Offline Marketing?
Posted 05-19-2009 at 09:39 AM by MichaelHiles
I've been so intrigued lately with the whole "Offline Riches" offline marketing "thing" that has been sweeping the Internet Marketing community. It's almost as if a segment of the Internet Marketing community believes that it has discovered website development!
The scary part for me is the idea of a whole new crop of "webmasters" running amok out in the SMB marketplace, trying to sell small businessowners on the whole concept of "getting a website" like it's 1995 all over again.
Now I know that I cannot paint a broad brush stroke here because that would be unfair to the majority of my fellow web developers and internet marketers.
But you have to understand the history behind how I became to be so cynical.
I know so many businessowners that are still feeling burned from the hack efforts of guys trying to "invent it as they go" sales jobs from a decade ago.
Back in the 90s, everybody and their brother was a "webmaster", and I did more cleanup of puke filled HTML monstrosities littered with "blinkies"... animated gifs from free icon sites (which were all the rage back then.
And then there were the sites that auto-played midi files with no way to stop the blaring, "OH WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN!!!"
GACK!! What a testimony to business image and marketing!
Direct response was... non-existent... save an email link dangled out on the screen as bait for any spam spider to come along and thrash poor, hapless Mr. Businessowner's non-business URL email AOL account.
I simply cannot convey the level of frustration, and the amount of work and education that it took to undo a lot of the damage done by a well-intentioned, but less than knowledgable, would-be entrepreneur. I certainly don't begrudge them for having made the effort, but I was the "cleaner" for a long time.
The point being... I feel like an extra in the Rocky Horror Picture Show belting out a round of "LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!", and I don't look particularly becoming in lipstick.
Now I am certain that my Internet Marketing niche friends who engage in offline marketing sales and website development aren't going to be THAT bad (I hope). The tools are far more advanced, and it's pretty easy to deliver a simply website to a small business client these days.
But still... I am cringing... make the memories go away Doctor... please....
The scary part for me is the idea of a whole new crop of "webmasters" running amok out in the SMB marketplace, trying to sell small businessowners on the whole concept of "getting a website" like it's 1995 all over again.
Now I know that I cannot paint a broad brush stroke here because that would be unfair to the majority of my fellow web developers and internet marketers.
But you have to understand the history behind how I became to be so cynical.
I know so many businessowners that are still feeling burned from the hack efforts of guys trying to "invent it as they go" sales jobs from a decade ago.
Back in the 90s, everybody and their brother was a "webmaster", and I did more cleanup of puke filled HTML monstrosities littered with "blinkies"... animated gifs from free icon sites (which were all the rage back then.
And then there were the sites that auto-played midi files with no way to stop the blaring, "OH WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN!!!"
GACK!! What a testimony to business image and marketing!
Direct response was... non-existent... save an email link dangled out on the screen as bait for any spam spider to come along and thrash poor, hapless Mr. Businessowner's non-business URL email AOL account.
I simply cannot convey the level of frustration, and the amount of work and education that it took to undo a lot of the damage done by a well-intentioned, but less than knowledgable, would-be entrepreneur. I certainly don't begrudge them for having made the effort, but I was the "cleaner" for a long time.
The point being... I feel like an extra in the Rocky Horror Picture Show belting out a round of "LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!", and I don't look particularly becoming in lipstick.
Now I am certain that my Internet Marketing niche friends who engage in offline marketing sales and website development aren't going to be THAT bad (I hope). The tools are far more advanced, and it's pretty easy to deliver a simply website to a small business client these days.
But still... I am cringing... make the memories go away Doctor... please....
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