Marketing Tactics That Hurt
February 6th, 2010
It’s obvious that marketing scams are a bad way to do business. But what about marketing techniques that are not scams, but insult the intelligence of your prospect? What’s the point in doing that? Indeed, do such techniques even work? That’s a good question.
You probably receive a number of emails every week, or possible even every day, offering you goods and services. Some of them come from people you know and trust and some may come from people you don’t know. So how do you react if those emails appear to be one thing, but in reality are actually another?
Here’s an example: how do you feel if an email advises you not to buy the latest product release, but further down the email they provide an affiliate link for you to purchase from? Do you realize that there’s a chance you’ve been pulled into it? Do you feel good that the marketer said one thing, but appeared to do another?
You see, good customer service is important after a sale, but it’s just as important before the sale too. So if you are an internet marketer and you’re tempted to copy some of the techniques and tactics you see in your own inbox, it might be worth thinking twice. Those big marketers have huge mailing lists and if they upset a lot of people there’s still going to be a lot of people who might be interested.
In other words even if big marketers do badly, they can still make a lot of money! That’s not necessarily the best model to copy. For starters, you might need a list of hundreds of thousands to make it work…
While it’s important to be aware of consumer behavior, that’s not a recommendation to take advantage of it. Marketing emails pretending to be concerned about a prospect don’t cut as much ice now as they used to. In the future I hope they’ll cut even less ice. And the good news bad news limited quantity email can only be used so often before your subscribers will see the pattern.
Treating your subscribers like intelligent human beings might not make you as much money today, but you’re far more likely to grow your business in a sustainable way and not have as much ‘churn’, or subscriber turnover. Remember that the best marketing technique is the one that makes a customer and keeps a customer.
So don’t think of your subscribers as a disposable asset, think of them as your best asset - one worth nurturing and protecting.
Categories: General Interest |
