At Albeo, I'm planning to start a direct marketing campaign that will include direct mail and telemarketing, and possibly some email. Why? Because direct marketing works, and that's my job.
It raises a personal question, however. Since I don't enjoy receiving direct mail or telemarketing calls, am I planning on breaking the Golden Rule by doing unto others what I don't want done to myself?
I get annoyed with all the credit card mailings I receive. I don't like telemarketers any more than anyone else, and always hang up on them. But I also recognize that annoying marketing can be effective marketing.
For instance, as I have been watching the Tour de France on Versus Network this week, there's a Saab commercial that has run several times on each episode. (You can see the commercial here.) It's very annoying because it is very sparsely narrated, but repeats the same line three times:
"For the perfect balance of fuel efficiency and performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it.
For the perfect balance of fuel efficiency and performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it.
For the perfect balance of fuel efficiency and performance, we take energy from exhaust and recycle it.
Turning repetition into joy. The efficient performance of the Saab Turbo."
The repetition of the main line and the repeated airings of the commercial mean that that line is seared into my brain. Yes, I get it, the turbo provides a mix of fuel efficiency and performance.
It is amazingly annoying. On the other hand, as I pointed out, that line is seared into my brain, which means the marketers did their job. (Of course, there's a point at which they could move beyond message recognition into negative feelings.)
I guess my bottom line is that I recognize that some marketing tools can be annoying, but they're effective, and that's why I'm OK with breaking the Golden Rule.
3 comments:
I am starting to get interested in LED technology. It seems like the road to go!
I was looking at Amazon and found Albeo products there! Have your efforts been productive with regards to Amazon and Smarthome? From a marketing standpoint, is it worth it to go through that channel for LED? Have you sold a lot of products through those sites?
Thanks,
Carlos
Tracy asks, "Since I don't enjoy receiving direct mail or telemarketing calls, am I planning on breaking the Golden Rule by doing unto others what I don't want done to myself?"
Well, it is a rhetorical question because you are going to do it, huh?
I ran into this some years ago when I was among the leadership of an environmental organization, and our marketing director reported that she and a telemarketing firm had identified a cell of people who would respond to our message.
None of us (leadership) liked the idea of being called at dinnertime with any telephone message. Ever. But what I learned was that there were people who would hear about our cause, and would send us money, and would like to help us make the world a better place. Here is the point: those people would not respond to a paper mailing, or a print ad or an email campaign or broadcast messages. But they appreciated it when a warm human called them and explained the situation.
We were able to have safeguards so that no one was exploited, and our message was appropriately delivered.
It became an important part of our non-profit's income, and it made a real difference to the results we could produce.
Carlos,
Albeo does not market through Amazon. Any products you see sold on Amazon have been purchased by a third party through some other channel, and resold on Amazon.
Regarding Smarthome, the residential market is not Albeo's target space, so Smarthome is not a key channel for the company. Albeo is focused on the commercial/industrial market. The products sold through Smarthome are some of our task lights that can be used in undercabinet applications.
tracy
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