Internet Direct Marketing Tip of the Day

The two reps, who were assisting me on the phone, thought they had disconnected before they started talking about me. I was fascinated by what they said. They went on for some minutes.

They talked about my accent, among other things. They also “dissed” their fellow field office brokers (with good reason, in my opinion). I didn’t divulge that I had heard it all, either at the end of their little chat or in calls with them thereafter. But, my devilish side was tempted .

I suppose many people talk about other people when certain parties leave the conversation, be it on the phone or face to face. In physical space, you can see when the coast is clear to talk, but not on the phone … and online, you might not know who lurks or monitors your missives.

So, if you’re going to dish on people you serve, do make sure they’re out of earshot. You could lose a client or your job.

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The old direct marketing saying, “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission,”, couldn’t be further from the truth in email marketing.

In many respects, direct marketing is like email marketing, but not when it comes to adding names to an email list and assuming it’s okay unless the holder of that address says otherwise. Of course, your adding names without permission is not CAN-Spam compliant, and therefore not kosher. But it goes beyond that.

Being cavalier by adding names to an email list without permission also hurts your reputation big time. Other list owners talk among themselves and identify those who are suspected of breaking these rules. Aside from legal exposure, wise guys who add names without permission can also leave themselves open to revenge, which can put their whole list in jeopardy.

I’ve heard horror stories of how irritated addressees can take vengeance on the list owner.

Believe me, it isn’t worth risking the whole list for possible incremental gain. In this case, it is far easier to ask permission than it is to ask forgiveness.

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Every time a new wrinkle in the Internet marketing landscape appears, people try to jam ads down the new channel. The truth is, not all channels are suitable for ads and offers. There are some social media venues that work well for advertising, and a great many that don’t.

By its nature, social media is participatory. It invites feedback. Many marketers have forgotten the importance of listening to the marketplace before they send out messages. So, while everyone else is trying to jam messages down every channel online, why not step away from the crowd and use the upstream feedback to do some market research.

When done right, good market research will result in a more relevant outbound messages… and no matter which channel you send those messages through, they are bound to get better response rates because they will resonate better with the target audience.

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I saw research recently that showed fully 90% of onliners mistrusted online marketing and websites. This is no great surprise, because too many sites and messages aren’t what they appear to be.

In this medium, where trust is at a premium, marketers and e-commerce sites alike need to go out of their way to convince the prospect they are legitimate. A slick interface or email message isn’t enough.

Lots of inbound links from respected sites can help. Real testimonials from real people help. Citizen reviews saying good things about you and your product help.

Convincing prospects of your good intentions is the job of branding, some would say. Maybe, in part, that is true. But branding messages that speak of your good intentions aren’t going to be nearly as effective as others who say good things about you.

In tough times, prospects are going to be hypersensitive to whether you are going to deliver the goods or not. “Can I trust you with my money?” is what many prospects are asking themselves.

At the end of the day, I believe people will place a higher value on trust than on the lowest price out there. In short, whether you’re in b2b or b2c, you can’t commoditize trust. That is good news for trustworthy marketers and e-commerce sites alike.

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All savvy Internet marketing firms want to know exactly which sites are pointing at them. It’s also natural to want to know which sites that are pointing in have high authority ratings. But, wait. There’s more.

Really savvy Internet marketers also want to know what the link tags say on those inbound links and surrounding text. So, it’s important not only to know who’s pointing at you but also what they’re saying about you in those link tags and in text near those links.

Why is this important? Well, the search engine spiders look at those link tags to determine what sort of site you are and what patterns exist among those inbound links.

Action Point: Once you’ve identified those sites pointing at you, figure out what keywords work best for describing your site, and try to influence those sites linking to you to adopt those keywords.

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Social Media or Web 2.0 is considered to be the participatory web. It invites the user to participate. Sticking ads into this 2-way dynamic often seems too intrusive.

Intrusive ads on Social Media sites remind me of someone trying to advertise in the middle of a telephone conversation. It’s a turnoff and, therefore, is counterproductive.

Look at Social Media as a feedback loop. Don’t try to talk, just listen to what’s being said about you, your competitors and industry as a whole. Think of it as a huge focus group, only better, because people are spontaneously volunteering their inner thoughts.

Don’t be one of those marketers who think that just because there’s a new hot online venue that is attracting millions of people, that you can shove an ad in front of them, and expect it to work. Just because people congregate, that doesn’t mean they want to see marketing messages right then and there.

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Give your customers and clients something more than what you promised them. Let them be delighted at finding the extra value, be it a gift certificate, or a bonus ad in a media buy.

Without fail, I do this always when selling ads and solo email drops. People are people, whether they’re operating in a b2b or b2c marketplace. That delight in discovering the additional value puts to rest any lurking thoughts they might have about having spent the money.

If it’s a b2b sale, that person can show the extra value-add to his/her boss or client making him/her look like a hero. A real win/win situation.

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I know someone who uses Craig’s List to test different ads for renting his apartment in NYC. The cheapest price doesn’t always win.

Craig’s list does not like you to run duplicative ads and often will block you from doing so. Do not abuse this good service they offer for no charge to most advertisers. When the copy is different enough, at the time of this writing, they do seem to let it go.

After my friend finds out which copy performs better, he then sometimes commits $$$’s to running it in the classified section of a local newspaper.

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If you have an email newsletter, don’t assume you’re just talking to people who know you. Assume many of your subscribers forward it to non-subscribers. Old-school marketers call this “pass-along,” and it is amazingly overlooked.

Invite your new readers to subscribe themselves. You may want to tell them the advantage of doing so. The best promotional tool I have for my Web Digest For Marketers is the newsletter itself. Why? Because it gives newbies a chance to sample the content, understand its value and subscribe themselves thereafter.

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Most blogs I see do not make it clear whose point of view is being presented. This is especially true of company blogs. Personal blogs tend to make this more obvious.

When formatting your blog, assume a visitor has never visited a blog and doesn’t know the difference between your posts and third-party comments.

Even if a blog identifies whose it is, more often than not there is little or no information on that person. I often find myself leaving the blog site and doing a search on that person to find out more about him or her. This is self-defeating, since a blog is supposed to help promote people and companies. By all means, tell people who you are and how you and your company make money. In short, give me context.

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