HubSpot Plays Cupid with ‘Make Love Not Spam’ Campaign
Written by Malcolm James on February 19, 2013
Marketers get a bad rap. I don’t mind admitting that, in my case, it goes doubly so. As an ex-marketing professional, I tend to be ruthless in my opinion of marketers, especially in this age of spam. I know what’s involved in marketing and how far-removed it can be from reality. Often, it’s used with the precision of a rocket launcher, and unfortunately, some marketing people forget that the ultimate goal is to leave people with a smile, and not a frown. Let’s face it: the numbers don’t lie. Marketers make up for a large chunk of the vile stuff that invades our inboxes each day. In a world where the message is king, it seems that there are far too many would-be usurpers to the throne, and that, friends, is what results in civil unrest.
And they’re not helping themselves. When we see articles like “Eight Simple Rules to Evade the SPAM Filter”, it purveys a real sense of just how disparate is the rift between the people tasked with the duty of delivering the message (the marketers) and the people who are meant to receive the message (the rest of us). To think that the ultimate goal of marketing is to land unwanted messages in the inbox rather than the spam folder, well…wow. It leaves me speechless, and it reminds me that, just like in all walks of life, there are good marketers and then there are bad marketers. Bad as in incompetent, although there are malevolent marketers out there, too, who care more about clicks than conversions.
So, this week, when I came across a jewel of a message from a marketing professional, I couldn’t help but stop and take it in, and it made me smile. It was a totally different kind of wow. I’m talking about a blog post written by HubSpot.com CMO Mike Volpe. In the blog post, entitled “An Open Letter to Marketers: Make Love, Not Spam,” Mr. Volpe takes advantage of Valentine’s Day to reach out to marketing professionals:
“In much of the world, today is Valentine’s Day, a celebration of love. But this letter I am sending you is not a love letter. This is an open letter to the marketing community about one big way in which we’re not being lovable.
We, the marketing industry, have a problem with spam.
I don’t mean the messages sent by hackers in a basement from a third-world country about transferring millions of dollars from Nigeria, or how to buy Viagra without a prescription. I mean what many of us marketing folks do as part of our jobs at legitimate companies. Marketers send millions of emails to people without their permission every single day …”
Accompanied by an adorable video that uses some pretty convincing children to put a fine point on the problems surrounding spam and printed matter, Mr. Volpe’s post strikes at the very heart of a problem that we, as IT professionals and end users, have been bemoaning for years. The indiscriminate manner in which many marketers blanket the world with unwanted messages has had exactly the opposite effect for which it was intended.
Companies pay good money to have their products and services elevated to a place where the would-be consumer will see it, want it, and buy it. Unfortunately, we’re not in Kansas anymore. The world of Mad Men in the 1960’s, when there were three television channels, a moderate number of radio stations, and a handful of newspapers and magazines, is a long-dead dream. Today, we’re bombarded with media messages, at the computer, on our phones, in front of the TV, and so-on. Everywhere we look, there’s a new message. Millions of channels, and only so much time in the day to soak up the information. Yes, it makes a marketing person’s life more difficult, but one thing hasn’t changed much since the 1960’s: the consumer. Guaranteed as I’m sitting here, if Walter Cronkite’s future had hit forty years earlier, the consumers of the 1960’s would be just as pissed off by the glut of unwanted information. They just would have looked better doing it, in their cocktail dresses, three piece suits, and fedoras.
Hats off to you, Mr. Volpe. Your message reminded me of why I first got into the marketing business so many years ago. Then, it was fun, exciting, and enlightening. It was empowering to be able to shape people’s opinions and educate. My, how things have changed.
Now, marketing people, are you going to listen to what’s being asked of you, or are you going to perpetuate an out-of-control problem?
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I am a former marketer myself, and I can definitely relate to you as well as the other marketers you sort of despise. I had been aggressive, I admit, when it comes to e-mail marketing. There was one period when I was sending a mail almost on a daily basis, which evidently caused a huge drop in subscription and of course sale for my client. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I lay low and eventually found another passion, which is virtual assistance. Anyway, hopefully, this article will enlighten other marketers , especially those who are spamming, that doing so has dire consequences.
I am yet another former marketer, though even now I occasionally get my hands dirty with marketing stuff. I can proudly state I’ve never spammed simply because I know the very basic truth that this will turn against me. Aggressive mail campaigns might launch a few sales but the damage they do to the image of the product and the company costs much more. I wonder what mediocre marketer one must be not to know this very, very basic truth. Get aggressive, and users will hate you; spam them – they will hate you even more. It’s so simple!
Thank you for the support. As marketers we have an opportunity (and perhaps an obligation) to make the world a little better by being more respectful and lovable with our marketing. Thanks for being part of the solution.
For the love of marketing,
Mike Volpe
I love HubSpot because they’re one of the most generous companies I’ve ever met. They’re always giving those free stuffs, such as e-books and reports, though I need to sign up their mailing list every time to download it. I have also taken their Inbound Marketing exam and passed it. I know it’s nothing formal, but it has actually helped me land a good job. Now they’re giving this very insightful message. I should say kudos to the team behind it. Hopefully there will be more who will follow their footsteps and marketers will be enlightened.
I love Hubspot! It’s one of the most effective marketing tools I can get easily online. And I’m glad that someone is standing up against the more recent type of spamming. Hopefully, this will knock the senses out of those erring marketers who are becoming a disgrace in the industry. In the meantime, I salute those who are doing their damn best to try to stay on track, such as my closest friends. It is not easy—and has never been—but in the end, good marketing skills shall prevail. Well, I just hope it’s how things will end.
Hi, Mike, I don’t know you personally, but most of the people here I do like Hubspot a lot, and I’ve taken your Inbound Marketing exam. Fortunately I passed it! Anyway, it has helped me land some of really good marketing jobs. Your note, though, is far more important than the things I’m doing right now. I have to admit that sometimes I get so aggressive that I cross the line. Yes, I ended up spamming a few people for the sake of getting more traffic and sales for the business. Your love letter brought me back to reality and to the ultimate responsibility marketers have.
Mike, I’m interested to take that Inbound Marketing test. I’m wondering if you can provide me some good tips. By the way I want to tell you that it’s such a lovely letter. I am planning to become a more effective marketer myself. I am more of a writer but I want to use it to help businesses create a good brand. Hopefully this will make me realize of the enormous responsibility that I should never forget. I will share this to my friends who are marketers too. This way they also become inspired and motivated to do well.
“Marketers send millions of emails to people without their permission every single day …” This is what caught my attention when you quoted Volpe. I mean, he hit the jackpot right there. This is something that I have always wanted to point out; something that I’ve always wondered about. I know there are a lot of honest marketers who have nary an idea about what they are actually doing. Maybe it’s time they sit down and discover things they have yet to understand? Maybe they also need to be given a detailed explanation of the real responsibility of good marketers?