marketing is expensive — even if it’s not yours
You ever think about how much time you waste every single day simply because you’re a consumer?
Email time sink — on the clock?
I get bajillions — and I mean BAJILLIONS — of email messages every day. Unsolicited commercial email (“UCE” or “spam”) must be opened and scanned because it MIGHT be important. Most subjects on these types of email messages are incredibly good at making one think it actually might be business related!
These emails are on TOP OF all the ones from every company you’ve ever purchased from in the past. This year, it seems that the buzzword is “exclusive.” You want to be exclusive with all the other people, don’t you?
USPS – another way to sell me something?
Even our federal mail system is cashing in and not just by charging postage. If you use their service that scans incoming mail and packages to send an email of what you can expect to be delivered, you’re served up a big ad (purchased, of course by the seller) at the very top. You can’t miss it. Click it and the ad’s sponsor has your details delivered to them.
Digital devices want your money too!
When I put an event on the calendar this morning via Alexa — work related — she let me know she has some deals that might interest me from amazing brands. “Do you want to hear them?” she asks me. NO. I do not.
And those apps… they want their fair share even though you’ve already purchased them!
I love Mailbird for email. I paid my yearly cost of using the business version on 10/17/22. Still… I get a pop-up every time I open the program, AND they keep a nag on my already-paid-for application used for work. You can’t get if off BTW… no way to dismiss it or opt out of it.
Reach buyers where they are.
I know you have to reach buyers where they spend their time to make them aware of what you’re selling. As long as we’re all spending time online, none of this is going to change.
What we may not even think about is the cost that brand’s marketing endeavors have on all businesses in general.
If you check email while on the clock, use applications for work, have digital devices, and even if you use USPS — it’s costing more than just the brand’s marketing campaign expenses. It’s also costing YOUR employer (YOU if self-employed) time. And… we all know that time is money.
Since it’s Cyber Monday, I have a slightly used wreath that I’d like to offer for sale. You can be the exclusive owner! Just send $199.99 via Venmo and I’ll ship it to you by January 15th. 😉
TIL (Today I Learned): More than 80 percent of the ocean has never been mapped, explored, or even seen by humans. As a result, we know more about the surface of Mars than Earth.
