The Q&A is your chance to tell us what you think about working in digital media. Everybody can take part � just go to www.surveyshack.com to fill in the questionnaire.

Sam Michel, Chinwag (www.chinwag.com), sam (A) chinwag.com

August 2003

1. What does your business do?
   Email and direct marketing, customer relationship marketing and strategic digital marketing.
   
   
2. What's currently hot for your business?
   The combination of email marketing and metrics to provide a detailed picture of customers, their online activity and marketing effectiveness.
   
   
3. What's not?
   Banner advertising.
   
   
4. How long have you worked in digital media?
   7 years.
   
   
5. What's been the high point?
   The very early days when people were buzzing with ideas, enthusiasm and the drive to make the Internet a part of everyday lives. It's good now though, with the new realism that the Internet is part of everyday life, but it's not going to make everyone an overnight squillionaire.
   
   
6. Any regrets?
   Getting carried away at times.
   
   
7. Best digital marketing / advertising campaign you've seen recently?
   None.
   
   
8. What websites help you most in your job?
   http://www.mediaguardian.co.uk, http://www.nma.co.uk, http://www.google.co.uk, http://www.marketinghserpa.com, http://www.emarketer.com.
   
   
9. What websites distract you most when you should be working?
   http://www.ebay.co.uk, http://news.bbc.co.uk, http://www.ntk.net.
   
   
10. Have you got a personal site or blog?
    Yes.
    
    
11. Most useful application or software that you use?
    Email Program.
    
    
12. Best advice you've been given about working in this industry?
    It's all about common sense, and exploiting the communication opportunities provided by the Internet. Normal business rules still apply.
    
    
13. What, if anything, should the Government be doing to help digital media companies?
    Kick starting broadband access through subsidies and better regulation of telecommunications companies. Putting their full weight behing anti-monopolistic practices of some of the larger corporates. Stop pretending that their helping Internet development through incomprehensible and ineffective policy documents that in reality achieve little. They could do with some better informed people running policy.
    
    
14. Most annoying jargon used in digital media?
    Any collection of made up words that's really just talking about sending email or building a website.
    
    
15. Any bad things about your line of work?
    The expectation of an instant response whether it's via phone, email or instant messenger. The illusion that the Internet makes it quicker to do everything. The fact that it's impossible to explain to my mum what I actually do all day.
    
    
16. What's playing on your ipod?
    Frank Sinatra and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
    
    
17. What's the next big thing in digital media?
    Proper integration between digital and traditional media, plus the added bonus of the convergence of consumer electronics from mobile phones to all-in-one digital entertainment centres.
    
    
18. If you didn't work in this industry, what would you do?
    Run a delicatessen.