Is it spam or . . .

I would like to send unsolicited email to potential customers. This is an
email to a specific person, the content is written for that person, not a
mass email with the same content for all.

Personally when I get something like this it doesn't bother me (unless they
are offering the same service as me). When I get mass email offering to grow
my . . . income or reduce my interest I pray for their slow painful demise.

I would do this one time and perhaps follow up with a mail piece (I don't do
cold calling).

I would appreciate the forum's opinions on this subject.

Thanks!

--
Andy Durban
Trimark Marketing Communications
"Committed to your Success!"
336 227-4443
www.TriMark1.com
www.3-mark.com
web design - new media

"Andy Durban" <nospam@noaddress.com> wrote in
news:cgno9b01aof@enews2.newsguy.com:

>
> I would like to send unsolicited email to potential customers. This is
> an email to a specific person, the content is written for that person,
> not a mass email with the same content for all.
>
> Personally when I get something like this it doesn't bother me (unless
> they are offering the same service as me). When I get mass email
> offering to grow my . . . income or reduce my interest I pray for
> their slow painful demise.
>
> I would do this one time and perhaps follow up with a mail piece (I
> don't do cold calling).
>
> I would appreciate the forum's opinions on this subject.
>
> Thanks!
>

It sounds you like you have spend some time doing research on each company
before contacting a potential customer. If that is the case, that is your
major expense (your time). So spend an extra $0.37 on postage and mail
them a physical letter. You will get a better response rate than email and
it definitely won't be considered spam. Don't risk even being associated
to spammers.

--
Edward Alfert
http://www.rootmode.com/
Multiple Domain Hosting and Reseller Hosting Plans
Promotional Code (Recurring $5/month Discount): newsgroup

Edward Alfert wrote:
> "Andy Durban" <nospam@noaddress.com> wrote in
> news:cgno9b01aof@enews2.newsguy.com:
>
>
>>I would like to send unsolicited email to potential customers. This is
>>an email to a specific person, the content is written for that person,
>>not a mass email with the same content for all.
>>
>>Personally when I get something like this it doesn't bother me (unless
>>they are offering the same service as me). When I get mass email
>>offering to grow my . . . income or reduce my interest I pray for
>>their slow painful demise.
>>
>>I would do this one time and perhaps follow up with a mail piece (I
>>don't do cold calling).
>>
>>I would appreciate the forum's opinions on this subject.
>
> It sounds you like you have spend some time doing research on each company
> before contacting a potential customer. If that is the case, that is your
> major expense (your time). So spend an extra $0.37 on postage and mail
> them a physical letter. You will get a better response rate than email and
> it definitely won't be considered spam. Don't risk even being associated
> to spammers.

It depends. If you found them on the 'net you might as well send email.
If you found them in the yellow pages or met in person (chamber of commerce,
trade show) it may depend on the business you're in.
I'm (programmer in my day job) just as likely to at least look at email (that
doesn't sell what the OP was mostly objecting to) as to look at what come in
my mail box. My side business being mostly (e-)mail order, I was in fact
quite surprised when I got a snail mail letter from a customer last year
(who had problems with his email bouncing from my server).

Qualifying the "it depends" a bit: what business are you in, who are
your potential customers, are they used to doing business by email,
quite possibly even which part of the country/world you're in.
Also, are you trying to sell to a person or to a business?

HTH,

Maren
(and think about it how likely these people are to buy. To go back to
an old thread: don't try to sell me a dry cleaning service, I'm an
engineer)

"Andy Durban" <nospam@noaddress.com> wrote in message
news:cgno9b01aof@enews2.newsguy.com...
>
> I would like to send unsolicited email to potential customers. This is an
> email to a specific person, the content is written for that person, not a
> mass email with the same content for all.

Substantially identical messages are still bulk spam. Personalizing them
doesn't really matter. It is unsolicited commercial email and probably not
allowed by your ISP.

>
> Personally when I get something like this it doesn't bother me (unless
they
> are offering the same service as me). When I get mass email offering to
grow
> my . . . income or reduce my interest I pray for their slow painful
demise.

You're confusing content with consent. You do not have permission from the
people you want to email. The content is irrelevent.


--
McWebber
No email replies read
If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends
please forget that I'm your friend.

McWebber wrote:
>
> You do not have permission from the
> people you want to email. The content is irrelevent.

Are you trying to say that you never emailed anybody who didn't
tell you that you could email them? - And are you trying to say that
any email I send to _anybody_ who didn't explicitly tell me
I was allowed to email them is spam?

Maren
(who usually emails weather warnings posted by the NWS to her coworkers
- they didn't ask for those. But so far I haven't gotten any complaints.)

"Andy Durban" <nospam@noaddress.com> wrote in message
news:cgno9b01aof@enews2.newsguy.com...
>
> I would like to send unsolicited email to potential customers. This is an
> email to a specific person, the content is written for that person, not a
> mass email with the same content for all.

Hi Andy,

IMO, spam is unsolicited email. Whether you send out one email to one
person, a thousand different emails to a thousand people, or a similar piece
of email to a list of people you've put together while cruising the net.
Spam is spam is spam.

Honestly, I get hundreds of spams a day. The chances of you making it
through my filters to where your email would even be noticed are slim, and
even if I did notice your email, I probably wouldn't open it. (Unless you
email me in regards to a post on this group. I do watch for that kind of
thing.)

> Personally when I get something like this it doesn't bother me (unless
they
> are offering the same service as me).

Because the filters I use are so good, spam is now just a minor annoyance. I
really feel, though, for the people who receive tons and tons of spam and
have to weed through it to get to the email that is important to them.

> When I get mass email offering to grow
> my . . . income or reduce my interest I pray for their slow painful
demise.

That is not a prayer, that is a curse!

Pray for their enlightenment, maturation and level of consideration for
others. That makes you a better person.

> I would do this one time and perhaps follow up with a mail piece (I don't
do
> cold calling).

There are two issues here. First and foremost, not doing something that is
positive for your business because you are uncomfortable with it --
especially if it is marketing related -- is something that you're going to
have to get over.

The second thing is that you have to experiment with sales and marketing to
see what works for you. Spamming is a bad idea, cold calling may work if you
give it a shot, and other than that, keep on keeping on. That's what we all
do.

Mike

"Maren Purves" <m.purves@jach.hawaii.edu> wrote in message
news:cgotca01uin@enews3.newsguy.com...
>
> McWebber wrote:
> >
> > You do not have permission from the
> > people you want to email. The content is irrelevent.
>
> Are you trying to say that you never emailed anybody who didn't
> tell you that you could email them?

Don't be pedantic. We are talking about unsolicited commercial email.
Notthing else.

--
McWebber
"Richter points to the lack of legal action against his company as proof
that he's operating appropriately."
Information Week, November 10, 2003

"Edward Alfert" <ealfert@rootmode.com> wrote:
> So spend an extra $0.37 on postage and mail them
> a physical letter. You will get a better response rate
> than email and it definitely won't be considered spam.

That's correct. It won't then be considered spam. Instead it will be
considered junk mail. ;-)

> Don't risk even being associated to spammers.

Anymore than you should risk being associated with junk mailers.

The truth of the matter is that advertising is unsolicited communication.
No one buys a magazine for its ads. No one watches a television program to
catch its commercials ... Superbowls being the only exception to this that
I've ever heard of. No one opens their mailbox to see if they've received
any junk mail. However, you need to get the word out about your business
and while word of mouth is great, to only depend on it is foolish.
Currently the most viable option is to advertise. So don't get too wrapped
up about offending people with either spam or junk mail. Only do both or
either if it gets you profits. Not traffic or even revenue. Profits. If
it does, continue doing it and look for ways to improve it. If it doesn't,
experiment before giving up. And just as you should do unsolicited
communication, you must also knock on doors in person if that's a good way
to sell your stuff and thus bother people that way as well. Yes, you're
bothering them. Get over it. So what if they get upset with you. So what
if they delete your spam, block your spam with filters, trash your junk
mail, hang up on you, or slam the door in your face. Get over it and go do
it. You only need a fraction to make your business profitable. Welcome to the
world of advertising. No saints need apply.

Good luck!

Scott Jensen
--
Peer-to-peer networking (a.k.a. file-sharing) is entertainment's future.
If you'd like to know why, read the white paper at the link below.
http://www.scottjensenshow.com/P2PRevolution.pdf

"Scott T. Jensen" <stj@charter.net> wrote in message
news:cgu8bg02kj1@enews4.newsguy.com...
>
> "Edward Alfert" <ealfert@rootmode.com> wrote:
> > So spend an extra $0.37 on postage and mail them
> > a physical letter. You will get a better response rate
> > than email and it definitely won't be considered spam.
>
> That's correct. It won't then be considered spam. Instead it will be
> considered junk mail. ;-)
>
> > Don't risk even being associated to spammers.
>
> Anymore than you should risk being associated with junk mailers.
>

Begin typical marketer list of real world things that have zero comparison
to junk email:

> The truth of the matter is that advertising is unsolicited communication.
> No one buys a magazine for its ads.

Ads pay for the magazine. You pay for spam.

> No one watches a television program to
> catch its commercials ... Superbowls being the only exception to this that
> I've ever heard of.

Ads pay for the TV programs. You pay for spam.

> No one opens their mailbox to see if they've received
> any junk mail.

Postage is paid by the mailer. You pay the postage for spam.

> Currently the most viable option is to advertise. So don't get too
wrapped
> up about offending people with either spam or junk mail.

Spam has zero to do with junk email. There is no comparison.

> Only do both or
> either if it gets you profits.

Theft, which is what spam is, is not how to get profits.

> Not traffic or even revenue. Profits. If
> it does, continue doing it and look for ways to improve it.

Steal to improve your profits? Brilliant.

> If it doesn't,
> experiment before giving up. And just as you should do unsolicited
> communication, you must also knock on doors in person if that's a good way
> to sell your stuff and thus bother people that way as well. Yes, you're
> bothering them. Get over it. So what if they get upset with you. So
what
> if they delete your spam, block your spam with filters, trash your junk
> mail, hang up on you, or slam the door in your face.

Please stop comparing apples and oranges. Spam is theft and illegal in many
states and against the terms of service of virtually every ISP on the
planet.

> Get over it and go do
> it. You only need a fraction to make your business profitable. Welcome
to the
> world of advertising. No saints need apply.

Apparently only thieves need apply for you.

>
> Good luck!
>

Good bye.

--
McWebber
No email replies read
If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends
please forget that I'm your friend.

"McWebber" <mcwebber@my-deja.com> wrote:
> "Scott T. Jensen" <stj@charter.net> wrote:
> > "Edward Alfert" <ealfert@rootmode.com> wrote:
> > > So spend an extra $0.37 on postage and mail them
> > > a physical letter. You will get a better response rate
> > > than email and it definitely won't be considered spam.
> >
> > That's correct. It won't then be considered spam.
> > Instead it will be considered junk mail. ;-)
> >
> > > Don't risk even being associated to spammers.
> >
> > Anymore than you should risk being associated
> > with junk mailers.
>
> Begin typical marketer list of real world things that
> have zero comparison to junk email:

Hardly.

> > The truth of the matter is that advertising is unsolicited
> > communication. No one buys a magazine for its ads.
>
> Ads pay for the magazine. You pay for spam.

So you get your magazines for free? Must be nice. I have to pay for all my
magazines.

> > No one watches a television program to catch its
> > commercials ... Superbowls being the only exception
> > to this that I've ever heard of.
>
> Ads pay for the TV programs. You pay for spam.

First, how are you paying for spam?

Second, as for TV ads, you pay with your time. Maybe your time is worth
nothing, but mine's quite valuable and I charge my clients a great deal for
it.

> > No one opens their mailbox to see if they've received
> > any junk mail.
>
> Postage is paid by the mailer. You pay the postage for
> spam.

What internet service do you have that charges you per email you get?

> > Currently the most viable option is to advertise. So
> > don't get too wrapped up about offending people
> > with either spam or junk mail.
>
> Spam has zero to do with junk email. There is no
> comparison.

No, there's perfect correlation between the two. They're both unsolicited
correspondences sent in mass fashion. Prove otherwise.

> > Only do both or either if it gets you profits.
>
> Theft, which is what spam is, is not how to get profits.

You've yet to prove there is any theft being done by spammers. Present your
case.

> > Not traffic or even revenue. Profits. If it does,
> > continue doing it and look for ways to improve it.
>
> Steal to improve your profits? Brilliant.

Where is there any stealing going on?

> > If it doesn't, experiment before giving up. And just
> > as you should do unsolicited communication, you
> > must also knock on doors in person if that's a good
> > way to sell your stuff and thus bother people that
> > way as well. Yes, you're bothering them. Get over
> > it. So what if they get upset with you. So what if
> > they delete your spam, block your spam with filters,
> > trash your junk mail, hang up on you, or slam the
> > door in your face.
>
> Please stop comparing apples and oranges. Spam is
> theft...

You've yet to make this case. Just saying it is doesn't make it that way.
Prove your case.

> ...and illegal in many states...

But not as theft. And these are being challenged in court as we speak.

> and against the terms of service of virtually every ISP
> on the planet.

So? They can also say you cannot send attachments with any of your emails if
they wanted to.

> > Get over it and go do it. You only need a fraction to
> > make your business profitable. Welcome to the
> > world of advertising. No saints need apply.
>
> Apparently only thieves need apply for you.

Again, you haven't made your case that spam is theft yet.

Scott Jensen
--
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