Today I came across a rather interesting article that had me sitting up (almost choking on my bowl of mee soto) and paying attention. I am not a marketer. I am not an online marketing executive.
I am a spammer.
I knew it before. I was just trying to ignore, be oblivious, pretend. But it’s the truth. I am a spammer. The way in which we try to market our products to our customers and potential customers is really in-your-face and I can wholly sympathise if they get irritated and annoyed by the amount of rubbish we feed their inbox on a regular basis. Who likes getting spammed in the first place anyway? I don’t read half of the things that end up in my inbox. Some of them are like daily reminders that such-and-such job fits my profile or the latest clothing line or the latest issue of a magazine is out. Though there are those that I actually look forward to each day.
What distinguishes the junk that’s truly unnecessary and that which makes people voluntarily and willingly click on the “Subscribe to Newsletter” button?
Greater Appeal: Tuna Sandwich or Plain Bread?
Unless you’re vegetarian, you’d go for the tuna sandwich. Pardon my crappy use of metaphors/analogies, still hungry. The tuna is the content. If you add in some mayonaise and maybe honey mustard, it becomes far more interesting and unique content. It’s this that will pull the interest and attention of your readers/customers. They’ll come back for more, hankering for another dose of honey mustard and perhaps this time you’ll throw in a cookie and it becomes a combo meal and then they’ll be really happy. What I’m trying to bring across here is that content matters.
How bout some cheese in my sandwich without me asking?
Intuitive content is always the best. You’re giving your customers what they want to know on top of what they need to know before it even dawns on them that they gotta ask it. The uniqueness of the information provided is what will set you apart from your competitors. It’s easy to hash out “duh” details like “don’t forget to fasten your seatbelt” or “always keep a condom ready”. How bout including additional information in bite-sized snippets like why they ought to keep their seatbelt on (specially the person in the middle) and maybe fun things as to how long a sperm can remain in the body and still fertilise an egg long after the deed is done? Educate as you make them aware. Knowledge is power!
This is more for those of us out there who are forced to do the dirtywork of crafting those eletronic Direct Mailers (eDM) and sending them out (thereby incurring the wrath of thousand others, no wonder my karma sucks). Sometimes bo pian we’re too lower level to decide how to get the message across or that our employers still believe that traditional INYOURFACE is the way to go.
On an unrelated note, I ran about 4 to 5km today under the burning sun (I have a jersey tan line now, so unglam) during lunch. Prolly ruined the effort with the mee soto but it’s these little steps for the Sundown 10km I’m gonna be doing in May. Go me!
