About a week ago, on a forum I regularly visit and participate at, one post last week really just rubbed me the wrong way. I won’t get back into who or what was said but it essentially made the point that what mattered was not, who was on the other end of the computer, but how many sales you could get out of them.
Man, it creeped me out. We ended up having a huge discussion about the comment on my own site and in the end, I decided it wasn’t worth much more than a discussion. Getting really fired up about it only creates more confrontation and problems to which would end up with the thread being deleted (it was anyways). The arguments are also bad for Internet Marketers on a whole.
For the guy who said it, he literally wiped out a few hundred customers in one full swoop.
Now, I’m a reader of everything Dan Kennedy has published and to a large extent he teaches and stresses “what matters are results.” I’ve heard him say this numerous times. Leave branding to the big companies. What you want is results. Plain and simple. But he places this in the context of your marketing efforts and asking the question “Did you profit or not?” He also places this in the context of direct mail advertising.
When it comes to newsletter/site/member management, I believe it’s a different story…
One of the things I’ve always strived to do, is get to know my members. You know what you find with 99% of your members. You’ll find these are real humans with real problems, real stresses, real dreams and real desires. They aren’t just atm machines that can be tapped, they aren’t oil reserves to be drilled and sucked of every last drop. I can just imagine (after seeing the latest transformer movie) the way some marketers see this. Picture an ATM machine, it transforms into your customer, dispenses cash and then transforms back into a person. This isn’t the way to treat your customers, clients or members.
Granted, we all have customers that are like aliens, but in the end they are all human.
I’ve learned some amazing things about members, clients and newsletter subscribers! This especially applies to the Internet Marketing industry. We’ve got doctors making 100k a year, looking to get out of the profession and into IM. Teachers, Professors, University Students….
Then we’ve got construction workers, waitresses and waiters, or people working 10-12 hour days at brutal jobs…
But then we’ve also got another group. We’ve got people who are burdened with illness. We’ve got people here with disabilities, people with problems that many of us couldn’t even fathom. These are people who are struggling and putting their faith into you.
And you know what the beauty is with Internet Marketing? There is room for every single one of these people to literally make a living online. In fact, there is room for every one of these people to make a living they couldn’t have dreamed of in those previous careers.
Anyways, I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer. Just something that was on my mind this morning after another discussion with another member.
One of my members said this yesterday and I thought it was quite fitting…
There is such beauty in the Internet Marketing industry that everyone should be able to go to work in swim shorts.
Treat your subscribers and members with respect and they will do the same for you. You’ll also make some great friends along the way.
Cheers folks have a great day!
