Humility: The dangers of marketing over-kill and presentation under-preparation

· 4 Comments

In a couple of days, we will receive participants’ reviews  of the content and ideas in Bill Caswell‘s Webinar, Taking Your Construction Business to the Next Level, but I know I must give myself a large “F” for preparation and testing.  I simply did not allow enough rehearsal time to fully understand the Webinar software, so when our guests were waiting for the program to begin, I fumbled over technical details and we couldn’t use all of DimDim’s functionality.

In the end, the event proceeded quite well, with Bill switching  to my computer, and he completed the presentation in a timely manner. After the event, Caswell said he didn’t enjoy the lack of face-to-face interaction with participants.  They could communicate by text messaging but, even though DimDim’s advanced software allows a second camera  and the ability to switch microphones, the rules of the game are different when people are located in many different locations (and in my rush to overcome the technical problems from lack of preparation, we couldn’t access these useful functions.)

I made another mistake, in the event’s advance marketing.  I tried out various types of event promotion software and went past the stage of reasonableness to overkill in repeated promotional messages.  One reader yesterday sent me his forthright opinion.  “I’m really getting tired of your repeated Caswell promotions,” he wrote.  Following up to my apology, I communicated:  “BTW, I truly appreciate this because it raises a question:  When is there “too much” marketing?”

His response:

In response to your question, as Seth Godin says, “It’s all about me….me,me,me.” Readers are only interested in themselves (myself included). I believe there is a frequency “line” you can cross by marketing too much. Below the line represents value to the consumer (because you are making me aware of the product) and above the line represents meaningless (you’re wasting my time) promotion. Each of us draw the line in a different place, but we do draw a line.

So, it seems I over-marketed the event, while under-preparing the technical aspects, leaving the presenter in a frustrating situation where he had to proceed in a framework of discomfort.  Will Bill Caswell ever want to do this sort of thing again?  Will I want to go forward with other Webinar-type programs in the future?

The answer, in part, is that if we don’t try new things and learn from them, we cannot grow. But you can never prepare too much and if you are using various marketing methods, you should never forget that even if they are readily available and easy to use, you should always respect the frequency and volume of messages you deliver.

Lessons learned . . .

  • http://constructionlawva.com Christopher G. Hill

    As someone who overused e-mail, I can relate. I sometimes over do the “Here I am, look what I’m doing” type e-mails. I have had a couple of occasions where folks no longer want to hear from me. It’s a fine line.

    Thanks Mark

  • http://ConstructionMarketingIdeas admin

    Chris, thanks for your observations. Ironically, I think one of best ways to mitigate marketing mistakes is to straightforwardly admit them. Of course, if I repeat the mistake, I am not getting it right.

  • Brett Hudechek

    It is so easy (and common) for us Sales and Marketing Pros to over promise and under deliver! I’d like to praise you for sharing the successes and the failures. I have always believed we learn more from our mistakes — and it’s a real bonus when we can learn from someone Else’s! Personally, I think the more points of contact you plan, the shorter and more relevant the message needs to be. I don’t mind the occasional lengthy newsletter, article or whatever but frequent communications better be reminding me of a seminar time …or informing me of an exciting change to the webinar agenda …or announcing a new guest speaker …providing related material I can review in advance …asking me to confirm my participation … and then even a final message to ensure I have the correct login info. Funny – the busier I am, the more I appreciate the follow up and encourage the reminders, as long as they are brief and relevant. I find this true of my customers, as well.

    • http://ConstructionMarketingIdeas admin

      Brett, thanks for your insightful comment. I think your key here is the frequent communication should be valuable to the person receiving it. Repeated “hammering” of a sales or marketing message can be downright irritating. In some contexts, this is legitimate. When you listen to the radio or broadcast television, sometimes the most irritating ads are also the most effective — the stick in your head and you remember them. In the context of e-communications, you have to be careful, however, of abusing the trust of a permission-based list. And I certainly failed on that ground with the Caswell promotion (even though the seminar turned out quite well, in the end.)
      Of course, authenticity always helps and when I screw up I’ll admit it forthrightly. That also is marketing common-sense.