Tricks are for Kids!!

Pardon the rant, but I have grown tired of these companies who resort to lame trickery to bring awareness to their businesses. I get it, things are tough, consumers aren’t spending as much because of inflation and other factors. Even my firms has been feeling the effect because we are for proactive leaders and the world has shifted to a more reactive posture, but that does not mean I should try anything to get more business.

More specifically, I have been noticing companies posting ads in the contact form of businesses and in posts of people who have an engaged social media presence. While I’m sure this was the brainchild of some marketing firm ensuring a 100% view rate, not only is it lazy it’s just RUDE.

Most small businesses use their website for lead generation and to give consumers a deeper sense of their vision, purpose, and focus, so when they receive an email from their contact page, it is encouraging because someone wants to know more about their company and the interaction could potentially lead to revenue.

So how do you think they feel when they click on the notification only to find some ad for a product so uninteresting or irrelevant that they had to spam their contact page? I can’t believe this results in any significant sales for the company whose ad is being pushed and it also doesn’t say much about their character.

As much as that annoys me, it is second to the people who invade posts of others sharing personal information. For example, I have a friend who is a national recording artist, and he was sharing an awesome new photo of him and his family. There were well over 800 comments from friends and admirers, but some low life went to each of the comments and posted a link for some lame bitcoin product.

What they are banking on is the fact anyone who posted a comment would get a notification that someone responded to their post, so the likelihood of them taking a look is very high. However, I believe that most would be turned off for the mere fact that their ad had nothing to do with the person or what they shared.

As a former Director of Marketing, I can tell you this is not a good idea. The way you attract customers is by adding value. Find out what matters to your potential customers and deliver that. If you want to be noticed, try having something worthwhile to say. Let thought leadership be the tool to find your tribe not random spamming.

If you are unsure how to do that, I would say start with watching Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” and read Seth Godin’s “This is Marketing”. Silly rabbits!!