Amusing Marketing Mistakes Anyone?

6 replies
I just came back from a trip up to our small village, and popped into 7/11 to buy some cigarettes.

As myself and my girlfriend got off our motorcycle, a guy came up to us and gave us a flyer for a restaurant. As you do with these things, I simply stuffed it in my pocket.

When I got home I emptied my pockets, and dumped it on to the table on the balcony. My girlfriend picks it up and starts reading it to me.

New restaurant opening tonight, beach side restaurant, stunning sunset view, freshly caught and barbecued fish, $2 cocktails, 2 beers for the price of one all night, and the list went on.

OK I say, I'm sold, lets go and try it tonight, where is it?

Silence.....

My girlfriend hands me the flyer.

No address, no map, just a name.

So these people just lost two customers because somebody was stupid enough to go to the expense of printing up flyers, employing people to hand them out, and omit any form of information that might give somebody a clue as to where this restaurant actually is!

So it occurred to me, there must be dozens of great examples of dumb marketing on-line, anybody care to suggest some?
#amusing #marketing #mistakes
  • Profile picture of the author Nigel Greaves
    Mac,

    It's a well known fact that most people don't buy on the first contact and I understand it can be the 7th contact which is the usual buying point. So if you keep going into town on your 7th visit you should find out where this restaurant is and get several crappy, unrelated ebooks as a bonus.

    Nigel
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    • Profile picture of the author Mac Wheeler
      Originally Posted by Nigel Greaves View Post

      Mac,

      It's a well known fact that most people don't buy on the first contact and I understand it can be the 7th contact which is the usual buying point. So if you keep going into town on your 7th visit you should find out where this restaurant is and get several crappy, unrelated ebooks as a bonus.

      Nigel
      Love it! Made me laugh over my breakfast coffee.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    I'm sure it wasn't amusing to the site owner, actually it probably had him wondering what was going on.

    He linked his Adwords ad to his download page rather than his sales page.
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  • Profile picture of the author erinwrites
    For me the humor lies in the blatant spelling, grammatical and syntax errors in articles. "We profides you wtih every thang u coold want 4 super low prices! We exprts in Englis and grammer! We no makes mistake! Hire us now! You wont b sorri!"

    That is not an exact quote but you get the idea.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mac Wheeler
      Originally Posted by erinwrites View Post

      For me the humor lies in the blatant spelling, grammatical and syntax errors in articles. "We profides you wtih every thang u coold want 4 super low prices! We exprts in Englis and grammer! We no makes mistake! Hire us now! You wont b sorri!"

      That is not an exact quote but you get the idea.
      I employ a full-time team of writers for my bulk content business, and I am always amazed by the responses I get from people when I send them a follow up email once they have applied for a position on the team. A good example below:

      "hey, when i am sent a brief do i ahev to do it or can i send it back if say i dont have time to do it, as i am working with a charity and working hours are random."

      And this guy is from the USA! Do you think I gave him a job?
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