Could it be a cautionary tale with an early Siri attitude?

Please excuse the nearly 50-year movie reference. Yes, I looked it up and that iconic Sci-Fi movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was released in 1968. If you haven’t seen it, just keep reading anyway. This article is about today’s never-ending “ODDyssey”, the ever-evolving tools of the online world.

Side Bar: according to Wikipedia,”Siri”, Apple’s natural language voice control system for the iPhone 4S, features a reference to the film: it responds “I’m sorry I can’t do that” when asked to “open the pod bay doors”. When asked repeatedly it may say, “Without your space helmet, you’re going to find this rather… breathtaking.”  I gave it a go and asked Siri to “open the pod bay doors” several times in a row. If you want a good laugh, go for it. Who knew Siri has such a great sense of humor and indignation?

Back to reality.

We all have that experience where we google something, a brand, an appliance, or tickets to paradise and pay the ultimate price of having ads follow us around. And, now that we know that Facebook is easily corrupted by “bots” along with Twitter and the rest, it’s hard to imagine who to trust. We’re probably being manipulated by every nook and cranny of the internet, but we have come to accept – knowingly – many of those aggressive relationships. Technology has us wrapped around its electronically manipulative fingers.

It’s the “Good with the Bad” theory of acceptance.

We like it when we know that our favorite store is having a BOGO sale. We like it when we can order pizza delivery without leaving our couch. We like it when we get an alert about a traffic accident ahead and get instant alternative routes sent to our phones. There are some really good things that happen today. Well, maybe not the effortless pizza ordering with Alexa or Siri or by just pressing the app on our phone, but you know what I mean.

So what does this mean to those of you who are trying to figure out how to build your sales and get better traction with your marketing? How do you “follow” people around the internet after they leave your website? How do you set up an instant email series that reminds people that they still have an item in your shopping cart and that they have 24 hours to get a special offer of 25% off – just click here now! 

Did you try to click? Hope not. I really and truly never try to “fool” around with your trust in me. And that is also the message of this post: Just try to be you and try to treat others with an open and trustworthy marketing methodology. 

Frankly, I know how to do many of the things that we all fall prey to online, but most of them just seem over the top. I would rather you just buy my guidebook because you know it will help you find more homes for art. I probably have a pretty high “acquisition cost” per sale, but I have no intention of being on Shark Tank and raising thousands for some huge global market.

I just want to help people get their messages out, heard, understood, and trusted. That’s what most of you reading this will ultimately want to do.

How big is big?

Have you thought deeply about how much business you can handle? Have you thought about your personal capacity? Can you imagine having thousands of clients or customers? If you can, then you will need help from a team of people. Hanging out here would eventually be less productive as you conquer larger segments of the marketplace.

How many “widgets” can you make? And if you are going to expand into “reproductions”, even with sites like Zazzle or Red Bubble, you will need to “feed” the beast – the marketing campaigns – or you will have idle sites. You need fresh inventory – fresh products – and lots of fresh marketing approaches to be competitive.

As we approach another new year (wow… that was quick!) I know many of you will be thinking about what you need/want to do to grow next year.

Be careful what you wish for. And be sure that the app, system, technical applications, fit WHO you are and what you really want others to experience about you and your products and services.

I predict (and it’s not hard to see the trend) that more and more people will reject “slick”. They will become more and more callus and increasingly become more cynical of “tricks” of the trade.

Email marketing will even be under the microscope. My advice: keep it real, keep it simple, keep it personal and all about them. While Social Media is getting increasingly expensive and now is also less trustworthy, it’s never been a better time to depend on Email Marketing. But don’t be using too many fancy tools. The more your email “feels” like it’s all about the reader, the better. The less “contrived” and manufactured your emails, the more you will be received as a human reaching out to another human. (Less Hal, more Dave! Sorry, I really loved that movie!)

Just say no to this kind of gimmicky selling.

 

Seriously? Just 17 more people in Hawaii? A countdown clock? Is this personal?

Stay Small My Friends! No matter how big your business goals are.
And avoid this kind of over-the-top techno-clashing “hard selling”.

 

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