PM Spam - Some Advice To Warriors
I received a PM today (I'm sure many others probably did too) that I was "randomly" selected to receive a huge discount on a WSO by the PM'er.
I was in the middle of replying to him with some advice when I noticed that he had been banned, which I saw coming a mile away.
Rather than just delete my reply, I got to thinking that other Warriors might need to read it too...especially those that are new to this forum and/or marketing in general.
Hi XXXXXXXX, I can appreciate being offered a discount on your product and the fact that you're trying to be creative in how you offer that discount. That being said, I am certain that the way you are doing it will get you into trouble and possibly/probably banned either temporarily or even for good. A lot of people will look at this as PM Spam (which is a BIG problem in the eyes of the Mods, Admin, and Most Warriors) since you are still selling a product this way. Even if the discount is huge, the bottom line is that you PM'd an ad to Warriors to "buy" the product. What you might try instead is to offer a maximum number of Warriors your offer for free in a thread in the appropriate forum. I know I said free, but follow me here for a second... Offer the product for free, but not with Lifetime Upgrades. Maybe give 30 days worth of upgrades, to cover any enhancements made over that time. Unless it is a bug fix (which I usually suggest should be offered to ALL users, regardless of upgrade status), any additions to the software will go out to these users during their 30 days. Have them sign up on a special list that you have set up ONLY for those few Warriors so that you can keep up with them on upgrades. Every few days, check in with that list to see if they are using the product, enjoying the product, having any issues, etc. Don't hammer them to buy anything on that list...just keep up with the free users. Once their 30 days is up...then offer them a special price for Lifetime Updates and if they take the offer, migrate them over to the Lifetime list. By doing this, you eliminate the PM Spam issue completely. Also, your initial goal isn't to sell them anything. Sure, you ultimately want to sell something (that's why you're a marketer) but not now. You're giving them something free to use as long as they want and they even get 30 days worth of upgrades for any enhancements that come along. They'll appreciate it! Even if they don't end up taking the Lifetime Offer later, they can still keep and use your product as long as they want...they will just be using a product that might not have certain features. This is a Win-Win situation because you will ultimately get some that upgrad and the Warriors that take you up on your free offer get a good product to use as long as they like. That alone can spread great Word Of Mouth advertising to your main sales page. If you couple this with an affiliate program too, you will then start to leverage all of your customers' efforts as well. You keep them on the list to be able to follow up with them from time to time and "remind" them how much they like your product (you hope). Also, send reminders that a new upgrade has been released and that they can upgrade for $xx to get that upgrade and Lifetime Upgrades at the same time. If you use an autoresponder to manage this list, you can set intervals that each customer will receive any offers so you can step up the cost over time...say $10 for the next 30 days after their initial 30 days is up, then $15 for awhile, and so on. I hope this makes sense. Just trying to keep you from getting kicked off a great forum, possibly for good, AND give you some advice on a marketing funnel in the process. Good Luck, Scott |
Just remember...DON'T PM SPAM or Post in the Wrong Forum!
If there's not a place for advertisements or free offers, then find somewhere else to post your free offer. There are a TON of places online that you can generate all the leads you want for your product and business.
Thanks for your time!
Scott Raven
The Asset - My CIA Thriller Fiction Book For Your Kindle
Fictive Universe - Internet Marketing for Fiction Writers