A Marketing Strategy that Doesnt Work

Written on February 4, 2009 – 4:22 pm | by Glass Pearl |

A couple of months ago I received an email from a newsletter I subscribed to. The subject line said: Competition Winner – You’ve Won a Trip to Disney!

My heart raced as I opened the e-mail.

In the e-mail body it said something about dreaming of receiving an e-mail with that subject line.

Immediately the e-mail went to my junk mail folder and never again have I looked at an e-mail from that sender. I didn’t even give them the benefit of an unsubscribe, knowing they probably would just continue sending e-mails anyway.

It made me wonder why marketers go to such silly lengths to get people’s attention. Unlike the 3D world, it’s very easy to ignore e-mail. All you do is click Junk Mail and you never have to look at the marketer in question, ever again.

Even more puzzling are competitions offering a prize and then sending you an e-mail telling you to visit their site to see if you’re a winner. Hello…they would have contacted you had you won the prize! You are obviously not the winner.

Those kinds of marketers instead create the opposite effect than they intend. Instead of getting a loyal following might get 1 loyal follower – the winner of the prize.

I like entering competitions as much as the next person, but if I don’t win, dont’ expect me to be a good loser and follow your newsletter.

I entered to win a prize, not a newsletter. Thank you.