SPAM - get over it!

[mkgreenfield]

Why is it that people are so quick to call any form of marketing SPAM?

I was reading a thread on this forum and a fellow member gave his services a bit of a plug... nothing wrong with that is there?... It was relevant to the thread, but another member said this is SPAM.

It seems that spam is being blown out of proportion...

Once upon a time spam was when you got multiple, un-targeted emails promoting viagra, etc. Now spam seems to be any form of marketing.

If all marketing mediums are becoming classed as spam, how the hell do we do business? How do we sell?

Lets see how silly we can get with this...

When you see a TV advertisement which is not relevant to you, would you ring up the TV station and say that advert was spam?

My point is, if you receive marketing material that isn't relevant to you, just ignore it. Don't waste your time complaining and moaning... it's just a fellow entrepeneur trying a make a living in these challenging times!!

 

[Alpha]

Why is it that people are so quick to call any form of marketing SPAM?

I was reading a thread on this forum and a fellow member gave his services a bit of a plug... nothing wrong with that is there?... It was relevant to the thread, but another member said this is SPAM.

It seems that spam is being blown out of proportion...

Once upon a time spam was when you got multiple, un-targeted emails promoting viagra, etc. Now spam seems to be any form of marketing.

If all marketing mediums are becoming classed as spam, how the hell do we do business? How do we sell?

Lets see how silly we can get with this...

When you see a TV advertisement which is not relevant to you, would you ring up the TV station and say that advert was spam?

My point is, if you receive marketing material that isn't relevant to you, just ignore it. Don't waste your time complaining and moaning... it's just a fellow entrepeneur trying a make a living in these challenging times!!

Havent seen the post in question but I will point out that this forum is for help and advice not blatant advertising. Any unsolicited advertising of services where the op does not request it will get deleted

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Lets see how silly we can get with this...

I think you're confusing "we" and "I".

When you see a TV advertisement which is not relevant to you, would you ring up the TV station and say that advert was spam?

Because the advertisers paid for it. And because the ads pay for the programmes to be shown.

(i.e. they ad value)

If someone pays for an ad on UKBF - and, yes, there are paid ads on UKBF - then no-one will accuse that ad of being spam.

When people ignore the t&c of the forum and start posting ads as posts - that's spam.

(which is why the t&c say you can't do that)

Does this explain it?

Steve

 

[wecandobiz]

In a more general sense, unspecific to the post you mention, I have noticed that people misuse the term "spam" to mean something they didn't want to read. Which, I agree, is quite different to how the term was originally used oitside of the rubbish processed meat context.

IH

 

[Ashley_Price]

Why is it that people are so quick to call any form of marketing SPAM?

I was reading a thread on this forum and a fellow member gave his services a bit of a plug... nothing wrong with that is there?... It was relevant to the thread, but another member said this is SPAM.

It seems that spam is being blown out of proportion...

Once upon a time spam was when you got multiple, un-targeted emails promoting viagra, etc. Now spam seems to be any form of marketing.

If all marketing mediums are becoming classed as spam, how the hell do we do business? How do we sell?

Lets see how silly we can get with this...

When you see a TV advertisement which is not relevant to you, would you ring up the TV station and say that advert was spam?

My point is, if you receive marketing material that isn't relevant to you, just ignore it. Don't waste your time complaining and moaning... it's just a fellow entrepeneur trying a make a living in these challenging times!!

What? There is so much wrong here. It is down to agreement.

1/ By using UKBF members agree to abide by the rules - one of those is to not blatantly advertise on forum threads, unless someone has requested it. So if someone is looking for outsource office services or virtual pa, telephone answering, etc., then I am within the rules to recommend BananaOffice.

2/ With regards to television advertising, people know that ITV, Channel 4, etc., have to used paid advertising to pay for the cost of their programmes. If they don't like the adverts they shouldn't watch the television channel.

3/ Unsolicited or "non-relevant" marking material is junk. We do a lot of small quantity direct mail campaigns for clients and we make sure the campaigns are targetted to exactly the right people. Besides, it only makes your own business look bad if you are sending out non-relevant material. We had a mailout from another telephone answering firm recently, addressed to a business name we hadn't used in over 8 years and they're offering their services to a competitor.

However, on the other side of the coin, if people will sign up to supermarket and other shops' loyalty card schemes or sign up to websites without reading the terms and conditions fully then they really only do have themselves to blame if they start getting a lot of junk mail (via email or otherwise).

There is a wonderful story about someone who set up a website some years ago, but before you could access the site you had to sign up and agree to the T&Cs, by ticking a box. Of course, most people didn't bother to read them properly - if at all - and then were infuriated when they started getting a monthly invoice from the website owner for $50. It was in the T&Cs that by signing up you agreed to pay this money each month.

I mean at the end of the day, if you were in a shop and a sales person came up to you every two minutes to try and sell you something that you didn't need and didn't want, are you seriously telling me you wouldn't get fed up with it very quickly, but would be really happy because after all "it's just a fellow entrepeneur trying a make a living in these challenging times"?

 

[Ian J]

When you see a TV advertisement which is not relevant to you, would you ring up the TV station and say that advert was spam?

My television has an "off" switch so that if I watch a programme that contains adverts it is my decision whether or not to watch it.

In actual fact I never watch any program live but always use Sky+ to record it so that I don't have to watch the ads thanks to the fast forward button

 

[Hypnotist]

Hi

Reading between the lines, yes I have to agree it is difficult not to promote oneself, because part of the reason why people join forums is to say, this is what I do, if you help me, I can help you.

I think what this forum does buy more or less phrobiting URL's until you have done 15 posts is OK.

For me I don't mind hearing a wee bit of a sales pitch, unless as it is not continuous. I think what people find annoying is when the pitch is along the lines of, "Hey if you don't buy from me there is a consequence.." eg you will be left behind, everyone else is buying it, it will cost double tomorrow and so forth.

I guess the happy balance is something more substantial. I am doing X, or selling X, what are your opinions?

Hope this helps.

Scott Burke
http://www.MoneySavingHypnotist.com

 

[Ashley_Price]

This from a man who has probably hypnotised us all with his email into buying from him.

"You are under my power..."