Hot topic of late: ugly marketing. Every direct marketing knows how ugly pieces get response. Heck, even the local news knows it: if it bleeds, it leads. We’re all as fascinated by the “ugly” side of human lives, especially when “beautiful” celebrities do something “ugly.” But we don’t do that sort of thing, do we? We are better marketers than that, right?
But then one random Tuesday, you see the responses from that ugly DM piece that slipped past the brand police and suddenly there it is: temptation. What a great response! What will happen if we do it again? More leads. More revenue. More profits. Brand? Who needs brand when we can get our fingers wrapped around that bubbling bucketful of oodles and oodles of LEADS?!
Ahem. Sorry. Got a bit carried away for a moment. And lest you get carried away yourself, I’ll give you a few good reasons to just say no:
1. Three words: Un. Sub. Scribe.
In a recent example of ugly-love, an ugly lead-gen email was sent out (a resend of an old email), and the sales floor became giddy over all the leads they received. However, the unsubscribe rate was better than TWICE what it normally is.
2. Getting to home base.
Or lack thereof. You need to build a relationship with your would-be customers as well as your current customers. I liken virtually all marketing to dating: you meet a smart intellectual on the first two dates, then smarmy gold-chain-chest-hair guy on the third? Yuh, there won’t be a fourth.
3. I feel pretty.
We’re marketers. We’re collectively responsible for that barrage of messages that we ourselves experience every day. We know that these messages work, but whenever we use them, we lower the standard just a little bit. And our world becomes even more cluttered by ugly old yuck.
4. Would you do it if the queen were watching?
In other words, are you a little ashamed of the piece? Would you be proud to share it in your portfolio? Not every piece is a masterwork of design and copy, but we must strive.
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