Stop the Zombies!
In keeping with the Halloween spirit, and also because zombies are so “in” this year, I felt it would be both timely and relevant for me to post about one of my pet peeves: zombie marketers. As marketing guru Seth Godin and others have argued, permission-based marketing is where it’s at these days. Spamming people against their will simply doesn’t yield results, and besides, it’s rude. Zombie marketers are those unfortunate souls who have somehow missed the boat and still cling to the old habit of sending you lots of irrelevant junk that you really don’t want. It seems like no matter how many times you indicate that you’re not interested…no matter what methods you resort to in order to be removed from the list…these zombie marketers keep coming back for you over and over again, yelling “Brains! BRAAAIIINNNS!!!”
Why don’t they get it? Why do they keep bothering me? WHY CAN’T I STOP THEM???
The key to winning customers these days is permission-based marketing. Be polite and courteous with your prospects, just as you would with a valued acquaintance. Don’t just stride into their cube, lean back, and throw your feet up on their workspace. Ask permission first, and let them invite you to make yourself comfortable. Even worse, don’t stride into their cube and start (figuratively) eating their brains with a deluge of unwanted, spammy emails. Allow folks to opt-in to receive the type of messages that they actually want–Godin notes that emails should be “anticipated, personal, and relevant”–and you’re on your way to earning their trust and eventually their business.
