Pull, Entice, Enrich
I spent a good portion of the past two days working with clients to use Social Media channels to meet the customers where they already are to provide value and generosity. This could be Twitter, Facebook, email, Youtube, LinkedIn, to name a few. I work with organizations to show them how to create systems that friends, clients, partners and prospects can all opt-in to.
The goal is to make content that will be valuable, based on research, then take that content and post it through a variety of channels that people can choose to follow or not, but the choice is theirs. Everything I do with a client is intended to build trust with an audience. We would never betray that trust, by neglecting to obtain permission to sell to someone. This is true whether it is a soft sell or a hard sell, in either case, permission is required.
I do this, not just because it’s clearly more effective to market to individuals that have chosen to receive your messages, but because I personally believe that we are wasting time, talent and valuable natural resources to market to people in any other way.
Push, Annoy, Spam
Not long ago I made a commitment that I was going to be 98% paper-free by the end of the year. This includes all paper mail: credit card offers, paper bills, and anything else that I can opt out of, especially since I never opted in, in the first place.
About six or eight months ago I got an “offer” to transfer my domain names to Domain Registry of America. The customer service line claims that they offer domain pricing at 40% off what I’m currently paying. I currently pay about $10 per year, they want $35. Check the math.
I called them and told them politely that I was not interested, will never be interested and they should remove my name from whatever list it is that they have. Very clearly, I said that I am not going to EVER buy from Domain Registry of America.
YET
I got home from work last night to a small stack of 4 envelopes from the Domain Registry of America. Each envelope had a piece of paper with an offer for a domain name of mine that was expiring and a return envelope, add that to the original envelope and I have 12 pieces of unsolicited paper that I already indicated I had no interest in.
Who thinks this strategy is smart?
Playing the numbers
Somewhere along the way someone said, “when we send out mail (or cold call, or any other push marketing technique) we get about a 2-3% response rate. If we increase the number of pieces of mail, calls, etc. we should increase sales.”
This is where that mindset of marketing came from.
We are numbers.
The majority of us are the portion that don’t care, don’t want and get irritated by the onslaught of nonsense we never asked for. A small number of people actually buy and the whole cycle gets perpetuated.
What’s wrong with that, is it wastes a ton of resources and time spamming people that don’t want it. Furthermore, in my particular case I’m now, not just disinterested, but angry. I specifically asked for no more mail.
What’s the plan?
Are “we” really going to keep doing this?
Are “Marketers” going to stick with these tactics?
Is 2-3% conversion and 97-98% apathy, frustration and waste, worth it?
We have the tools right now to meet people where they are. We have the ability as customers to find what we need.
If you, as a Marketer, have to go find customers by having 98% of people throw out some paper for you or waste 3-5 minutes just to tell you they aren’t interested, I think you’re doing it wrong.