When is a Discount a Gift?


If you give someone a $25 giftcard to a shop where the lowest priced item is $50, is it a gift?

What if a complete stranger gifts you 50% off the price of a conference ticket? Is that a gift?

The headline said: Our Gift to You: A Special Discount for Generators Summit. When I followed the link in the email to get my gift, I was taken to an Eventbrite ticket purchase page. Currently I can get the early bird price. What a generous gift... not.

Usually I would tweet or otherwise share information about such an interesting event, even if I won't attend. This particular event is actually getting a whole blog post.

Be aware of the perceptions of people opening your emails or clicking on your links. Using the word 'gift' in any marketing context is tricky because it mixes up social values with economic values. Just because others do it, doesn't mean it's right (for you).

Click to Tweet this Article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Back on Track

Image
If you're feeling - like I am - that you need to get focused for the next quarter, perhaps my list of planned activities below will be helpful. Business development: Continuing to refresh and work a business plan is a top priority, but sometimes it can get lost in the daily grind. I have several activities I'm keeping alive and making progress on by using a simple project management tool (Trello). I recommend reading The Phone Lady's post with advice about how to reach your revenue goals this year. Website refresh and audit: It's a good idea to do an audit of your website quarterly. It's even better if you pay or beg someone else to do it for you - they will see things you won't. Over the summer I've been working with Alison Knott on a brand refresh that you'll see roll out in September. A full audit will be part of that process. Masterminding: This continues to be an important road to business development and growth for me and my company.
Keep reading »

How Do You Know If What You're Doing Is Working?

Image
If you aren't looking at statistics at all, how do you know if your online marketing efforts are paying off? You don't need to have a complex Google Analytics set-up to keep an eye on trends. Yes, hard numbers are good to know but trends give you strategic information. Anita Kirkbride and I used a similar chart to the one above when we presented at BlogJam 2015  - back then the top line was 9,000 pageviews per month instead of 20,000. I can tell you exactly what I changed at key points (at Anita's urging) which had a direct effect on my blog readership: June 2011 - I started using social media. September 2012 - I started blogging more and sharing posts more frequently on Twitter, in particular; results were obvious by December . December 2013 - I started posting daily enewsletter tips on Twitter and LinkedIn. 2nd half of 2016 - I started posting daily newsletter tips on Google+. I've tried lots of other tactics, too - some have contributed in little ways
Keep reading »

Let's Play like Adults

Image
Yesterday I politely wrote asking to be removed from a mailing list after receiving a promotional email that was ugly, far from CASL-compliant, and for products I’m not interested in. I even included links to CASL info in an effort to help. I received this response a few moments later: “Please do the same for me.” This childish reaction came from an older man who had attended a free email marketing training I put on last spring at the request of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. He sells products to my target market. Do you think I’m ever likely to recommend him to anyone now? Email marketing isn't a game, it’s a business strategy. I firmly believe we should unsubscribe from mailings that aren't of interest to us. I read many newsletters from people who don’t read mine. It’s not a “tit for tat” thing. Email marketing costs money. Why would we want to waste our efforts sending messages to people who don’t want them ? Go ahead, unsubscribe from the things you don’t w
Keep reading »

People DO Sign Up for Newsletters

Image
“Nobody signs up for newsletters anymore.” I heard as I sat in the audience during an Infusionsoft presentation. I gritted my teeth. The presenter went on to say that newsletters are all about what’s happening with the company and have no value. A filling popped out. I kept my mouth shut till I could get home to my keyboard. Here's why... I was chatting with a new client recently and asked her if she had a chance to look at the newsletter examples in my online gallery . She told me she had actually signed up for several of them. This is just one example that shows people still want interesting and useful information delivered to their inbox. People say YES to value. When they know you deliver value on a regular basis, they'll sign up because they won't want to miss it . In fact, stats say that 1 in 5 people actively seek out and sign up for newsletters to get the information they want. Creating that perception of value happens over time as you consistently mee
Keep reading »

Sh*t Happens!

Image
I recently had to take a week off work unexpectedly and dash off to Ontario when my step-son went into the hospital. An hour before we hit the road, I was emailing clients and friends with promises of finishing up projects as soon as I arrived at the hotel room. Silly me! After a 20 hour road trip, all I wanted to do was get to the hospital. That remained my priority for the next 4 days and thoughts of newsletters and websites were long gone. On the day I left, my friend said all my clients would surely understand if their newsletters were late going out. After all, they have families too. There is no doubt in my mind that all of my clients would have been supportive and accepted my apologies... if that had happened. But that didn't happen. The newsletters went out. The emails got answered. New sales were made. It was an unplanned test and we passed. Yay! Last year I was smart enough to bring on a superwoman (Danielle) to work with me. Because we’ve been getting so bus
Keep reading »

Is Anyone Looking You Up?

Image
In the normal course of my day, I am constantly looking businesses up online. If I am going to talk to you, meet with you, consider buying your product or using your services, I've looked you up online. Increasingly, I am finding content that I am certain you do not want representing you. Maybe you think you do not need an online presence. Maybe you have an old website that you think is working to the extent you need it to. And maybe you are wrong. Think of all the reasons you Google a business: looking for a product or service looking for a location looking for directions or a map looking for a policy preparing for a meeting If you are using an online search to find what you are looking for, it stands to reason that others are as well. Many, many others. What do you want them to find when they look? We've said it before and it is worth repeating. Google your business at least quarterly. Set your website as your browser's default home page so you are seei
Keep reading »

What's Your Stumbling Block? Blogging Survey

Image
Ever since I wrote this article -- Where Do You Get Stuck? -- a couple of years ago, I've been on a mission to come up with solutions to content creation obstacles. coming up with ideas adapting your ideas for writing starting to write finishing writing editing and proofing finding or creating graphics keywords and publishing Aside from talking about this a lot with small business owners, I've also been circulating a survey on my social media feeds. If I know where people most often get stuck, I know where to focus my problem-solving efforts. Here are the survey results so far: survey results as of Jan-4-20 If you haven't yet responded to this survey, I'd sure appreciate it if you would -- it's only one question. You can click here to do that now. If you're suffering from any of those first three obstacles, using writing templates will help enormously. You can get a workbook here that includes 15 templates. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

It doesn't have to be About You

Image
Let’s face it: some businesses are in a better position to provide valuable information through newsletters (blogs, social media) than others. Take our own newsletter as an example. We could easily publish a newsletter about publishing newsletters. (Stay with me here.) It would have lots of tips and suggestions and advice. We could really show off our expertise and share our opinions. Now, who would that appeal to? People who are publishing their own newsletters. Perhaps even people who are publishing newsletters for others. These people aren’t our target market - not even close. Our newsletter has nothing to do with our area of specialty. But of course we have to have one. What’s an 'enewsletter boutique' without its own newsletter ? So we found something else of use to our target market:  ideas and tips for small business owners shared by other small business owners. And (big bonus here) members of our target market are the authors of our newsletter! Giving va
Keep reading »

Success is a Personal Thing

Image
One of my personal success factors is being able to afford to have someone come in and clean for me every two weeks. It started 15 years ago when I was single and living in Toronto. I was flying all over North America and my housekeeper would come in while I was away. An empty apartment accumulates more dust than a lived in one. I was making plenty of money to be able to pay someone to do something that I really dislike… and go play. Each person has their own definition of success. Yours probably has nothing to do with housework. Understanding your own personal success factors is important because it keeps you from chasing after goals to which you are not emotionally tied. Goals that don’t feel authentic will be much harder to achieve. Success is externally evaluated but internally experienced. Behind all of the outward signs, the essence of success comes down to our own personal sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. Evaluate annually. Now is the time of year that we are con
Keep reading »

Being Sneaky About Email

Image
When I see the words "try this" along with the words "your email subscribers" in a headline, I get a little antsy. The email I received today included "sneaky-favorite email sequences" in the body text. Here's the thing, if you're delivering value to your readers on a regular basis, you don't need to do anything sneaky. If your readership is dropping off, start delivering more value. Keep giving the thing your readers signed up for... or give even more of it. Being sneaky may result in short term gains (i.e. your stats look better for a month) but it will tarnish your reputation and long term results. Being sneaky means you've run out of value to give and you're getting desperate. You're not there yet. You only have to keep discovering the value that your readers want . Do a little research ... get inspired . Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »