Overhype

Overhype

by Mike Masnick




Marketers Hope To Take Your Calls

from the shifting-strategies dept

Now that telemarketers are finally getting the idea that people don't want to hear from them via unsolicited phone calls, they're trying to figure out plenty of other ways to bug you. One tactic is to take a page from all those internet sites that want you to grant them the right to spam you, in return for some information or worthless product. Many companies are now looking at ways to get people to agree to receive telemarketing calls. Meanwhile, others are afraid that the lack of a telemarketing avenue will just make certain companies more likely to spam and paper-based direct mailings. Of course, all of this assumes that "more is better" when it comes to advertising. If such advertising is just going to annoy people, then that's clearly not true. How hard is it to come to terms with the idea that more targeted, relevant advertising is always going to be more worthwhile than blanket coverage, annoying, intrusive advertising?

1 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments

(Flattened / Threaded)

    Jul 3rd, 2003 @ 6:50am
  • Maybe the issue isn't really about telemarketers a

    by mgallagher

    Rather it is a fundamental disconnect between the vendors and the telemarketers/spammers. What we see is that the marketing people are paid simply by number of contacts, rather than results (increased sales/revenues for the vendors). As a result you get the marketers saying things to the effect of "you can just press delete/say no/etc." Thier goal is simply to deliver the maximum number of pitches.

    Why the vendors want this relationship is beyond me. If they insisted on performance-based arrangements, I think you'd see quite a bit more of the useful, targeted advertising that Mike is always advocating - and less of the annoying "shotgun" approach.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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