
“In order to promote their success there needs to be some sort of advice, and this can often indicate legal advice,” Joanna said, pointing to The Hierophant. “That comes in the very first position in the present, and it leads to the Page of Pentacles, indicating new things around work. But [that card] also is connected with success.”
She gestured toward the Two of Pentacles in the “past” column. “There’s a surge of positive energy around that whole arm of the industry -- a re-building of some sort. The Chariot talks about movement and progress. And how this turns out will depend on the response of the industry. It may have to do with something international.”
I was smarting from having been recently dunned via telephone by credit card reps, and I asked if it might have anything to do with call centers moving overseas. “It could be an opportunity for marketers to distinguish themselves by coming across as all-American if they very publicly made the decision to stay in the states,” she said, adding that ultimately financial prudence would triumph over patriotism.
She shuffled and dealt the cards again, focusing on the online industry. “There’s more of a sense of them policing themselves. Through the free-market economy they will be successful, but this” -- she pointed at the Ten of Swords – “indicates severing a tie.
“But ultimately these things are positive. I see communication – I would also read that as advertising – as a way to move forward. The Temperance card says ‘We don’t want to send you things you don’t want.’”
Joanna continued, “There is sacrifice, but it’s for the greater good. There is success in the wish card [the Nine of Cups], but it comes at a cost. Again there is advice [The Hierophant], and while things go smoothly, there is a sense of having to look inward.
“With the final outcome there is a sense of online marketers having to fit themselves into the universe, because they are kind of the bastard child of advertising,” she said. “And it does look as though there is an authority figure who can help facilitate this.
“It is someone coming to the forefront, within the industry, and I do get the sense of a male. I’m not getting a white-collar feel to him. Physically, someone who is a little bit shorter than average. He doesn’t wear suits, and has a receding hairline. I can’t tell if there is facial hair, but his hair was dark, at one time. But no suits. It seems like he just wears button-down shirts. He favors blue.”
The only person who jumped to mind as perfectly fitting this description is an old high school friend who writes for Mad magazine, and he’s hardly in the industry. I made a mental note to suggest that Direct create a Best Dressed/Worst Dressed section as part of its next DMA Annual conference coverage.
Joanna noticed my silence, and looked up from the cards. “This person does something within his little corner of the Web, and is instrumental in changing things,” she added.
A Web marketer who wasn’t a fashion plate? That hardly narrowed the field. I asked Joanna to sum up her intuitions.
She pointed at the Six of Cups and Two of Cups. “Cups to me say individuals, and indicate the need to think of the person a marketer is targeting - that a person is a person, not just a possible buyer.
“The Eight of Pentacles is a work card, and The Moon and The Wheel of Fortune are change cards. The people who are going to rise to the top are the ones who think differently. Take direct mail and catalogs. One problem is that people don’t like the waste in terms of paper. So maybe it means [marketers should say] ‘We understand that you care about the environment. To get the online version, send this in.’
“It’s a need for more collaboration. But there are very positive trends, and it will be the thinkers, those that treat their clients with respect, that rise to the top.”
To respond to this column, please contact rlevey@primediabusiness.com
The Mailing List Industry Pattern
Two of Pentacles........The Hierophant........Page of Pentacles
Justice........Six of Wands........The Devil
Ten of Swords........Five of Swords........Eight of Swords
Page of Wands........The Tower........King of Cups
The World........The Wheel of Fortune........Ace of Cups
Ten of Pentacles........Four of Wands........Knight of Swords
Three of Pentacles........Nine of Wands........Ten of Wands
Three of Cups........Six of Swords........Five of Cups
The High Priestess........The Star........Eight of Pentacles
The Magician........Seven of Swords........Four of Pentacles
Queen of Wands........Knight of Wands........Ten of Cups
Ace of Pentacles........The Emperor........Judgment
Death........The Hermit........Knight of Cups
Eight of Wands........Eight of Cups........Seven of Wands
Queen of Pentacles........The Moon........Nine of Pentacles
Strength........Four of Swords........Nine of Swords
Two of Cups........Ace of Wands........Page of Swords
Five of Wands........Ace of Swords........Seven of Pentacles
Queen of Swords........Temperance........Four of Cups
King of Pentacles........King of Wands........Three of Wands
........Six of Cups........Eight of Wands........The Sun
.....…Queen of Cups........Queen of Pentacles........The Fool
........Page of Cups........Five of Pentacles........Seven of Wands
........Nine of Cups........Two of Wands........Two of Swords
........Hanged Man........King of Swords........The Chariot
........The Lovers........The Empress........Three of Swords
