Do you want to annoy people to get business? If so, do these things and (in some cases) do them repeatedly:
- Send me emails I didn’t sign up for
- Send me way too many emails when I do sign up
- Send me emails that are of no value to me when I do sign up
- Call me without doing any homework on me, my business or what I may need (hint: I’m on the social web…it’s really easy to find out who I am, what I do and what my needs are)
- Put a pop up all over your site and make it really difficult to close
- Make it overly complicated to find what I’m looking for on your website
- Interrupt me with annoying ad-like messages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc
- Autorespond in any way, shape or form when I do connect with your company
- Buy a Promoted Tweet that clogs up my twitter stream
- Get a whole bunch of people to ‘tweet’ about your products / services when your products / services suck
- Approach me as a blogger like I’m a mainstream media outlet in hopes that I will spread your message (i.e. stop sending me press releases)
- Use marketing jargon in your ads or collateral
- Hand me a business card that’s too big to fit in my rolodex because ‘it stands out’ (yes, yes, rolodexes are going the way of the dinosaur…but take heed until they’re extinct)
- Have a flash site that takes over 15 seconds to load (and if I do have to wait that long…15 seconds is an eternity on the web, it had better be good)
- Use a ‘tricked you!’ email subject line to get me to open your emails
- Tag me in a photo that has nothing to do with me on Facebook in hopes that I’ll find out about your event, product or service
- Use a company logo as your social media avatar and never disclose who’s managing your account
- Litter your website with a whole bunch of flashing images in hopes of attracting my attention
- Hand me an uncreative promotional item that has nothing to do with your business at a tradeshow
- Talk about how amazing you are when you accept an award
- Send me bribes in hopes of winning my business
- Call me after I’ve told you I’m not interested and no I would not like a follow up call
- Stuff your website full of keywords
- Aggregate all of your social media streams so you say 1 thing and it’s replicated on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, your blog, etc
- Share a status update about your hygiene practices, your sex life, your alcohol regimen or anything that your body is doing that it shouldn’t be with me, a business connection
- Do anything that could be considered a gimmick
[on READY2SPARK] Do you want to annoy people to get business? – http://www.ready2spark.com/2011/01/annoy… #eventprofs
@ready2spark : <high five> Well said!
@FrankFrost Thank you, and <high five, low five and a bump for good measure>
This is brilliant–I want to copy and send it to any/all who do any of these things to me. Oh, but that would be annoying, wouldn’t it?
Sue, to be honest, I think it’s necessary 🙂 The funny thing is, I bet if you asked 100 businesses if they ‘want to annoy people to get business’ 100 of them would say no. And yet, there are a good number of them who are doing at least one of the above.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! PS – let me know if you want to start a movement with me 😉
I so can’t stand auto DMs and Tweets that mention someone else’s name which is spammy. Annoying.