I was going through my mail the other day and I opened up a solicitation from a company that provides web listing services. Here is the solicitation letter I received (I have blocked the name of the company…for their own benefit):
Seeing as I am in marketing myself, I always have my eyes open for different and unique ways of presenting and positioning a service. This letter caught my attention for all the wrong reasons.
I decided to make a list of what NOT to do, using the above solicitation as an example:
1. Mislead your audience – First and foremost, don’t try to trick me into signing up for your service. I think the most obvious first impression we all get when we look at this “offer” is that it appears to be an invoice for something I already purchased. In fact, the letter came with a plain envelope with only the address of the company on it for me to “remit my payment”. C’mon….if your service is worth anything you should not need to trick me into signing up. Explain to me why it will work.
This company may argue that they put a disclaimer on the letter specifically saying that it is a solicitation, not a bill. My response is that the very fact you put a disclaimer on the letter tells me that people think it’s an invoice.
2. Short-term gain…Long-term loss – This sort of coincides with the first point. What they are selling is a service, not a commodity. This makes their tactics even more confusing. On some level, with any service, there is a relationship that is being built. They have chosen to start that relationship out with deceit. I’ll bet a lot of people “sign up” for the service thinking an invoice is being paid. How do you think those people feel when they figure out that they’ve been fooled? Do you think when the company points out the disclaimer on their offer letter the customer feels better? No one wants to be made to feel stupid. There is a short term gain from this type of marketing, but in the long run there will be loss.
3. Destroy emotional impact – The best sales and marketing play into our emotions. It’s the reason a dealership has us test drive a new car or why Best Buy has an amazing home theater setup right in the store. We get excited and emotional. Perhaps we’ll upgrade to that bigger tv or add on that sunroof. Suddenly the extra dollars aren’t as big of a deal. However, I’ll bet the farm on the fact that not one of us gets excited when we receive a bill in the mail. Unfortunately, that emotional feeling you get when you open up a bill is the same feeling each and every person reading this company’s offer letter gets. I’d say that the decision to wrap your message in an invoice will not deliver the emotional punch you are looking for to excite people about your service.
4. No personality + No pizzaz = Distrust – People want to buy from other people, not companies. This is especially true with service professionals. Your company needs a face, a personality to give people a reason to identify with and trust it. By trying to deceive, this company has lost my trust. In addition, I have not been given anything to let me know the personality and voice of this company. By wrapping things up in an “invoice” format, there is very little differentiation or personal touch shining through.
Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear some feedback.
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