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FAME AND SHAME |
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ANTI-MARKETING |
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The Anti-Marketing Hall of Shame - Preying for Customers
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The Hall of Shame hosts editorials and rants on negative corporate and societal trends.
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Preying for Customers
The shameful practice of deceiving customers is growing at an alarming rate,
as companies and individuals push the envelope in an attempt to lure and snare their prey.
Recent and pervasive online trends include email address harvesting, clever email subject headers, opt-OUT mailing lists,
forcing people to UNcheck boxes to avoid signing up for services or to cancel recurring billing, the always annoying pop-up
window, and indiscriminate buying and selling of personal information.
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This trend has the effect of creating a state of animosity between marketers and customers. The customer/prey
feels attacked, abused, insulted, and downright annoyed. Such practices are so widespread that they are now
the norm. People are becoming conditioned to ignore anything resembling an advertisement. This would
suggest that the less an advertisement or marketing approach looks and smells like an ad, the better chance it
has of drawing the interest of the customer. A good strategy is to give something to your customer in advance
as a gesture of goodwill -- a simple approach is to start with truthful and useful information.
Companies who practice responsible marketing techniques will stand out from the crowd and will be much more likely
to forge honest and loyal relationships with their customers.
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