Why Intrusive Marketing Is So Yesterday

If you live in New York City you know we have an election coming up this Fall that includes not only the office of Mayor but that of Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President and City Council. And you know that next week is the primary. 

It's hard to ignore. 

Take yesterday. I had six phone calls from candidates. Only one was a human.

My mailbox was stuffed full of political promotional material. 

I learned why there are robots making the phone calls. The humans are standing on the street corners and at every subway station, literally shoving paper under my nose and then acting offended when I shove it back. 

And then there is the local news. Every time I turned it on there were no less than three candidate's ads in one commercial break.

I wanted to tell them all that intrusive advertising has gone out of fashion. Marketing in 2013 is about engaging me, not annoying me. I wanted to suggest giving me a reason to want to listen instead of trying to force feed me. I wanted to tell them that this constant bombardment of campaign promises and mudslinging against their opponents was not going to help any of them get my vote. In fact, it was starting to backfire. 

Their promotional material was going to the shredder without me even reading it. I was hanging up on their automated messages. That is as soon as I was sure the call was not from a potential new client.  

But as I mentioned, only one was a human. And by the time she called I was so fed up I hung up on her too - after I told her - not at all politely - that these calls were intrusive and out of hand. 

Besides - I'm not sure if any of them heard me they would listen. 

Too many marketers don't get how out of fashion intrusive marketing has become.  They resist using new digital technologies and when they do they insist upon applying old thinking to their strategy.  So they push and they push and bombard and bombard some more - convinced this is the only way they will be heard - until you, the recipient find yourself yelling at a robot call. 

New York politicians are not alone. There are many brands who hold on tight to push marketing principles. 

The Wall Street Journal keeps sending me solicitations that say Welcome Back on the outside of the envelope even though I have no subscription.

More Magazine called wanting to "talk" to me about my subscription to which I replied - are you kidding? I have no time to talk to you about my subscription. I barely have time to write this blog!

Which leads me to this. In a world in which the noise level keeps going up and time is at a premium, trying to push your way into mine will not work. In fact - it may do you more harm than good.


One final note. While researching for this blog I discovered a cool new website called www.decidenyc.com that is an inclusive list of all the candidates and their records and not the least bit intrusive.



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My Greatest Fear - Day 12

There are a lot of things to be fearful about in the course of a day living in New York City. My list includes things like like tripping and falling into the subway tracks and walking under scaffolding and having it collapse on top of me. A former colleague used to refuse to walk under one of those ladders attached to an old fire escape in front of our building because she was afraid of being decapitated. Swinging cranes, slick subway stairs, everyone who lives here has their one fear that makes them really shake.

While you might think terrorist attacks top my list they don't. My greatest fear is being run over by a bicyclist.

In theory this fear should be easing now that the city has created more car traffic in order to build bicycle lanes. Pedestrians have the sidewalk, cars and trucks their lane , and now bicyclists theirs. They can pay attention to traffic lights and slow down at intersections like the rest of us. But they don't.

They come out of nowhere, running red lights and way too often riding against the direction of traffic. Each time I gasp, thankful I wasn't in their path.

It happened to me again just the other day. This time I thought for sure I was going to be splayed across  Broadway and 66th. I had the light and there he went, helmet secured, eyes fixing on the road in front of him and not the pedestrians who had the right of way. He raced through his red light faster than the speed limit for automobiles and in the opposite direction of the traffic. What saved me was  noticing the couple next to me stepping back as they caught sight of him a few seconds before I did. If not for that moment, my greatest fear would have been met.

They have their own lanes and now they have signs to remind them that the pedestrian has the right of way. Apparently they are still riding too fast to read them - because I still have my fear. 

note: This is Day #12 of a 30 Day Experiment. Here are the details on how it all started.