The "Gift" That Never Gives In the First Place
OK, here comes a rant; I’m in an Andy Rooney mood, only more snarky. But it’s short. You’ve been warned.
Whose bright idea was this inane bit of “viral marketing?” I opened up one too many e-mails from Internet marketing gurus this week where the headline promises a gift, and the “gift” is a bleeping half-off offer.
Dude, if I have to pay for it, it isn’t a gift. It’s a sale. And if it’s a sale, don’t call it a gift–or you wont get the sale from me. Not only that, you’ve just drastically reduced the chances of my ever doing business with you again, because I value business honesty so much that I wrote an award-winning book about it.
Want to make money with a holiday gift offer? Don’t pull this crap. Instead, follow the model of Publicity Hound Joan Stewart. She compiles her annual “best of” e-book, filled with useful, actionable advice, loads every page with a good tip and a bounce-back order to a highly relevant product you can buy, and gives it away for free. And tells all her readers they can give it away, too. It’s the same formula that grew her free weekly newsletter into a six-figure business.
Okay, rant over. Putting on big smile to wish you a very happy holiday and an ethical, profitable 2009 🙂
And call a spade a spade, a ale a sale, and a gift a gift.
A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
[…] unknown wrote an interesting post today onPrincipled Profit » The â??Giftâ?? That Never Gives In the First PlaceHere’s a quick excerptA blog about business ethics from Shel Horowitz, expert on business ethics as a success driver. This blog covers the intersections of ethics, politics, media, marketing, and sustainability. About Shel: Copywriter, marketing and … […]
Shel, I share your curmudgeon-ism regarding “gifts” that a lot of the Internet marketers are “giving away.”
FYI, the ebook gift is very popular among my readers. They regift it to their followers and everybody’s happy. In years past, I’ve made from $5,0000 to $10,000 in product sales from each book.
It’s a great idea that bloggers can also steal. Simply take the top two dozen blogs from 2008 and compile them into an ebook for your followers.
Shel, I share your curmudgeon-ism regarding “gifts” that a lot of the Internet marketers are “giving away.”
FYI, the ebook gift is very popular among my readers. They regift it to their followers and everybody’s happy. In years past, I’ve made from $5,0000 to $10,000 in product sales from each book.
It’s a great idea that bloggers can also steal. Simply take the top two dozen blogs from 2008 and compile them into an ebook for your followers.