Today’s is a short post. Just a quick note for the marketers in my audience.
There are two strategies that you can effectively delete from your playbook with absolutely no negative ramifications. These are two of the more manipulative and borderline unethical marketing strategies that are still common practices.
Only keep reading if you’re attractive…
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. You visit a blog, you’re reading the post and then BAM! A pop-up.
It’s a free guide, and you’re presented with two options.
- Yes, I’m smart
- No, I’d rather stay fat and lonely
There are hundreds of variations of this passive aggressive nonsense all over the web. Without fail, they are terrible. I don’t give a shit if it winds up converting 1% higher, it still pissed off everyone else and made you look like an insecure bully.
Knock it off. Stop doing that.
This one is incredibly important and this is your final warning
It’s a credit card offer! The purveyors of direct mail think that disguising their special offer as official and critically urgent mail is a great way to capture your attention and start a financial relationship.
First, if I may be so bold: won’t someone think of the trees? Why are we wasting paper on an approach that is so truly unlikely to work?
Second, what do these marketers think after our fear response wears off realizing that this piece of mail is not, in fact, a final notice, but a manipulative and deceptive ruse?
Knock it off. Stop doing that.
This thing exists, would you like to know more?
The problem with marketing is that we’ve gone beyond letting you know something exists, explaining how it will solve a problem, or giving you a non-manipulative reason to buy. We got here because some unscrupulous marketer decided to try and trick people by being clever. Then they ran the numbers and found out it’s profitable enough to keep doing it. Then, someone else saw it, and decided to copy it.
We can do better. You can do better.
If you’re a marketer, you have a responsibility to fix this. It’s not only on you, but you do have a role to play. so don’t do this shit. This is your final warning. Besides, you want to be a smart marketer, not a manipulative jerk, right?
