SOWPub Small Business Forums  
 

Click Here to see the latest posts!

Ask any questions related to business / entrepreneurship / money-making / life
or share your success stories (and educational "failures")...

Sign up for the Hidden Business Ideas Letter Free edition, and receive a free report straight to your inbox: "Idea that works in a pandemic: Ordinary housewife makes $50,000 a month in her spare time, using a simple idea - and her driveway..."

NO BLATANT ADS PLEASE
Also, please no insults or personal attacks.
Feel free to link to your web site though at the end of your posts.

Stay up to date! Get email notifications or
get "new thread" feeds here

 

Go Back   SOWPub Small Business Forums > Main Category > SOWPub Business Forum
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

SOWPub Business Forum Seeds of Wisdom Forum

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #1  
Old December 15, 2012, 11:04 PM
Richard Dennis
 
Posts: n/a
Default Marketing Into The Teeth of a National Tragedy

I was on the computer Friday just after noon when my wife called to me. She had been watching a cooking show, and they broke in with news of the shooting of 1st graders in Connecticut.

We sat and watched ... both of us crying. Our son died a few years ago, and I could only think of what an awful, awful night all those mothers & fathers, brothers & sisters, grandmothers & grandfathers would be having Friday night ... and for many days and weeks and months and years to come.

It's not just a tragedy. It's a national tragedy. It's riveting. It's 100% incomprehensible, unexplainable, and depressing. It's an event that none of us will ever forget. Ever.

In my own websites, traffic is down 80% since the news broke. And yet ... the normal marketing emails keep coming. Sure, I know, most were pre-programmed into autoresponders. But programming can be changed. And it should be. My impression was, "How can you act like everything is business as usual, like nothing has happened ... when the world has changed?"

Of the several dozen emails I got from marketers, two were not about business. Those 2 guys wanted to talk about the events in Connecticut and their reactions and what we might possibly do for the families of the victims ... and for our own families. They weren't focused on selling me something. They struck exactly the right tone ... as marketers, and as humans.

Gary Halbert said that the worst thing that can happen to a direct mailer is to drop the mailing, and then have some riveting national event occur ... that you will pretty much lose every penny you put into the mailing, because no one will pay any attention to it.

I think that applies to most forms of marketing.

But especially for those sending out marketing emails, when you continue as if nothing has happened, you risk seeming like an insensitive clod AND you risk losing credibility in the eyes of your prospects and customers. IMO, the best marketing strategy is to simply take a break, then pick it back up later. In this case, after the holidays.

Even better ... send out a heartfelt message talking about your reactions to the event. Believe me, I will remember the 2 marketers who sent me a message like that. I'll be much more inclined to trust them and buy from them in the future.

Richard Dennis
Reply With Quote
 


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Other recent posts on the forum...


Seeds of Wisdom Publishing (front page) | Seeds of Wisdom Business forum | Seeds of Wisdom Original Business Forum (Archive) | Hidden Unusual Business Ideas Newsletter | Hotsheet Profits | Persuade via Remote Influence | Affia Band | The Entrepreneur's Hotsheet | The SeedZine (Entrepreneurial Ezine)

Get the report on Harvey Brody's Answers to a Question-Oriented-Person


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:28 AM.


Powered by vBulletin Version 3.6.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.