A Quick Reminder to All Entrepreneurs

Before I discuss a disturbing trend of marketing I want to review a few rules of modern online marketing policy and best behavior.

If someone hits that little “unsubscribe” button, you may NOT email them again.

You may not export the list and email them from a different account.

You should not spam them with direct mail.

And under no circumstances should you robocall them, give their phone number to a sales staff or use personal staff emails to “reach out” after they’ve indicated they don’t want to hear from you by hitting unsubscribe.

Now…

Lovely people of the interwebs who sign up for newsletters, free downloads and courses…

If you sign up with more than one email account and only unsubscribe using one email, it’s not “breaking the law” to continue to email account #2. We don’t always know you’re the same “Joe” in both emails.

When you receive an email that you no longer wish to receive, hit unsubscribe and finish filling out the form. Often you have to hit “confirm” so getting halfway there doesn’t unsubscribe you.

If someone continue to email you after an unsubscribe contact them to resolve and remove you permanently. If it continues, report as SPAM to the email service provider.

Our Marketing Language Matters

Marketing is all about communication: speaking about benefits, identifying ideal clients, sharing goals… all of that has to be done clearly and carefully if you’re going to convert leads to clients.

And even more so, when it comes to how we talk to each other about marketing, our language matters.

A “tripwire” product, for example, drives me nutty as a term. It’s a catchall term for a low price offer, but its connotation is that you’re going to trick a lead into a purchase and dump them into a trap of buying more and more products to get what they want.

When it comes to sales strategies, we have to remember that the goal is to help the people who want what we offer.

Leads are not prey to stalk, women to chase, game to hunt or numbers to convert.
Leads are people and when they say “no thank you” in any way, shape or form, RESPECT THAT CHOICE.

Assuming that you are a person who cares about helping others, it can be frustrating to see that someone isn’t ready for change, but no amount of manipulation, chasing, strong arming or coercion is acceptable.

Don’t get so caught up in promoting your offers that the tactics become more important than real change. A client who is tricked into a purchase, manipulated through a funnel, or falls for the bait/switch of a bad marketing strategy isn’t going to experience positive change. They might experience rage, frustration and bitterness, but that’s not really the impact you want to have.

For better or worse, we need to respect the choices that our leads and clients make, even when we don’t agree.