I’ve often heard – if we could only afford to send out more pieces of mail, have more events, do more advertising and marketing – then we would have everything!
It seems logical, you do more to get more, but it isn’t always right. At Red Zone Marketing, we often roll out new products and offerings. In September we rolled out Red Zone University. We started in August by promoting it using the More-Is-Better philosophy to let as many people know about our newest and most comprehensive offering. I personally worked for years developing specific content that now lives inside our University. And of course, we wanted to generate a big buzz! What happened, however, is success and failure at the same exact time.
We certainly accomplished our goal of getting many people interested in Red Zone University and we surpassed our goals and nearly filled up the University subscriptions (SUCCESS). But to do that we sent out a series of individual emails in a direct response campaign…probably 10 or more emails than people wanted to get (FAIL). Many of the people in our email list I have met personally, they have heard me speak, or have read one of my books. It was like we were sending a slew of emails to a good friend or long time acquaintance – which is entirely unexpected and unnecessary for such a relationship.
Some people were offended that a marketing firm they trusted was doing such heavy marketing…to them. There was a disconnect between what they expected and what we did. That was where we slid from More-Is-Better – to – More-Is-Definitely-NOT-Better. So although we accomplished our goal to have many people join the university (original purpose), we ultimately over did it (not our intention).
And, as much as I love the good buzz, having new clients to serve, and having people taking advantage of all the wealth of content — the bad buzz for me negates the good. Learn from our mistakes, and don’t over market to those that know you. They will think you’ve lost your mind ☺
Maribeth Kuzmeski
Maribeth Kuzmeski, MBA is the founder of Red Zone Marketing, LLC, which consults to Fortune 500 firms on strategic marketing planning and business growth. She is the author of 4 books, has frequently appeared on TV and radio, and has written articles on marketing strategies for hundreds of publications including Business Week and Entrepreneur. She regularly speaks to audiences on topics relating to business development, marketing, and sales strategies. Maribeth is author of The Connectors: How the World’s Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life (Wiley, September 2009).
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