Marketing for Introverts: The Introvert's Guide to Customer Relationships and Two-Way Loyalty
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Marketing for Introverts: The Introvert's Guide to Customer Relationships and Two-Way Loyalty
by Marcia Yudkin
You probably wouldn't expect a topic as nerdy as email list maintenance to have an introvert dimension, but after an eye-opening exchange on a colleague's blog, I believe that's the case.
My colleague mentioned that she periodically purges her email list of those who have not opened her emails or clicked on any of her links for several months. She said this is what leading Internet marketers taught her to do.
As an introvert, I don't care what leading anythings recommend. I compare it to my experience and inner truths, and I know this advice is wrong.
Two years ago, I got dropped from this colleague's email list. Maybe it was because there was a stretch of time when I wasn't reading any newsletters because I was too busy with an intense project. Yet that did not indicate true disinterest on my part. I have followed her for more than a decade, recommended her site countless times and done a few joint projects with her. When I got bumped off the list, I believed it happened because of a technical glitch. Now I see a gulf in expectations about relationships.
Introverts are people who are not constantly standing up and waving their arms, "Look at me! Look at me!" We don't need our friends to wave back. We don't measure friends by how often we interact. We can maintain an attitude of liking and respect while rarely speaking up or directly reacting ourselves. We can maintain deep friendships in which long periods of time go by with no contact.
Indeed, if my best friends (of 20+ years) shut me out because they hadn't heard from me in a few months, I would have no best friends at all. I'm glad that print magazines I subscribe to have no way of knowing that I might let them pile up for months, then read through them one after another during a weekend!
I never assume that someone who did not wish to hear from me over a stretch of time never wanted to hear from me again - unless they tell me so. If that's true for personal relationships, it's just as true for business relationships. That's why I wouldn't clean my list in the way my colleague described. Someone who took the step of opting in to your list did so in good faith, with the expectation of being able to hear from you for a long time without anything being required in return. Those who opted in therefore deserve your continued respect.
I wonder how many other experts have shut me off from communication because they had the mistaken impression that I wasn't paying attention. Keep in mind that any attention, even if it's occasional or rare, can lead to referrals, sales, influence and all the other goodies marketers strive for.
As an introvert, when you weigh marketing advice against what you feel in your bones to be true and act accordingly, you become stronger and more effective. Always. Don't just take my word for that, of course!
by Marcia Yudkin
You probably wouldn't expect a topic as nerdy as email list maintenance to have an introvert dimension, but after an eye-opening exchange on a colleague's blog, I believe that's the case.
My colleague mentioned that she periodically purges her email list of those who have not opened her emails or clicked on any of her links for several months. She said this is what leading Internet marketers taught her to do.
As an introvert, I don't care what leading anythings recommend. I compare it to my experience and inner truths, and I know this advice is wrong.
Two years ago, I got dropped from this colleague's email list. Maybe it was because there was a stretch of time when I wasn't reading any newsletters because I was too busy with an intense project. Yet that did not indicate true disinterest on my part. I have followed her for more than a decade, recommended her site countless times and done a few joint projects with her. When I got bumped off the list, I believed it happened because of a technical glitch. Now I see a gulf in expectations about relationships.
Introverts are people who are not constantly standing up and waving their arms, "Look at me! Look at me!" We don't need our friends to wave back. We don't measure friends by how often we interact. We can maintain an attitude of liking and respect while rarely speaking up or directly reacting ourselves. We can maintain deep friendships in which long periods of time go by with no contact.
Indeed, if my best friends (of 20+ years) shut me out because they hadn't heard from me in a few months, I would have no best friends at all. I'm glad that print magazines I subscribe to have no way of knowing that I might let them pile up for months, then read through them one after another during a weekend!
I never assume that someone who did not wish to hear from me over a stretch of time never wanted to hear from me again - unless they tell me so. If that's true for personal relationships, it's just as true for business relationships. That's why I wouldn't clean my list in the way my colleague described. Someone who took the step of opting in to your list did so in good faith, with the expectation of being able to hear from you for a long time without anything being required in return. Those who opted in therefore deserve your continued respect.
I wonder how many other experts have shut me off from communication because they had the mistaken impression that I wasn't paying attention. Keep in mind that any attention, even if it's occasional or rare, can lead to referrals, sales, influence and all the other goodies marketers strive for.
As an introvert, when you weigh marketing advice against what you feel in your bones to be true and act accordingly, you become stronger and more effective. Always. Don't just take my word for that, of course!