Let me begin by apologising. This blog is a bit of me on my soap box, but as I’m a passionate marketer, I can’t just sit back and watch in silence.
There are so many basic marketing mistakes that I see on and off line that make me cringe – and many of them from so called experts!
I love a good old ‘Lumpy Mail’ campaign, where you send something by post to your prospects to grab their attention. They can work extremely well, when you get them right…
One landed through our office letter box recently. Not addressed to me I hasten to add, but to a business that hadn’t been there for more than 2 years. Since I’d opened it in error anyway, curiosity go the better of me, only to be bitterly disappointed. The letter did not send me reaching for my phone to give them a call, and the lumpy part of the offering was a tea bag, which although tried and tested, is a bit old hat which just made it an even bigger fail.
But the bit that tipped me over the edge was the fact that the business owner, who had gone to all the expense of buying a data base (cheap I hope as it was out of date), the tea bags, good quality paper and a bright coloured envelope (at least they got this bit right) then fell once again at the final hurdle – they hadn’t even bothered to sign it themselves – their assistant had pp’d the letter.
I was lost for words. This letter is supposed to be the start of a relationship, and could well be the first time someone has ever heard of you, why would you not make it personal and sign it yourself?
There are a few online experts that fail at the first hurdle too. Web design agencies who have poor social media followers and interaction, offering social media support to businesses and then have poor content on their own profiles and don't get me started on their misuse of hashtags.
I suppose the only saving grace is if you do your homework and see what they do for themselves, you would never actually hire them to work for you.
But not even my inbox is safe these days!
I have started to receive emails from a Business Growth and Development Coach who claims to be able to grow your business – but is in danger of destroying theirs!
They have added me to their database without my permission, a great big email marketing ‘No, No’ - and certainly not GDPR compliant!
You must ask permission to add people to your mailing list and give them an option to opt out every time you contact them. If enough people complain about you, your email marketing host can close your account and you could lose those valuable contacts that have given you permission to contact them – an engaging list of a few people is far more valuable to your business than a list of strangers who will unsubscribe anyway.
Definitely not a strategy for growth I would want to use!
The word ‘Guru’ isn’t banded about like it used to be, thankfully, but do be aware of these self -proclaimed experts. The world of digital marketing is forever changing, but to get the basics wrong really is a no-no!