Secret marketer: New marketing tools in the wrong hands are just plain dangerous
Agencies firing off hundreds of emails to brands they would love to have on their roster, but who have no interest in them, is not going to attract new business.
When I was on holiday last week, I had a little more time to digest the 200 daily emails I receive, some of which are from agencies looking to win my business.
I have always struggled with this model. Agency relationships are based on chemistry, human interaction, trust and creative flair – all of which are nigh on impossible to attain through a generic email or cold call.
So why do agencies do it? I must get 40 to 50 agency emails a day – some are commodity purchases such as print services or data but the majority are full service agencies that, without exception, I have never heard of before.
I accept that it must be difficult to run a small agency and win new business, but there must be a better way to do this. Agencies just firing off hundreds of emails to brands they would love to have on their roster, but who have no interest in them, is hardly the way. It shows minimal forethought where targeting or relevance to the recipient are concerned.
One reason I say this is because quite often the emails are comical in the way they land. “Dear sECRET, we are an agency with an attention to detail”, (clearly, the sender hasn’t checked its raw data or mail merge programme) or “We are the experts in personalization and we can help you utilize the color of your brand far better” (when it is clear that I am a British brand owner).
And then there is the wonderful LinkedIn. Now, don’t get me wrong – LinkedIn is one of the best social networks invented but I don’t appreciate the 30 or so people who I have never heard of or met, attempting to connect with me every day and make no effort to propose why we should become friends.
Or the inane people who ‘endorse’ me for being a strategic marketer or a great leader, yet have never worked with me. The plethora of messages I receive on an erroneous work anniversary, congratulating me on passing a milestone of some kind are all from people I have never heard of (why don’t any of the people I actually know endorse or congratulate me?)
Sometimes, new marketing tools in the wrong hands are just plain dangerous.
Now, remind me to retweet the latest missive from that new boss I’m trying to impress.
