Today, our family made a visit to a local bookstore to do a little shopping. While there, I decided to pick up some business opportunity magazines to use for “opportunity” research. Let me tell you, there are a lot of flaky biz ops out there, but that’s a story for a different day.
While looking through one of the mags tonight, I noticed what looked like several folded $100 bills. In actuality, it was a “drop card” with the image of money on one side and an advertisement on the other. The ad was pitching some sort of cell phone business opportunity. Apparently someone had spent some time going through the bookstore magazine rack and stuffing these cards into the small business and home business magazines. Now, doesn’t that sound like a fun way to spend an afternoon?
What’s worse is that the card dropper is likely new to business and is expecting a good response from this. Unfortunately, he almost certainly won’t get it. Oh there may be a few curiosity seekers who’ll call the number or visit the website, but most people will do like I did and toss the card in the trash.
When I see things like this, it doesn’t leave me with a favorable impression of the business. In fact, it is very much the opposite. It’s just sleazy marketing. After all, the advertisers in the magazines (including the legitimate inserts) paid good money to have their message in there. The card dropper is trying to cheat the system by putting their ad in for free. It makes me wonder:
- Is this a real business?
- Is this business making any money? If so, why didn’t they buy a real ad?
- If I become involved with this “opportunity,” will I have to spend my afternoons sneaking cards into magazines at the local bookstore?
- Does this company take shortcuts in everything they do?
As you can tell, I don’t get a “warm fuzzy feeling” from this type of marketing. If your goal is to build trust and get me to work with your business, this is not the way to go.
To be honest, I’m not a big fan of the money style drop cards. Sure they get your prospect’s attention, but most people tend to feel like they’ve been tricked when they discover what it is. What do you think about them? Is there any legitimate method for doing this type of promotion? Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below.
No related posts.
Tim,
You hit the nail on the head. The “ick” factor on this type of marketing is off the charts. Makes me wonder if these “opportunities” encourage their members to do this sort of thing; as you said, it reflects negatively on both the brand and the individual. If the brand isn’t promoting this activity, their brand equity is still being affected. If the brand doesn’t spell out clear guidelines for how they wish to be promoted, they open themselves up to this type of unfortunate, (and certainly unsavory) promotion.
For brands that permit their members to advertise in publications like these, there are far more opportunities than most realize. Magazine advertising is certainly negotiable, and among the items that you can negotiate for are reply-card inclusion or short advertorials when you purchase a display ad. Publications also offer remnant space for deeply-discounted rates as they come closer to press deadlines, and significant deals can be found.
Hi Traci.
Thanks for the great feedback. You’re absolutely right about the flexibility in pricing and terms when it comes to placing legitimate magazine ads. Perhaps, I should have touched on that more.
It all comes down to one thought, if you’re pitching a “million dollar business opportunity,” you shouldn’t be using illegitimate methods to do so.
All the best,
Tim
Interesting article, and I tend to agree with you opinions. I still order business cards from a website that I like, but I’m not throwing them around willy-nilly. That kind of defeats the purpose, it’s similar to walking down the sidewalk and seeing a bunch of flyers blowing around; over marketing just comes off as cheesy and almost desperate. And the money style cards are just cruel. All this aside, business cards are still a great investment. I’ve met many contacts and clients through physically handing over or receiving a card.
Hi Will:
You’re right. Business cards are a great tool and definitely worth having, if you use them correctly. Handing them to a prospect in person really is the most effective use of this tool.
All the best,
Tim
I wonder how someone even thought of such an idea. It is so funny. I do not know if their methods work but this is creativity put in the wrong place.
Hi Jesse:
Just think of how much better their results would be if these folks put their creativity and efforts toward the right type of activity.
All the best,
Tim