The Web Marketer Who Cried Wolf
It’s a dilemma we’ve all faced: sales are hurting for the month, and you’re in danger of missing your goal. You know that if you send one more marketing email to your list (or any campaign for that matter), you’ll hit the target. After all, you’ve calculated your averages – a 15% open rate, 30% click-through rate, 2% conversion rate, therefore you’ll generate X dollars in sales, right?
Will it work? Yes. Will it work next month? Maybe. Will it still work after this tactic of desperation has been used for months? Absolutely not.
When the cost of an additional marketing endeavor is virtually nothing, the directive from management will always be the same. “Do it more!”
But more is a paradox. It works well in the short term, but fails miserably in the long run.
The alternative to more is better. Better requires thought, planning, and relevance. More simply requires more of the same. More is easier than better, so its often the weapon of choice.
Permission marketing is all about trust. Every time you send a campaign that is irrelevant, you lose a bit of trust. Every time you over mail your list, you lose trust. Slowly but surely, you’re crying wolf. And like the boy in the fable, one day you’ll really have something important to say, and no one will care to hear it.
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Great observation, Justin — interesting content FOR THE AUDIENCE remains The Grail!
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LikeDislikeCant agree more, I’d add though, while breaking down the layers of trust, you’re also slowly deteriorating any sense of credibility you had too, communicating with an audience purely to meet targets always reeks of desperation, and most of the time your audience can sense it.
So while they may give you the benefit of the doubt once, there will definitely be a nasty after taste which permeates beyond digital and out into the world of “word of mouth”…How many times have I been at a dinner party, been asked who I work for and get a resounding response- “oh those guys! I followed the link but I didn’t know what they wanted me to do.”
Ugh.
Nothing beats a well thought out mixed-media approach so you can change direction quickly….
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LikeDislikeYep, its true that you must be trusted, thereby you should fight not to get a mistrust to your targeted niche.
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LikeDislikeJustin, interesting post. In my experience with online retail, the true cost of bombing your customers comes in the form of opt-outs, and that cost is often overlooked and not a trivial amount. We modeled customers that opted out and no big surprise – their future value is reduced considerably.
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LikeDislikeI definitely agree and using the Boy Who Cried Wolf story gives it more of an impact. Good choice!
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LikeDislikeTrust is the basic of the business, you trust you buy, you do not trust you go elswere.
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