Marketing Faux Pas
Friday, August 06, 2010
Every once and a while I like to take a look back at my marketing initiatives to see what can be improved or simply get a good laugh. This morning I was going through some of my old files and found a marketing piece that I created over a dozen years ago.
The reason why I laughed out loud was because this particular marketing piece was one of my greatest marketing faux pas. When we created the piece we didn't have a proofing department. As is true with most marketing initiatives, we were rushing to get the piece out the door and into the hands of our prospects and some customers.
Apparently no one bothered to check the phone number on the marketing piece that was imbeded in the call to action on the post card. The number that was printed wasn't to our sales line but rather a call girl service. Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not one to judge but I can tell you that the boss wasn't happy. Especially since the piece was printed AND sent out.
It's in situations like this that you hope that the response rate is very low :) We had to scramble to "make things right" and it was a costly but valuable lesson. The good news is that people are human and the majority of prospects and customers who received the post cards actually thought is was funny.
The obvious lesson that I learned was, proof your work. It doesn't matter how much of a rush you might be in, visit that printed URL, call that number, re-read the content. The 10 minutes you spend could save you from a major marketing mistake.
Marketing Blog founder and top-selling author Michael Fleischner has been featured on The TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomerg Radio. 
22 comments :
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I thought you might want to know that it is "embedded" and not "imbeded"...just in case... I mean the article is about proofreading after all
Very funny post and very instructive, I often have the impression that I'm losinh=g time, checking my work but in fact ten minute "lost" are better than a major mistake.
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How did the call girl number get on there? Is there another admission you need to make?
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I think everyone goes there once now and then. I know I've been there. It's a funny story and you are lucky to have customers with humor. Not everyone's that lucky.
The result of a "quickie" can be fatal for a small business. It's usually expensive to fix and can be avoided with proofreading and quality checking.
BTW- Nice blog! I'll be back...
I agree that every comment should have a quality remark because you are building a reputation for your website or a certain company's website. That's why every business should make sure that they avail good SEO services (Indiana) who can build a good reputation for their website. Good thing is, it is now easy to find a good and reputable SEO company. Indiana, certainly is known for providing good online marketing services.
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Hi. I really liked the picture you have posted along with this blog post :)) It was really funny. Thanks for sharing it with us.
good job.after reading this blog you can correct your mistakes of marketing.
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Yes, it's definitely better to spend that extra 10 minute to proof read your final work. What gets burdensome is when the work you have to proof read will take longer, like an hour or so. Proof reading is that annoying thing that has to be done, otherwise there is a price to pay, and it's better to be safe than sorry.
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Thanks for this informative post man. I am actually new to my online marketing business and I really found this post very useful for me.
Nice words and thanks first for spreading your words.
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You are right, if you don't proof your work you could make a big mistake. I agree with Glen, its a good thing that its easy to find a reputable seo company to providing good online marketing services. Thanks for sharing!
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The good news is that people are human and the majority of prospects and customers who received the post cards actually thought is was funny.
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Thanks!