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By: Bob Osgoodby
An autoresponder is really a great thing, and should be in
everyone's marketing bag of tricks. They serve a vital role in
your advertising efforts by providing someone with information in
which they have an interest.
Proper use of autoresponders can take many forms. The most
popular, is to post a short classified ad either on a web site or
a newsletter, and invite the reader to email you for more
information. The email address you give is actually your
autoresponder, which automatically sends the person your canned
message without any involvement on your part. This is your online
secretary which is ready to answer inquiries 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. If the message you send out this way is well
written, and of interest to the person inquiring, they will get
back to you for more information. If it is not of interest, the
odds are you will not hear from them again.
But some people have confused things here a bit. They don't
understand the meaning of "NO". If I have made up my mind I am
not interested in your offer, I really don't want you to give me
the same, or similar information again, and again, and again.
"But", you might say, "I have always been told it takes between 5
and 7 exposures before someone will act on my ad". This is true.
It may have taken 5 to 7 exposures to your classified ad before
they acted. When they responded to your autoresponder for more
information however, they did act on your ad.
Some autoresponders are set up to send follow-up notices to
potential customers. A few follow-ups with a several week
interval between notices is OK. They may not have been ready to
buy then, but might be now. But learn how to recognize when
someone is not interested.
Some people have set up their autoresonders to send 5-7 follow-up
notes. I refer to these as "nag notices". They must feel that
if they "nag" you enough, you will give in and buy their product
or service. I don't know about you, but with each one I get, my
resistance stiffens.
Some people actually have their autoresponders set up so that
after they send you all the notices, they start over again. I
have one person trying to sell me their MLM that sends me several
notes a week. As a point of interest, I allowed it to continue
for awhile to see how far they would go. After I saw that the
notes were simply starting over, I put a filter in my email to
trash any notes from this person. At this point I would never
buy anything from them, and they could be selling five dollar
bills for ten cents apiece and I would never know it.
We have all met pushy MLM salespeople who we avoid at all costs
at a social gathering. Well these same obnoxious characters have
now enlisted technology using the Wonderful World of the Web, but
they are still obnoxious. These people, pure and simple are
spammers, and to make matters worse, they don't give you any way
to get off their mailing list.
Don't fall into this trap. Sure, it is cheap and easy and you
can market with almost no effort on your part. But if you want
to build an ongoing business on the web, learn "The Meaning of
"NO".
About the Author
Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter
Visit his Web Site at http://adv-marketing.com/business to
subscribe and place a Free Ad for your business.
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