I think I am unintentionally becoming a hoarder. Not the kind that keeps garbage in their house and has to walk a narrow path to get to the bathroom from the couch where they sleep.
I hoard “potentially” useful digital information. In my email. All the time.
As I turned on my computer this morning, I had 20+ new emails. Not the super valuable kind where a client is asking a question, or my mother is sending me an invite to this year’s family reunion. Just 20+ Emails with headlines like “How a voice in my head saved my life”, “Pitching Animation: how to talk about Motion in a design-centric way” or “Why, oh Why did I say Yes”. (side note – I actually read the last one because… guilty.)
Now I am sure that at some point, I was on the website where these email subscriptions occurred. I am also sure that I felt that I was intrigued by the particular tidbit that they were offering, if only I consented to an email subscription. Now, however, I feel like there is way too much information being sent my way by the same group of websites to even process and on some level, I feel stifled by it.
“Gah. Gotta get through all these emails before I can start that brainstorming session about the art portfolio website.”
Do you know what I mean? So here I am – Cleaning out my email. Each of these emails that I am being hounded by sounds the same.
From a business prospective, I understand the importance of marketing email programs and even work towards understanding a client’s value and implementing an appropriate email marketing program for them. However as I sit at my laptop clicking ‘Unsubscribe’ over and over again I can’t help wondering if some of us (as online marketers) are going about it the wrong way.
There is value in getting your message out. Provide value, two or even three times. Finally, setup your offer and then….GO AWAY. Yep, you read that right. You can’t get blood from a stone. You can’t make people like you and you most certainly can’t make a client out of everyone on your mailing list. Not only that, you don’t necessarily want everyone who is on your mailing list as a client. There is usefulness in providing updates here and there but most certainly not EVERY SINGLE DAY.
It occurs to me now that as business owners who are marketing in a digital world, we need to remember that we have been invited into our prospective client’s email and maybe respect it as such.
The end result? More is not better. Food for thought.