My first rant: Subscriber Lists and Making Money
Posted 2nd July 2009 at 06:56 AM by ghyphena
I never fully took to heart the concept of "the straw that broke the camel's back". I assumed it was a pithy metaphor, great for illustrating a hypothetical point but not something that occurred in real life.
Here's what made me see the light:
Yesterday, I got an e-mail. Not that it matters - there are marketers at all stages of the success hierarchy who engage in these practices - but it was from a fairly well-recognized name.
The subject line alone chimed so loudly that it flipped a switch in my head. Within 10 minutes I had unsubscribed to all but a handful of mailing lists. I wasn't counting, but I probably axed 20-25 of them. It was a mailing list bloodbath.
So, what was the offending line that triggered such a frenzied response?
Nothing special. Nothing I hadn't seen before. And, if you've been doing this for any time at all, nothing you haven't seen before either.
"Gil-Ad, turn $10 into $23,900/mo"
"Gil-Ad, I'm writing from my yacht..."
"Weird business makes $$$ with spoons, Gil-Ad"
I told you you've seen it before. You see it every day. For me, it was just one time too many.
My problem: it's not the fact that they're trying to sell me something. It's not the inflated, hyped-up promises and all-cap emphases.
It's the complete lack of sophistication, the condescending tone, the general insult to my intelligence.
I don't care if your friend dropped out of school and now makes money by advertising on his blog. I don't care if you're sitting on your yacht, exhausted from your "$200,000/mo consulting biz". I don't care.
I'm working hard to build a real business here. I've got a business plan written out. I've got projections and goals for the next month, two months, year and five years.
Therefore, I'm not going to fluffle about from one biz-op to the next in search of effortless profits. I'm way past that. Stop trying to sell me the miracle-of-the-day.
At the very least, stop trying do it in such an obviously patronizing manner.
Seriously, what do think I'm going to say in response to your pitch?
"Gee, I never realized that by making a passive income I could go on vacation and buy 'that new car I wanted'... wow, if that's what I can do with my money, then I'm in!"
"He's making all this money... and he's a dropout... obviously it's not because of his experience, his list, or those long hard hours copying out sales letters by hand... it's just his system that's sooooo gooood."
Really?
When my inbox is full of messages and not one is from someone who actually gives a fluffle about me;
when I've seen the same pitch recycled so many times I can recite it in my sleep;
when the Killer-Persuasion-Whatever-Copywriting ezine suggests I "sell benefits, not features" (Wow! Thanks for reminding me of... the first rule of advertising...)
It's time for me to make a change.
The problem is that Internet Marketing is, sadly, synonymous with Moneymaking Opportunity.
Obviously, this is no big revelation - the majority of people who consider themselves IMers are little more than Biz-Op seekers. They have virtually no marketing experience or education, they don't know what a one-click upsell is, they've never heard of Warrior Forum and they think that OTO is an emoticon.
Nothing wrong with targeting those people.
In fact, judging from the frequency of the biz-op offer mailer, it must be quite profitable.
But those profits now come at the, admittedly negligible, cost of one less name on your list.
Because, frankly, I don't need you to tell me what vacations I'll be able to go on. I don't need you to preach that "if you don't grab this with both hands you're not a serious action-taker". I don't need you to confide in me that "guru-whatever has gone crazy and he's offering his $500,000,000 information for just $197 (but just until tomorrow).
The camel's back metaphor, by the way, works exactly as it says on the tin. A dozen or so borderline e-zines, who might have survived a more gradual cull, were also axed in the slaughter.
I am remorseless.
I'm still subscribed to a number of e-zines. These are the ones that offer valuable content in the areas I care about: Copywriting; PPC; lead generation and direct response marketing business strategies.
As for the rest of you, good luck, but what you're offering just isn't my bag. I ain't chasing rainbows no more, and I won't be tempted by your ("VIDEO PROOF!") pots of gold.
Gil-Ad
Here's what made me see the light:
Yesterday, I got an e-mail. Not that it matters - there are marketers at all stages of the success hierarchy who engage in these practices - but it was from a fairly well-recognized name.
The subject line alone chimed so loudly that it flipped a switch in my head. Within 10 minutes I had unsubscribed to all but a handful of mailing lists. I wasn't counting, but I probably axed 20-25 of them. It was a mailing list bloodbath.
So, what was the offending line that triggered such a frenzied response?
Nothing special. Nothing I hadn't seen before. And, if you've been doing this for any time at all, nothing you haven't seen before either.
"Gil-Ad, turn $10 into $23,900/mo"
"Gil-Ad, I'm writing from my yacht..."
"Weird business makes $$$ with spoons, Gil-Ad"
I told you you've seen it before. You see it every day. For me, it was just one time too many.
My problem: it's not the fact that they're trying to sell me something. It's not the inflated, hyped-up promises and all-cap emphases.
It's the complete lack of sophistication, the condescending tone, the general insult to my intelligence.
I don't care if your friend dropped out of school and now makes money by advertising on his blog. I don't care if you're sitting on your yacht, exhausted from your "$200,000/mo consulting biz". I don't care.
I'm working hard to build a real business here. I've got a business plan written out. I've got projections and goals for the next month, two months, year and five years.
Therefore, I'm not going to fluffle about from one biz-op to the next in search of effortless profits. I'm way past that. Stop trying to sell me the miracle-of-the-day.
At the very least, stop trying do it in such an obviously patronizing manner.
Seriously, what do think I'm going to say in response to your pitch?
"Gee, I never realized that by making a passive income I could go on vacation and buy 'that new car I wanted'... wow, if that's what I can do with my money, then I'm in!"
"He's making all this money... and he's a dropout... obviously it's not because of his experience, his list, or those long hard hours copying out sales letters by hand... it's just his system that's sooooo gooood."
Really?
When my inbox is full of messages and not one is from someone who actually gives a fluffle about me;
when I've seen the same pitch recycled so many times I can recite it in my sleep;
when the Killer-Persuasion-Whatever-Copywriting ezine suggests I "sell benefits, not features" (Wow! Thanks for reminding me of... the first rule of advertising...)
It's time for me to make a change.
The problem is that Internet Marketing is, sadly, synonymous with Moneymaking Opportunity.
Obviously, this is no big revelation - the majority of people who consider themselves IMers are little more than Biz-Op seekers. They have virtually no marketing experience or education, they don't know what a one-click upsell is, they've never heard of Warrior Forum and they think that OTO is an emoticon.
Nothing wrong with targeting those people.
In fact, judging from the frequency of the biz-op offer mailer, it must be quite profitable.
But those profits now come at the, admittedly negligible, cost of one less name on your list.
Because, frankly, I don't need you to tell me what vacations I'll be able to go on. I don't need you to preach that "if you don't grab this with both hands you're not a serious action-taker". I don't need you to confide in me that "guru-whatever has gone crazy and he's offering his $500,000,000 information for just $197 (but just until tomorrow).
The camel's back metaphor, by the way, works exactly as it says on the tin. A dozen or so borderline e-zines, who might have survived a more gradual cull, were also axed in the slaughter.
I am remorseless.
I'm still subscribed to a number of e-zines. These are the ones that offer valuable content in the areas I care about: Copywriting; PPC; lead generation and direct response marketing business strategies.
As for the rest of you, good luck, but what you're offering just isn't my bag. I ain't chasing rainbows no more, and I won't be tempted by your ("VIDEO PROOF!") pots of gold.
Gil-Ad
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