In my inbox this morning was a newsletter from one of the American bloggers I follow telling me about this new WordPress plugin she was promoting.
I clicked on her affiliate link and had a look. There was a nice discount for buying it now (with a counting-down clock to increase the immediate need), and one of those long sales pages that provide all the benefits and reasons why I should obtain this plugin.
My first reaction was: Wow, this is amazing, I can see here all the various facets this plugin has for increasing my newsletter’s list, with heavy insinuation that more leads result into more money. There were about 20 cleverly designed icon pictures showing each application and what it could do to cajole my blog’s visitors into signing up.
I took a good look at them, and as I did so my enthusiasm waned. All this was very clever, and there were plenty of persuasive tactics flying about the place ready to guide the unsuspecting visitor to sign up before they could leave the site, but was this what I really wanted?
I have only set up my new newsletter account a week ago, and the take up may have been slow, but I would rather have people make their own decision whether to join my community and receive my free gift ’10 Fabulous Facts About Blogging’. I feel that natural, organic growth will result in a much better list containing people who really want to be part of it, rather than comprised of being pushed into it just to get this annoying application of their backs.
Even so, sometimes being pushy does work. I have set up a ‘lightbox’ for joining my Facebook page that pops up before anyone can read my posts, and this has resulted in a big increase in my ‘likes’. But I have no idea of how many people I have annoyed along the way. Just like my cookies compliance pop up box, its intrusion can be very irritating, even if unfortunately the cookie element is a necessary one at present.
So I shall not be buying that plugin, and I will not be forcing myself on my visitors to join my newsletter. The journey to becoming the blogging tuition guru for the UK may be a slow one, but at least I hope to gain the respect and appreciation from my followers along the way.
What does anyone else think?
Hi Alice,
It feels like we are all singing from the same hymn sheet. I agree with you all, that this side of the pond we are more inclined to recoil when feeling bombarded with “why buy from me”.
Only yesterday I listened to a great talk on TED by Simon Sinek who put it so beautifully. When we share why we do what we do and pay attention to the quality of what we offer, people are more likely to choose to have what we offer.
When we are aligned with our WHY our passion shines through and our confidence grows. When we go within we find our truth and stability, it may take some time to dig the foundations yet few would argue it isn’t worth it.
I for one have a lot to learn about blogging not to mention the finer points of technology. I look forward to joining the community. You are all a great example of how it can be done with grace.
Thanks Doreen. Marketing is a long-term venture, and if anybody promotes a ‘quick-rich’ idea then they’re probably lying through their teeth. Ideally the only way to gain followers is to give excellent value, consistently and regularly, and do a good enough job to get others talking about it and recommending it for you. Word of mouth continues to be the best way of getting referrals, in spite of being part of the ‘traditional set’, but then the old ways are sometimes the best.
Not pushy at all is my philosophy…So tired of unsubscribing from lists that are constantly, overtly and covertly, trying to entice me into buying, all under the guise of ‘free’. Twitter is awful for this. Attended a networking event last week and was clearly told that unless you are competitive, you cannot succeed in your business. I mused on this one for a bit and then decided that I would speak up (you know how hard it is for me to hold my say…:-)). For me it has NEVER been about what other pracitioners do, it has ALWAYS been about what I do. I don’t run them down or malign them in any way, nor do I care about what they do. I simply try to better what I do to improve my quality of service not because I want to ‘steal’ clients from others but to improve the quality of those who come to see me. Everyone has a choice and I hope people come to see me for what I stand for. So am I competing with other practitioners? In an indirect manner I am because we are all in the aches and pains business but my objective is to do more of the same, caring two notches what everyone else is doing. So instead of COMPETETIVE, I’d use the word CONFIDENT. This is where the Presentor gave me a strange look and hastily moved on…pushy I am not, informative and helpful I am and that is what people want….agreed?
Thanks for this Diksha! Here is where the differences between the US and the UK are showed up. We Brits have a much more conservative attitude towards gaining followers, whereas the Americans are quite happy to be brash and in your face. In fact it’s almost considered weak not to be so, as I found out to my cost when I was a restaurant hostess in San Francisco (got no tips at all). So this plugin would certainly work in a market on the other side of the pond, whereas here it would soon get short-shrift.
Caring about what you do and showing your enthusiasm and passion is not being pushy. I know how much you care about your business Diksha, and we all appreciate it. In fact this can be quite infectious, and people prefer someone who is willing to be gushing about what they do, rather than retiring and reticent. And certainly we will get to learn a lot more about the business at the same time.
I don’t think being forward in promoting your business is detrimental, and yes, Diksha, confident is a more apt word than competitive. But by being confident in what you do provides a competitive element whether you like it or not!