1 Good Reason - Internet Marketing

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) Another shameless plug.

Evidently it’s a slow day over at Mad. Ave. Journal again, or the real editor’s are on vacation.  But in either case they published another article I wrote following along the theme of Floggers & Astroturfers aren’t Evil.

I kind of like the “Social & Search Media Evangelist” title, rather pithy.  Let me know what you think.

Tanks for reading,

Chris

BLUF: Last weeks post highlighted a Fake Blogger (Flogger) and the comments following the post illustrated the emotion attached to this issue by many in the industry.  But in my research for this post, I’ve reached a surprising epiphany- Flogging & Astroturfing isn’t wrong, it’s advertising.

The Epiphany

Flogging and Astroturfing aren’t inherently wrong, or evil.  They are just a form of advertising that we aren’t familiar with, yet. The reason so many in Social Media react so strongly is that we’ve not built up our defenses to this form of advertising.  We can’t see it coming, so when it’s finally discovered we are chagrined, dismayed, betrayed, and feeling foolish.  And our reaction to that is often anger.

What is the difference between these types of advertising:

• The Radio DJ who talks about how much they love the local hot spot.
• The Magazine Advertorial which is almost indistinguishable from the content.  So much so in fact that it’s wrapped in a box labeled “Advertisement” just so you can tell.
• The audience of the TV infomercial who goes crazy for the latest kitchen gadget.
• The Facebook friend who tells everyone they use this brand of lipstick, or deodorant, or blogging software?
• The blogger who extols the virtues of the medicines they take.
• The “housewife” or “construction worker” who loves the new Ford or Cadillac on a TV commercial.

They are all deceptive ads designed to bypass our learned defenses and gain our attention to deliver their message.   These ads aren’t deceptive to fool you, they are deceptive to fool your defenses.  They are simply trying to get noticed.

The reason so many in social media have an aversion to Flogging and Astroturfing as that we are upset when we feel deceived.  We feel like we’ve been foolish.  Taken advantage of.  Betrayed.  But the real reason is that we didn’t see it coming.

The Remedy- we need cues for these ads.

Most importantly we haven’t developed the cues to inform us “Hey this is an ad.”  Because it’s all about perception, and if I perceive that it’s an ad I’m not going to feel betrayed, deceived or fooled.  And the Advertiser won’t suffer any of the blowback, repercussions, anger, and frustration of the community at large.

What we as Social Media Mavens need to do are help the industry develop the mechanisms that can indicate to the casual observer “Hey this blog comment- this twitter message is really an ad!”

Because when you know what’s coming you won’t be fooled into letting down your defenses.  Then it can’t hurt you and you won’t be angry.

What are you going to do about it?

First, I’m a lousy poker player, and a lousy liar and actor.  Therefore you won’t be seeing me creating any Flogs or Astroturfing anytime soon.  And I think there are still some very big mine fields out there for the field to negotiate, (like medical, pharmaceuticals, and lifestyle issues).  But the leaders and strategists in the field need to think about how we can help our customers create these ads.  All of this talk about transparency and honesty and openness is useless without some concrete guidelines on how to deliver realistic ads that work in the space.

Over the next several weeks I will outline several methods and techniques Marketers can use to create Flogs, Astroturf and other Personna Based Marketing initiatives without raising the ire of the marketplace.

Tanks for reading,

Chris

NOTE: Jonathan Trenn and I have been discussing this subject for several days.  His take on it can be found in this excellent article: http://marketingconversation.com/2008/08/19/what-chris-kieffs-wife-can-tell-us/

Flogger: n; Contraction of the two words: Fake, and Blogger. (syn: Persona Blogger)  One who writes fiction but portrays it as autobiographical, usually as a paid writer to promote products, services, brands or ideas.

Astroturfing: v; The act of writing fictional comments on blogs, bulletin boards, or in online discussions.  usually as a paid writer to promote products, services, brands or ideas.

Yesterday at Social Media Camp NYC hosted by Mashable, and Yoono, there was a very lively discussion started by a young woman who presented herself as a “Persona Blogger.”  She was joined in this discussion by a company (who I have decided to not name, yet) who is employing her to blog for them.

She discussed how she assumes the persona of several people; 52 year old woman, 25 year old man, 20-ish woman, and then blogs, twitters, and creates pages on social networks  like Facebook,  MySpace, and others as these people.  She spoke about how this is a 24/7 job that requires her to maintain this work constantly to keep up the facade.

I’ll not mince words, this is simply lying, and as I’ve stated in this blog before, lying is a terrible way to build a relationship.

The audience at SM Camp NYC seemed to divide somewhat along generational lines, with some of the younger people taking the side that it’s understood that people can’t be trusted on the internet.  Their arguments followed the logic that everyone on the internet makes things up.  They’ve grown up understanding there are different levels of honesty.  All marketers are liars who are often telling people a story they want to believe.  Throughout history there have been great works put out under false names.  “I’m not a doctor.” TV infomercial fake audiences, etc, etc.

So the question is where is the line- Blogging, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, FriendFeed.  When has the flogger crossed the line?  If a “Persona Blogger” writes a blog posing as a fictional person, and creates a myspace page, and a twitter persona, and then runs that persona 24/7 on these services is that a problem?

The test for this is simple; if you were selling a hard product that I could go to a store and purchase could you be accused of false advertising?

Here is the problem for the Advertiser: The basis of the effort in Flogging or AstroTurfing is to gain the trust of the audience in order to break down their defenses against advertising and pitch your products to a more open audience.  The problem is that if you are found out then you have not only broken the trust you have gained, but you have betrayed it.  Betrayal is common in almost all societies, and people have a highly developed sense for detecting it.  This betrayal will often lead to alienation and retribution.  Pete Blackshaw’s book title says it all, Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000.

Here is the solution for the Advertiser: Hire the brilliant writer (or brilliant editor) and find a real person.  Have the brilliant writer edit that real person’s words.  This can never cause you a fraction of the grief that Flogging or AstroTurfing can cause.

Tanks for reading, now tell me what you think in the comments below:

Chris

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) You’ll know social media and the internet are the primary source for people to get info when that’s where they turn first in an emergency.

Mike Hudson over at ThreeMinds wrote an excellent article Titled “Citizen Journalism Kicked Big Media Around” discussing how people reacted to the recent earthquake in Los Angeles.  Which got me to thinking, I have a question for you-

If an emergency happened to your city right now where would turn to on the web for news and information about it?

Examining this question can lead us to some very interesting insights.

• Who do you trust to tell you vitally important news?
• How do you contact your friends and loved ones to check on them?
• Where do you FIRST turn for the news about your local area?

If you first turn to the web, instant messaging, twitter, and a local newspaper website- then I would guess you are a Gen-Xer, and an early adopter, and in the minority.

If you first turn to radio or TV, and telephone, then I would guess you are solidly in the mainstream.  And I’m not alone in thinking that.

I myself, would turn on the TV or Radio nearest me, use the phone (as do so many people) for loved ones and then jump on Twitter to find out what’s happening.  From Twitter I would learn some good websites that have up to date news, video and images. For me, social networks are not quite there yet to replace the tried and true big media news for my most trusted source when the chips are down.

I believe that in time social networks will replace main stream media as the place for breaking news about local events.  Mike notes in his article that the LA Times website crashed because so many rushed there following the quake.  Other sites note that phones were constantly busy.

In my opinion until a significant portion (>1/3) of the online population turn to social networking as a first and primary source for news, it hasn’t yet arrived.  When people begin to first turn to IM, texting, and Twitter like applications, we will know that social media are finally entering the mainstream.

Where do you turn when the chips are down?  Tell me in the comments below…

Tanks for reading,

Chris

BLUF: GetSatisfaction.com the consumer complaint site was able to do something no other social networking site I’ve encountered was able to do, they got all of my friends. The site found 550 of my Twitter friends in a few seconds.

I sign up for, try out and test lots of new Social Media sites constantly. Somebody mentions a neat new site on Twitter, or Facebook, or in a blog and I’m likely to go there and try it out.

So when I finally got around to signing up for GetSatisfaction.com last week it was with a jaded eye that I ran their Import Twitter Contacts function and was astounded! It instantly returned 550 people that I’m friends with on Twitter.

Now I’ve got lots of connections on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Plurk, etc, etc, etc. And I’ve tried dozens and dozens of sites applications and plugins. Not long ago I tried a Facebook App and it failed to find a single one of my friends. I wrote the help line and they said no one in their company had as many friends as I had, I only have about 900, which by Facebook standards isn’t a huge amount of people. This type of reaction is something that I’ve grown accustomed to; applications fail to find all, or even any of my connections.

The other side of having a big list of friends on sites, like Facebook and Twitter, is that even if the application or plugin you are using can deal with a big list it can take several minutes for it to work. As an example Facebook has FriendWheel that graphs the connections between your friends, so you can see how they are interconnected. FriendWheel can deal with up to 600 friends but in doing that it takes several minutes to generate the graph. (Although Friendwheel, I tried you today and it says 60 seconds but… it was more like 3 minutes.) But GetSatisfaction.com not only found most of the people I am Friends with on Twitter but on top of that, they did it in seconds. I was literally jaw droppingly astounded. (I don’t think that “droppingly” is a word, sorry.)

A warning for Twitter

I’m not sure how or why GetSatisfaction.com can do what so many others can’t seem to manage. I requested an interview but received no reply. Scott, did reply to my question posted on the website itself but he only said that they have a smaller user base. Whatever GetSatisfaction.com is doing, should be emulated by Plurk.com, identi.ca and any other social media wannabe’s. Because the greatest barrier to entry is moving your existing network from one social site to another. And with Twitters Fail Whale flying regularly they are ripe for being picked off by one of the other sites.

What do you think?
Tanks for reading.
Chris

On Sunday, I like several others on Twitter received the following Direct Message from a Twitter User named SeoVice:

SeoVice Hey Everyone, Sending you all an Invite.kwippy invite 4 u http://kwippy.com/signup/e21093035b/; check out my page http://kwippy.com/seovice

Now, in my book any personal message sent directly to me and no one else that begins “Hey Everyone…” is starting on very rocky ground. I think that most people will feel that this is a spammy beginning. And then to follow that with a purely commercial pitch which has nothing in it for me, drops it wholly into the spam category.

So what should SeoVice have done?

1. Personalize the message- scratch the “Hey Everyone” I’ve found “Chris” works better with me, your results may vary.
2. Do it! Don’t tell me you’re doing it. Remove the “Sending you all an” it’s not the message, how about “You’re Invited!” instead?
3. WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? “Check out my page at…” is never enticing. Heck, if I send that message to my wife she usually tells me she doesn’t have the time. List the benefits for the reader. It’s not about you unless someone is paying you money to endorse their product.

So now let’s try out the new less-spamy message that SeoVice should have sent on Sunday:

Chris, you’re invited to be one of the first to try Kwippy our new social networking system at http://kwippy.com/signup/e21093035b/

Now is this spam? Well According to Wikipedia; “Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages.” So I don’t know if this was a bulk message or not. However, the tone sets the perception, and in Marketing perception is reality. So while it’s still spamy, it has the following advantages:

• What it’s about (an invitation to try a new service.)
• Why I care (I can be “one of the first.”)
• What it is (a new social networking system.)
• It’s personal (”Chris” as opposed to impersonal “Hey you!”)

I’m not being pitched at, I’m being offered an exclusive early chance to try something new. This is enticing, exciting and interesting. Is it still spam, who cares?

Variety the Children’s Charity

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary the word “conversation” is opposite of the root word “versus“. Versus, as in two teams fighting each other (NY Giants vs. NE Patriots for example in the epic Superbowl just past) means; to turn against, so conversation means to actively turn towards. Therefore conversation is the reverse of opposing, hence the title of today’s blog.

Or in a more literal sense, "versus" means to turn away, as in; turning away from him. (It’s actually an archaic sailing term.) "Con" as a modifier means to reverse the meaning of the root word. So "con-versus" means to reverse turning away from, or to reverse your reversal. "Tion" as a modifier means the "the act of" or "the action of". So finally, "con-versa-tion" means the act of reversing your turning away from, or to actively not turn away from. Originally "conversation" meant "to live with" or literally "to turn about with". Interestingly, in the middle ages the meaning evolved into; "having dealings with others" or "the manner of conducting oneself in the world". Later it evolved into a synonym for "sexual intercourse" but I think that can be said of most words at one point in time or another. I hope I’ve cleared that up for you.

In business today the hot topic is social media and social networking. Everyone is talking about how you must have a conversation with your customers. And, unfortunately like the old joke about the weather, everyone’s talking about it and no one is doing anything about it.

Well, I’m happy to say that this situation has changed. In the second book of the series The Age of Conversation, the masterminds Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton have drawn together 237 authors from across the blogosphere discuss how to have this conversation.

Despite the fact that it brings their judgement into question, Drew and Gavin have allowed me to contribute to this masterwork. So, while some 1/237th of the piece may be less than stellar, the majority of the compilation will be excellent reading. And the best part of it is that all of the profits from the book go to Variety the Children’s Charity. (Which has nothing to do with Varitey Newspaper or Hollywood in general.) Variety has a simple mission, “Variety the Children’s Charity is dedicated to promoting and protecting the health and well-being of children around the world.”

Below are all of the wonderful bloggers who contributed to the Age of Conversation II:

Now click on one of these blogs below to learn something else new and most likely much more useful than etymology:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

BLUF: doing anything extremely well is a lot harder than it looks. The corollary is making mistakes or doing something poorly can make that “it looks so easy to do” thing seem simple. It rarely is.

I have two cats, or rather, two cats live with my family and I. We would love to have a dog but they are not allowed in our condominium. Now, I’m a DIY’er (Do It Yourselfer) and I’m constantly doing things around the house. Several years ago I created a built in catbox that neatly hides the litter tray in our laundry room so the cats have a nice place that is clean and not so out in the open. This litter tray served it’s (not so noble) purpose for several years. However recently it has begun to have problems, specifically it leaks. I’ll not go into graphic details, and I’ll skip the Flickr photos to spare your sensibilities.

So I’ve decided to replace it with something more…effective shall we say? Not wanting to revisit this particular issue again in the near or not so near future, I decided to go with a store bought plastic cat litter box for our particular needs.

I started using the new plastic store bought litterbox this weekend. And I discovered something surprising- it’s a hell of a lot better than my homemade one!

What is there about litterbox technology that’s so amazing? I’ll just share with you that the shiny smooth surface is much easier to scoop things out of and I’ll leave it at that.

But the real point here is that we often see things which are apparently easy but which in fact are not. Getting the price right on a can of beans in the supermarket. Getting one price right isn’t hard, getting the price right on the 50,000 items a typical supermarket sells, every single day, is hard.

Why should you care? The problem lies when you view a competitor, or a vendor failing at something that looks easy but isn’t. This leads you to underestimate the ease with which you can replace them. Which leads to heartache, and headache.

As you watch the Olympics think about your competitors or suppliers and how they make things that are hard look easy. In the Olympics we see the best athletes in the world doing amazing things and making it look easy. There are everyday people doing hard things well, and that makes it look easy. Don’t be fooled, it’s not easy.

Give me one good reason why you think what you do is much harder than it looks.

Tanks for reading.
Chris

BLUF: A Case Study in small business crisis management with recommendations from a number of prominent marketers.

Not one of my proudest moments, I let my emotions get away from me.  A few weeks ago I wrote this blog post about a very stupid, biased postcard I received in the mail.  Now I’ve received the response from the postcard’s author.  And I’ve decided to make lemonade of the whole thing and look at the situation as a lesson in crisis management for small business owners.  I’ll do my best to keep my prejudice against an obviously prejudiced person out of the analysis.

Case Study in Small Business Crisis Management

Background:

Small business owner, Jack Lefkowitz sent out a postcard which was evidently prepared in-house.  The postcard has several significant flaws:

• The postcard contains language that some of the recipients find offensive and possibly exposes the businessman to legal issues.
• A blogger (yours truly) takes the issue and publicizes it.

Now what does the small business owner do?

• Whom should one contact and secure advice from before proceeding?
• How should you best respond to these types of attacks, valid or not?
• What is the best way to frame your response?

What Happened, The Real Response:

Mr. Lefkowitz responded with a follow up letter to the same mailing list.  The complete 4 page letter is scanned into a PDF file here: mailing-from-jack-lefkowitz. I apologize for the low quality of the scan, but it reflects the low quality of the actual letter received.  And yes the scan is in color the letter is black and white photocopy quality.  The photo and the highlights were actually photocopied at such poor quality as to make them nearly illegible.

Selected Excerpts:

Headline: “Why Is This Man So Upset?”

Opening Paragraph: “Last week a post card was mailed out to you notifying you about a property located at … is being put up for auction due to partnership dissolution.  It offered you a great deal to earn $10,000 if you were able to get a buyer that settles. and on the same note, get the neighbor you wished for yourself.”

Subhead #1: “Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?  So why is the man so upset here?  Who is he anyway?”

Subhead #2: “THIS IS WHY JACK IS SO UPSET!!! HE WAS SIMPLY MIS UNDERSTOOD!!!”

Footer Callout (highlighted with dark background): “This mansion is for any person who wishes to enjoy leisure and comfort in a dream luxurious home and live an exceptional life?”

Page 2: (primarily a repeat of the home ad please refer to the PDF for details.

Page 3: “I’m sure you’ll love it once you see it, but as a Neighbor what benefit do you have by recommending a buyer?”

Page 4: Blank

Page 5: Copy of this article from Florida Today.com.  About a swingers club that is being evicted from a rented house in Melbourne FL.  With an attached Post-It note saying, “This is what he’s trying to protect you! Read the enclosed article”

What The Experts Recommend:

I asked a number of prominent marketing bloggers and associates how they would recommend Mr. Lefkowitz proceed.  Here is a condensed version of the recommendations I received.  The full text of the replies I received from all of the bloggers gracious enough to lend me their time and expertise can be found here.

• Lewis Green He should have stopped his card after he described the house.
• David Berkowitz If he’s that concerned over it he could have tried to raise the funds to buy it. 
  
• Jason Falls Sure he was misunderstood the first time.  He’s only going to be misunderstood the second time by many because the message isn’t clear.  
• Roberta Rosenberg Outline the specific goal to be achieved.  Have a professional … write the copy, tho there is a certain charm that might be lost.
• John Johansen Determine if anyone in his market is reading the blog coverage. … If no one he’s doing business with is reading, then the controversy isn’t affecting his business.
• Josef Katz Every communication counts.  …Have an expert review and prepare your copy.  The money you spend will be worth it…
• Cam Beck 1. Shut up until he hires and consults a reputable lawyer.  2 Hire a reputable lawyer.
• Cheryl Waller…Contact the [local paper] with the story and let the newspaper bash him about the inappropriate behavior on the front page in an editorial.  The housing market is a hot topic and the newspaper loves juicy stories. Controversial?  Yes.  More free marketing for the listing?  Absolutely!
• Michelle Lamar I wish I could help you but this guy put himself out in front of the firing squad by using such extreme tactics in his ads.  
• Gavin Heaton Work with the medium in which the issues are raised– if it is a blog, respond in that format.  If you feel uncomfortable in dealing with a blogger… engage a local PR firm to act on your behalf.
• Drew McLellan Anyone who can live in a neighborhood of $2+ million homes is being bombarded with direct mail. … Odds are, most people didn’t even read the headline before it was tossed in the garbage.  Have some respect for your audience.  Don’t send them something that is photocopied to illegibility and then home that they’ll respect your opinion.
• Jason Alba Totally let it go, get on with business.  Give me a break, this the type of distraction that a real CEO doesn’t need to chase, only to dig a deeper hole. … Who wants to read a 4 page whiner’s letter?

Final Recommendations and Analysis:

The main issue I feel Jack missed is that it’s not about him.  It’s not about you or your business it’s about the feelings of your prospects & customers.  There are a dozen ways Jack could have approached this from the perspective of a recipient of his mailings.  The least effective is from the sender’s perspective.  Get out of yourself & your business (hiring someone else to write is a good way) and keep the focus on the customer’s feelings, not yours.  This entire mess would have been avoided if Jack had done that to begin with.  Instead he imposed his feelings on his target audience, bringing about this problem.

After reading all of the responses I received I believe that Jason Alba and John Johansen (among others) hit the nail on the head.  If Jack called me and asked me what to do before sending the second letter.  I would do my best to determine if his target audience read any blogs that are likely to carry the story.  And from my understanding of the story today, the likelihood is low.  So my advice to Jack would be to ignore it and carry on.

However, if it does become a bigger issue then it may be that Cheryl Waller has the best idea to revel in the light of the PR while you make the money. Cheryl, is the one of the real estate professionals who took part and she has a very different view of this.  She says in part:

I honestly do not think that this campaign was designed in-house. He is using a very specific (and touchy) direct marketing approach, yes, based on exploiting people’s fears and ruffling feathers. It’s actually quite effective, which your email here proves. The style, the follow-up, the post-it note.. I have seen it all before. I’ve gone to workshops specifically on this style of copywriting.

Her contribution was long and detailed and worth a read.  I don’t happen to agree with Cheryl’s perspective, I simply think that Jack is not that clever in his marketing efforts.  But I could be wrong.

All in all, this was a great experience, and I’m truly thankful to my friends who gave me their time and their wisdom to help me with this.  This was a lot of fun and I will do it again in the future.

Tanks for reading,

Chris

BLUF: Deceit is a stupid way to start any business relationship.  But in the world of Google and social media it can and will come back to bite you.  I’m climbing on my soapbox now…

A good friend sent me a job posting that was on MediaBistro.  The job described was a perfect match so I applied for it.  It turns out that that job didn’t exist, and never existed.  The recruiter had created the posting to gather emails and resumes.

I wrote an angry email to the recruiter telling them they were being deceitful and to remove me from their database.  The reply included the following:

“We wrote a general posting and purposely made it look like a ‘general’ posting. That general posting is currently on our site including this line: “We service a variety of clients ranging from Fortune 100 powerhouses to small boutique digital ad agencies. They all have one thing in common - they trust and depend on Aquent…The same posting on our site has the city listed as New Jersey indicating that there is no specific city.

…Aquent does NOT make a practice of attempting to deceive its talent or prospective talent. We make every effort to set realistic expectations with everyone we work with.”

My response included this:

“You are creating postings for the purpose of collecting emails and resumes with no specific product to offer the respondent t