There are times when I feel as though I live in a slightly different reality.
A few examples.
(1) Knocking imagination on the head.
One of the companies that we work with sells Windows Automation Software. It’s a great piece of software that’s been around since 1997, but they’re always looking at new ideas. Recently they decided to post a job resume for the product itself – titled “I work 24×7 for no pay. Got a job for me?”
It’s obviously not designed to be taken too seriously, and struck me as quite an imaginative experiment.
Some of the Joel on Software forum participants didn’t think so. One accused him of spamming.
Sigh.
Missing the point anyone?
I work 24×7 for no pay. Got a job for me?
(2) Biting the hand that may feed you for years.
I’m a member of an association for professionals within the shareware industry that will remain nameless.
Every now and then, a member would send an email to the other members, usually detailing some sort of offer or service that they may be interested in. They could only do so to the members who had specifically entered an email address for this purpose. Those who didn’t could not be emailed.
Invariably, a number of the members of the association for professionals within the shareware industry that will remain nameless would then erupt with anger, complaining that they were being spammed by fellow members.
It was one of these tiresome debates that used to pop up a few times a year.
Eventually steps were taken to prevent this abhorrent practice, and nowadays if a member of the association wants to offer something to the other members, they have to either post it to the specific newsgroup (that many members never go to) or place it in print, that may not be ready for another 6-8 weeks.
Personally I’m happy to receive offers and information that are relevant to me. I don’t want any more double glazing offers or herbal viagra alternatives, but I’m all ears for anything that is relevant to me and my business.
(3) Duplications = spam.
Another company that we work with is very active in writing original articles and content for the industries that they work in. The idea is simple. Write good content, publicise it, and people who may be interested in your software will come. And it works well.
Article syndication is an effective means of increasing brand awareness, pulling in targeted visitors, and even increasing link popularity.
But this same person is now under attack from an individual with more paranoia and imagination than sense.
He keeps seeing “these articles” all over the web (admittedly after searching for them) and is now shouting loud and clear to anyone bored enough to listen that the author is a spammer.
When article syndication starts to look like spam, it’s time to take a long holiday. Or retire from an industry that you don’t understand.
(4) Rules that are written in stone.
Last week I posted details of a 30% discount for the BB FlashBack software.
I publicised the deal in a carefully selected handful of private newsgroups, whose members might be interested in the software and the chance to save money.
On one of the newsgroups, I have been admonished for not including the price of the software. The URL that I linked to committed the same sin.
I would agree that it’s generally a good idea to include price information when trying to sell a product.
However:
(i) I wasn’t selling the product. I was offering a discount.
(ii) Sometimes publicising a price may dissuade a potential customer. Sometimes it’s better to show them the product’s features and selling points before showing the price.
The key word here is sometimes.
Even rules that are written in stone get worn down with time. Sometimes they stand resolute until the day they crack and eventually fall apart.
Sometimes people can’t see the fruit that’s on the trees that they can’t see for the forest.
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