This morning I commented on SPAM that I received (I made it members only if you are reading this and you aren't a member). There was a comment left that basically said, like it or not, SPAM is here to stay. We are all marketers here. Every one of us. I'm really hoping that anyone who spams reads this. Because SPAM, as we all know, is unwanted.
Still people send it out. I'm guessing that when you blanket a message board's members with your message that the odds are you will find one person who wants what you have to sell. That's PUSH marketing. Pushing your message in someone's face. It's also very ineffective. I mean, if you have no clients and a trust fund paying your bills and you have the time to spam lists to gain one client, then that's your perogative, I guess, whether I like it or not.
They say it takes 7 times for a prospect to see your message before they become a client. That means a spammer has to spam me 7 times before I buy from them, if I am even interested in what they are selling. What's the odds that I've filtered their addy long before I receive the 7th message?
For the rest of us, who have to have more than one client to pay our bills, we can't be blanketting whole lists. We need to be a little more specific about who receives our messages so we aren't wasting time (ours or theirs). What is much more effective than push marketing is PULL marketing. Drawing, or pulling, the ideal client to us. We can do that through answering on message boards, blogging, newsletters, and many other ways.
Basically, if I see your name on answers in a forum that you've answered on 7 times, I believe that is a much more effective way to show me that you are an expert in your field, and I may just decide on my own that you are the ideal person to solve my problem without you pushing the fact in my face.
My husband has a saying, "when you're sick you go looking for a doctor, the doctor doesn't come looking for you". In other words, people who need me will call me, I call people that I need. Show me what you do and when I need what you have, I will give you a call. Don't throw your services in my face. It makes you look desperate.
I really hope that I'm not sounding judgmental because that is not my intention. I am trying to educate the spammer. I know when you're just starting out and you're desperate for clients that you'll try anything. But you're actually hurting your reputation, not helping it. We all know how important reputation is in this business.
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