This post relates to the prior entry in an obscure way; and also the general idea of Public [i.e., Customer] relations and good marketing strategy.
In the sense of: "value."
I've been doing a great deal of looking for "value" lately, given my rather traumatic relocation circumstances.
This can be about buying a used car, or finding 'good stuff cheap.'
I've done well on what we might call 'higher end' or 'big ticket' items at one of the local chains of dollar stores.
However, in patronizing this chain [there are two locations in the city I'm now in alone, and several others in surrounding towns], something struck me when I went there for smaller and arguably 'more essential' elements such as food stuffs.
To me, when you go to a "dollar store" you expect a discounted price [and I mean by more than a few pennies] in comparison to what you would find in more traditional vendors of the product nearby the location of the dollar store you are shopping.
It struck me as I 'cased' the food aisle of the local dollar store: it seems to me in the long-ago-and-far-away days when I was shopping grocery stores for food for myself [all of twelve weeks back and two towns away] that the prices at the grocery store were little if any higher than those at this particular dollar store for the same or at least very similar items; but in some cases [such as those non-frozen 'tv dinners] the prices at the dollar store were actually a few pennies HIGHER than what I remember paying last at the local grocery store.
And, in fact, having picked up a few for on-site lunches at my current on-site job, though I'm relying on memory I'm pretty sure that for that item my memory is fairly accurate.
Now, various things affect pricing and that includes that, counter-intuitively, stores in low-income neighborhoods tend to have higher prices than a location of the same chain
in a more affluent neighboring town might have [because of "shrinkage" due to high shoplifting rates], and I may have picked up my "prepared dinners" at the location halfway between here and the job site.
But I'm pretty sure I picked up at least one right here in town.
So, I'm wondering: if the pricing is the same as, higher, or so minimal in cost from the actual grocery store down the street for these kinds of products, what is the point of categorizing oneself as a "dollar store"?
Another of life's little mysteries, I suppose.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
How NOT to use E-mail Marketing . . . . !
How NOT to use E-mail Marketing . . . . !
Naturally, as a writer who has an inclination to get into the marketing/sales/promotional writing area of the industry, I am going to notice what others do in this regard. Especially well-known outfits.
And, this post has something of a 'here we go again' element to it. This blog is called 'Writings, Etc.' Yet, in the relatively recent past, many of my blog posts have had to do with cars -- automobiles -- in one way or another.
Well, there are a variety of reasons for that.
From the point of view of a writer in general, things strike me when they are intriguing, sentimental, and other things of that nature [such as my posts on running across antique cars along the roadway in a few posts just about a year ago. And, for the record, I've yet to encounter that this year.]
From a personal point of view, I had of necessity not only to find a new vehicle when the prior one failed inspection for enough reasons for experts to recommend against putting the money into a car of that age, but -- for budget reasons -- to get something I could acquire without financing and on the cheap.
For what I paid for it, that car has served me well for a little over a year; but with another inspection due, the same sort of thing is coming up now: time to to upgrade at least by a few years, and hopefully a more reliable model as well.
Then, from the writing 'business' point of view: outside my writing as a Technical Writer and my work for the Demand Studios folks [which ranged over a dizzying number of different topics], probably a larger percentage of my freelance work has been in some kind of review writing than it has in any other kind of assignment.
In my observation, there are four primary markets for freelance writing of a 'review' category: 1) food-related, 2) entertainment-related [including books], 3) reviews of a specific industry or industry sub-niche as a whole, and 4) automotive related.
I periodically do book reviews on this blog [and also on Street Articles], just as a matter of personal and professional interest. I don't often have a chance to do food-related reviews, although I have sort of done that but more in a retail client than writing client circumstance. Some of my early freelance work either definitely qualified as "industry niche review" and additional specific articles bordered on doing so.
So, with the personal interest involved with dealing with buying a used car in as restricted circumstances as possible, and then managing the inevitable mechanical issues that followed doing so, an interest in the ins-and-outs of things automotive seemed natural during this past year.
How, readers are wondering at this point, has this anything to do with the title of: "How NOT to use E-mail Marketing . . . . !"
Well, near the start I mentioned that I'm again looking for a car in circumstance where the chances are good it will need to be a cash sale -- though things have improved in various other ways in a little over the year since I bought the current model.
I started putting out Internet feelers as soon as I decided that the need for a replacement was on the horizon. [This being the fourth area mentioned in my immediately preceding post as to where my Interent time has gone in these last about 12 weeks.]
Mostly, I get only very 'canned' responses, with things like lists of various bargains around the area. And that's not the part I'm dissing, here.
I have opened a couple of those e-mails, and if I were ready to make a move right now [as opposed to a month or two from now], I'd be contacing those folks about some of those potential deals.
The series of contacts that set me off on this topic is a series of contacts from a local dealer.
A dealer who evidently can't keep any track at all of contact history with a prospect.
I actually went so far as to talk on the phone with them about what I wanted [a used ideally Toyota approximately 8 years old or less at a really good price; and probably cash but if they COULD get financing for me I'd do it].
That sales rep assured me that financing even unusual situations like mine was likely [I've heard THAT before!], and that he'd have a result of that inquiry by the end of that same day.
It was late enough in the day I thought next day was reasonable.
After that, I didn't hear anything at all from the dealership for about 6 weeks; and because I was wrapping up stuff with one client and ramping up with another client at the time, I didn't follow up.
A few weeks ago, I began getting e-mail marketing again from this same dealership.
I had gone from being interested in a used to a new Toyota; no one said anything about a financing decision, and the e-mails came from two different people with the second of them referring in the subject line to the guy who was going to look into the financing --
In other words, this dealership: 1) got EVERYTHING wrong, 2) didn't do the basic follow-up to a contact you expect as a minimal indication of competence from ANY vendor in ANY industry, and 3) looked as though they had never really communicated with me personally at all, when they had.
I've been in retail in a variety of capacities, including training in sales-oriented writing and some work as a telemarketer.
The purpose of e-mail marketing is to engage a prospect [at least one writer calls a pre-qualification prospect more of a 'suspect', actually.]
It's also a long-standing adage of salesworthy marketing efforts that goes back to door-to-door, Fuller Brush sales, days that the best and fastest way to lose such 'engagement' is to fail to put the prospect [and hopefully eventually customer] in a customer-centric, or priority, position.
Making the customer feel as though you haven't the most basic skills of tracking the history or your interaction with that customer during the marketing and sales process is a losing game.
As such, this particular local vendor precisely exemplifies the title of this blog post: "How NOT to use E-mail Marketing . . . . !"
Naturally, as a writer who has an inclination to get into the marketing/sales/promotional writing area of the industry, I am going to notice what others do in this regard. Especially well-known outfits.
And, this post has something of a 'here we go again' element to it. This blog is called 'Writings, Etc.' Yet, in the relatively recent past, many of my blog posts have had to do with cars -- automobiles -- in one way or another.
Well, there are a variety of reasons for that.
From the point of view of a writer in general, things strike me when they are intriguing, sentimental, and other things of that nature [such as my posts on running across antique cars along the roadway in a few posts just about a year ago. And, for the record, I've yet to encounter that this year.]
From a personal point of view, I had of necessity not only to find a new vehicle when the prior one failed inspection for enough reasons for experts to recommend against putting the money into a car of that age, but -- for budget reasons -- to get something I could acquire without financing and on the cheap.
For what I paid for it, that car has served me well for a little over a year; but with another inspection due, the same sort of thing is coming up now: time to to upgrade at least by a few years, and hopefully a more reliable model as well.
Then, from the writing 'business' point of view: outside my writing as a Technical Writer and my work for the Demand Studios folks [which ranged over a dizzying number of different topics], probably a larger percentage of my freelance work has been in some kind of review writing than it has in any other kind of assignment.
In my observation, there are four primary markets for freelance writing of a 'review' category: 1) food-related, 2) entertainment-related [including books], 3) reviews of a specific industry or industry sub-niche as a whole, and 4) automotive related.
I periodically do book reviews on this blog [and also on Street Articles], just as a matter of personal and professional interest. I don't often have a chance to do food-related reviews, although I have sort of done that but more in a retail client than writing client circumstance. Some of my early freelance work either definitely qualified as "industry niche review" and additional specific articles bordered on doing so.
So, with the personal interest involved with dealing with buying a used car in as restricted circumstances as possible, and then managing the inevitable mechanical issues that followed doing so, an interest in the ins-and-outs of things automotive seemed natural during this past year.
How, readers are wondering at this point, has this anything to do with the title of: "How NOT to use E-mail Marketing . . . . !"
Well, near the start I mentioned that I'm again looking for a car in circumstance where the chances are good it will need to be a cash sale -- though things have improved in various other ways in a little over the year since I bought the current model.
I started putting out Internet feelers as soon as I decided that the need for a replacement was on the horizon. [This being the fourth area mentioned in my immediately preceding post as to where my Interent time has gone in these last about 12 weeks.]
Mostly, I get only very 'canned' responses, with things like lists of various bargains around the area. And that's not the part I'm dissing, here.
I have opened a couple of those e-mails, and if I were ready to make a move right now [as opposed to a month or two from now], I'd be contacing those folks about some of those potential deals.
The series of contacts that set me off on this topic is a series of contacts from a local dealer.
A dealer who evidently can't keep any track at all of contact history with a prospect.
I actually went so far as to talk on the phone with them about what I wanted [a used ideally Toyota approximately 8 years old or less at a really good price; and probably cash but if they COULD get financing for me I'd do it].
That sales rep assured me that financing even unusual situations like mine was likely [I've heard THAT before!], and that he'd have a result of that inquiry by the end of that same day.
It was late enough in the day I thought next day was reasonable.
After that, I didn't hear anything at all from the dealership for about 6 weeks; and because I was wrapping up stuff with one client and ramping up with another client at the time, I didn't follow up.
A few weeks ago, I began getting e-mail marketing again from this same dealership.
I had gone from being interested in a used to a new Toyota; no one said anything about a financing decision, and the e-mails came from two different people with the second of them referring in the subject line to the guy who was going to look into the financing --
In other words, this dealership: 1) got EVERYTHING wrong, 2) didn't do the basic follow-up to a contact you expect as a minimal indication of competence from ANY vendor in ANY industry, and 3) looked as though they had never really communicated with me personally at all, when they had.
I've been in retail in a variety of capacities, including training in sales-oriented writing and some work as a telemarketer.
The purpose of e-mail marketing is to engage a prospect [at least one writer calls a pre-qualification prospect more of a 'suspect', actually.]
It's also a long-standing adage of salesworthy marketing efforts that goes back to door-to-door, Fuller Brush sales, days that the best and fastest way to lose such 'engagement' is to fail to put the prospect [and hopefully eventually customer] in a customer-centric, or priority, position.
Making the customer feel as though you haven't the most basic skills of tracking the history or your interaction with that customer during the marketing and sales process is a losing game.
As such, this particular local vendor precisely exemplifies the title of this blog post: "How NOT to use E-mail Marketing . . . . !"
Catching Up
Well, due to circumstances, I'm going to do two -- maybe even three -- posts one right
after the other, after a prolonged absence from this blog.
The third will depend on if I have time on public computers before everyone closes for the Easter holiday.
The first is the 'catch up' that gives some information on my absence since my last post. This has been more necessity than desire (such absence.)
And, this post will not go into detail, because that gets more personal than I feel comfortable with at this time.
The bottom line is that I have just moved to a new location. Indeed, I have only nominally 'moved,' since circumstances necessitated getting into a location without the benefit of things like furnishings or even a budget for such appointments to the new place. I have some minimal things, but minimal they are.
I have actually been displaced from my prior location, living in a series of different temporary quarters, for approximately 12 weeks, during which time I had immediate access to Internet from a, so-to-speak, 'home base' only for the first two or three weeks.
So, I have been relying on public computers. Fortunately, the general community location where I am offers a variety of such public locations where I can do so.
Combined with that, much of what time I did have available on computers went into work search, housing search, and dealing with communications with paying clients or potential paying clients, and a fourth area we'll leave for one of the two posts I have planned as immediately following this one as possible.
On the up side, I'm happy to report that I currently have full-time or near-full time project work, and three freelance clients [two in writing and one in merchandising] with varying levels of activity needed by each of them.
Overall, the relocation circumstances have been rather traumatic, and I haven't had time or energy to work through that aspect as yet. I don't want to go into detail, but suffice it to say there are some legalities involved in the overall situation.
It is nice to finally be in a place where I can relax, unwind, do some cooking, and that sort of thing.
This year, that was a nice Easter bonus.
I will be online directly at home soon, and in the interim and able to access several different facilities with public computers sufficient to my immediate needs for my existing clients.
However, it will be a couple more weeks or so before all that gets fully squared away.
after the other, after a prolonged absence from this blog.
The third will depend on if I have time on public computers before everyone closes for the Easter holiday.
The first is the 'catch up' that gives some information on my absence since my last post. This has been more necessity than desire (such absence.)
And, this post will not go into detail, because that gets more personal than I feel comfortable with at this time.
The bottom line is that I have just moved to a new location. Indeed, I have only nominally 'moved,' since circumstances necessitated getting into a location without the benefit of things like furnishings or even a budget for such appointments to the new place. I have some minimal things, but minimal they are.
I have actually been displaced from my prior location, living in a series of different temporary quarters, for approximately 12 weeks, during which time I had immediate access to Internet from a, so-to-speak, 'home base' only for the first two or three weeks.
So, I have been relying on public computers. Fortunately, the general community location where I am offers a variety of such public locations where I can do so.
Combined with that, much of what time I did have available on computers went into work search, housing search, and dealing with communications with paying clients or potential paying clients, and a fourth area we'll leave for one of the two posts I have planned as immediately following this one as possible.
On the up side, I'm happy to report that I currently have full-time or near-full time project work, and three freelance clients [two in writing and one in merchandising] with varying levels of activity needed by each of them.
Overall, the relocation circumstances have been rather traumatic, and I haven't had time or energy to work through that aspect as yet. I don't want to go into detail, but suffice it to say there are some legalities involved in the overall situation.
It is nice to finally be in a place where I can relax, unwind, do some cooking, and that sort of thing.
This year, that was a nice Easter bonus.
I will be online directly at home soon, and in the interim and able to access several different facilities with public computers sufficient to my immediate needs for my existing clients.
However, it will be a couple more weeks or so before all that gets fully squared away.
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