• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Margie ClaymanMargie Clayman

Marietta, OH

  • About Me
  • Marketing
  • Librarianship
  • Random Musings
  • Contact Me

Greedy Marketing

June 27, 2010 by Margie Clayman 3 Comments

There is a scene in the Lord of the Rings trilogy that describes the various flaws the different races of Middle Earth exhibit. Of the Dwarves, it is said that they delved too greedily and too deep. The Dwarves were miners, you see. They were good miners. They found riches galore, but it was never enough. Eventually, the Dwarves dug so deeply that they released horrible demons.

I’ve been thinking about this description a lot as I follow the tale of the BP oil spill. We dug too greedily and too deep. We didn’t exactly release a Balgrog, but it’s mighty close.

As a marketer, it is possible to dig too greedily and too deep, especially on the heels of a major project like a white paper or a webinar. An incident that happened to me last week illustrates this point.

Last week I received an e-mail from a source I trust indicating that there was a new white paper available. The white paper had been authored by a guest company, but since it came recommended by the source I knew, and since the title fascinated me anyway, I decided to take a look and I ended up downloading the document. After reading the document, I showed it to my boss and I also tweeted about it. Happy ending, right?

Wrong.

Every day since I downloaded this white paper, I have received an e-mail from the author of the document. The emails are bluntly “sell” oriented. They want me to sign up for a training that will expand upon the white paper I downloaded.

As a consumer, these emails seem well over the top to me. Getting an “open” AND a click on an e-blast is a win to begin with. For someone to download a paper and give you their personal info is even better.

As a marketer, I still feel that an email per day is overkill. By a long shot. Had the marketer handled the situation differently, I might well be blogging about their effectiveness right now instead of the point where they made me want to claw my computer’s eyes out.

What to do

Okay, I know what you are thinking. As a marketer, I should have known that submitting my e-mail address was an opt-in. Well, I get that. But you have to be really REALLY careful when offering information-rich content like white papers. A lot of people who are inspired to download white papers are in a learning mode or a research mode, not a buying mode. How shocked would you be if a salesman jumped out of a book you’re reading? Same kind of feel.

The conversion from content to conversion is a rough one, admittedly, but here’s an idea that might have prevented me from wanting to put a hex on this person’s email account.

1. Acknowledge that you appreciate the steps it took for someone to download your white paper. Whether they clicked from an eblast or from the web, they not only had to click, they had to fill out a form, then hit download, then wait for the massive document to load. That’s valuable time. Send out an email thanking the person for spending that time. Make yourself available via email and Social Media to answer any questions.

2. Give people 3 days to read the white paper in peace. Assume that they spent their free time downloading the thing. Assume they are hanging on your every word. Don’t drive them crazy.

3. After 3 days, send out a brief survey. IF you are trying to sell something, mention it briefly in your introduction. Ask if the person has passed on the article to a co-worker or boss. Ask if they have shared it via Social Media. Answers to these questions will establish a relationship (potentially) and inform you as to whether you have a budding “brand evangelizer” on your hand.

People responding is the gold

Never forget that someone clicking to and downloading your content is a major gift. It’s the gift of time. It’s the gift of interest. If your content is good, that person will look for more from you. They’ll promote you. They’ll quote you in blog posts. They’ll look for you on Twitter. And eventually, if you decide to publish a book or host a paid webinar, that person will likely not only pay themselves but they’ll also recommend that other people do so.

This person’s content was extremely good, but I am not likely to promote them by name because I don’t want other people to get bombarded with sell emails. If I really wanted to be ruthless, I could name the person and say, “Hey, don’t download this person’s stuff.” That would be an epic problem.

Don’t delve too greedily. Don’t delve too deep. If you are just in it for the money, content is probably not your game. If you are in it to help educate people, you probably won’t rake in the cash right away. Build your brand. Build your credibility. Build your network of supporters. Be patient. Don’t release the demons.

Image Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/QR9iudjz0

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Pastor Lisa says

    June 27, 2010 at 8:51 pm

    I equate this to hard sales tactics and I loathe pushy sales people. It says you're only interested in what's in my wallet and meeting sales quotas. This is not the way to conduct business. Especially since the new business model is about building relationship with your customers. I learned recently that relationship building is the only way to conduct business in certain countries. We're getting there but some have a long way to go in embracing this novel idea.

    Reply
  2. Suzanne Vara says

    June 29, 2010 at 3:11 am

    I have a "special" email created for whitepapers, ebooks,etc. I too got tired of the relentless emails that I would receive so I created this account so that they could go there and I could read them when I popped over and check that account – generally when I download another ebook or whitepaper. I understand from the marketing side but everyday with a new offer, today only I am only doing this once, etc is overkill. I suppose that it is a very effective sales tool as someone on the fence would jump to the buying side but for me, I like a softer approach. The more you push, the more I pull away.

    Reply
  3. Real Life Mad Man says

    July 5, 2010 at 7:52 pm

    Great thought, Lisa!@Suzanne, that's a pretty good idea too. I'll have to remember to do that in the future for sure! Argh!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post: « Antisocial Media?
Next Post: What is this Blogging thing? »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Seeing Double: African American Literature
  • Book Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Book Review: Land of Lincoln, by Andrew Ferguson
  • The portrayal of the infertile woman in entertainment
  • Chapter 3: A Weird Thing Happened Today

Recent Comments

  • Delores Baskerville on Are you locking out blog subscribers?
  • frank c tripoli on Book Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Lyv on #30Thursday number 10 (we’re in the double digits?!?)
  • Fitoru on New Recipes, 2013
  • Anna Wyatt on Help me petition to deactivate driver-side airbags for Little People

Archives

  • February 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2017
  • October 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2007
  • April 2007

Categories

  • Book Reviews
  • Crafts and Charity
  • Gardening for Renters
  • Marketing Talk
  • Molly Maggie McGuire
  • Musings
  • PassionPlayers
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Footer

marjorie.clayman@gmail.com

   

Margie Clayman © 2022