I recently utilized the power of Craigslist to find a local go-to Mac Specialist whom I may contact should my limited mac needs arise. I received several “local” responses and this morning, one “unique” response from a company.
Clearly, it bothered me to not just reply, but to create a blog post about it. Firms MUST get their marketing efforts in check. The “shooting blindly” approach is NOT WORKING. I don’t know why IT firms think that mass email marketing is still an effective tool for their industry. I’ve perturbed enough to have created a list of why it doesn’t work:
- Emails a flooded with so much junk, their obviously “mass” approach is deleted even if it makes it through the spam filter.
- In my case, it was COMPLETELY irrelevant to my needs.
- When one needs an IT specialist, it means they’re going to let someone fiddle with a machine that has very important thing in it. Thereby, one would want someone they can trust. Would you trust a random mass email?
- Because most IT support firms offer Search Engine Marketing as a service, would you think they would target their ads better? It is the ability to target ads and marketing campaigns to very specific audiences that has eliminated a need for mass email marketing.
- WTF?!?!
Below is the transcript of my ad and the email that followed.
CRAIGSLIST AD:
Seeking Go-To Mac Specialist (Morton Grove)
Hi there!
I’m looking for a go-to Mac specialist to help me with any Mac issues when/if they arise, as I don’t have Apple Care.
I’m pretty computer savvy (meaning, I understand basic IT stuff), but not when it comes to certain Apple issues.
FYI I own a Macbook Pro
Please respond with contact information and rates.
RESPONSE EMAIL:
Hello There,
This is [name omitted] from [company name omitted] Inc – a 5 year old, 500+ member strong Software Services and BPO Services firm Headquartered at Virginia, US and ODC based out of Chennai, India with vast experience in Offshore Software development services.
This is in response to your postings in the Craigslist.
For our software services, we charge a competitive price of just $15 to $20 an hour depending on tech stack
The core service offerings are
- Application, Product Development & Maintenance.(CMS like Jhoomla, magento, word press,etc)
- Enterprise Business Solutions (SAP, CRM, Oracle, PeopleSoft etc).
- Business Intelligence & Analytics (Datawarehousing, Datamart, Data Integration etc).
- Mobile Applications (Iphone, Android, Blackberry etc.)
- Web 2.0 Implementation & Consulting.
- Web designing & Maintenance.
- Open Source Consulting & Implementation.
- SOA and Web Services.
- Technical & Product support.
- SEO, Link exchange, Link building etc.
- Data entry, Form filling etc.
- Gaming, Digital media services etc.
- QA & Testing Services.
Portfolio:
Magento:[links omitted]
Wordpres:[links omitted]
Joomla Mosets Tree:[links omitted]
Joomla: [links omitted]
Ecommerce:[links omitted]
Social Networking / Community Sites:[links omitted]
Drupal:[links omitted]
Zencart: [links omitted]
Flash: [links omitted]
ASP.NET: [links omitted]
ASP.NET front store:[links omitted]
Looking forward to hearing from you soon
Openwiresolutions Inc
Voice : 703-531-8753
Facsimile : 703-763-2209
Email:
[email omitted]
Thanks,
[name omitted].
MY RESPONSE:
I have to say that I’m a little confused as to why you (or your company) would send me this email. You clearly did not read my post since there was not one mention of anything I requested in the ad.
I’m not sure how this sort of mass marketing would benefit your firm since it is a clear indication that you’re not concerned with details. It thereby eliminates any chance of me even recommending your company to anyone I know.
Additionally, it’s also a waste of both mine and your time. The time it took for you to send this and the time it took for me to read this are of total waste. Consider this when you allocate your funds for marketing initiatives, this particular technique (that of mass email marketing) is not effective in your field.
Best Wishes,
Rena
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