We have a large casino and resort near our home, and from time to time Lisa and I like to stay there.
They’ve got beautiful relaxing suites, it’s a great place to get away for the evening, and it’s convenient.
Since we’ve stayed there before, the “casino marketing department” obviously has our contact information, including our email address.
The image above is an actual email they just sent me, promoting their upcoming Valentine’s Day festivities.
Being the business owner and marketer that I am, this kind of advertising drives me up a wall.
AAARRRRGGGGHHH.
For crying out loud, we stay at the casino resort several times a year, and we always stay in one of their high end suites.
After all, when we go there, the purpose of our visit is to relax.
They would have been much better off sending me a personal email (without the fancy-schmancy photos).
In that email, they could have reminded me of how nice our last visit was, include a photo of the suite we stayed in, and promise to have a Valentine’s gift basket or something waiting for us in our room when we return.
That would go a whole lot further, and it would definitely get a response from me.
But this…
This impersonal email isn’t getting any kind of response.
Well – other than using it here, as an example of what NOT to do.
I say this all the time, and I’ll say it again.
Business is all about creating relationships with your customers or clients.
And the way you accomplish that is by communicating with them on a personal level.
The same way I’m communicating with you right now.
Dedicated to your success,
Kevin Thompson
“The Automatic Income Coach”
Agreed Kevin. If I did not know you I would think the place was seedy from the ad.
If I saw the subject of this e-mail, I probably would have deleted it without a second thought. I get tons of e-mail like this, so I don’t open them, unless they sound interesting (VERY rarely do any sound interesting), or the subject is personalized somehow, to me. Yes, some of your e-mails get deleted too, because the meet the criteria stated previously. If I know a particular e-mail address is promoting a product that either I can’t afford (which is 99% of the time), or doesn’t interest me, I remove those e-mails too, without looking at them.
I think you’ll find that when a human being writes an email, he can be a lot more personal than a corporation can.
If my local Albertson’s manager emailed me and said “hey, I know you buy a lot of Cherry Coke, and I thought you’d like to know about this new Pepsi product” – I’d feel like he actually paid attention to me.
If the Albertson’s home office sent me the same email, I’d feel like this company was storing and tracking my shopping data in FAR too much detail.
While the personal touch does make a difference, a corporation doesn’t (and CAN’T) make the same difference in the same way. It’s more creepy than anything. Corporations are fictional creations that only really exist on paper. It’s like that piece of paper is trying to make friends with me, which looks way too much like the beginning of a really crappy horror movie.
I agree this is more like an add for a bordillo then somewhere I would go for a relaxing evening in a classy place
I agree Kevin, very seedy, although I don’t really know you, the fact that you speak about your wife so much makes me think you definitely wouldn’t like that e-mail!
Water under the bridge I guess, we all get some things by e-mail we don’t like.
Marilyn
The advertising dept. must not realize how nice a place they allready have. Too bad. They need new people that are more mature to do their advertising.
I have to agree with Rita. Their advert. dept. really dropped the ball. there are so many nice things they could have said. I can think of at least three right off the top of my head. But what do I know, I’m 67!
OK,
you want to say they do not know marketing?
This pamflet looks promotion of meeting resort where
singles and couples meet and enjoy.
Not publicity for casino.
Great oportunity to offer them something apealing.
Regards,
Bosi
I, like some of the others who have already posted, think this is a trashy ad, but I don’t know if that is the point. They are appealing to their audience to come for Valentines Day, thinking that suggestive photios will do the trick. Kevin, you’ve been telling us and showing us that building relationships is key to success. This is about pretty far from anything that I would consider “relationship building”. Thanks for the reminder and the example.
Definitely low-class advertising. I would tell them, especially since you have had such enjoyable experiences. When I do not like something, more often than not I tell whoever is in charge, so that they can correct it and have success. Perhaps a new client for you or someone in your network.
Not only is this form of advertising classless but it is misdirected to a business person of your level. A customer of your caliber should be receiving a personal invitation from someone in managment and not something like this.
Bad form all around, Kevin. As the former manager for marketing and communications at a community college, I would never have let something like this go out as a personal message. When a business has the contact information for a regular client, the personal touch is always the only way to go. The approach demonstrated here indicates a marketing department that is either lazy; so totally overwhelmed by work volume that they’re churning out only the most basic promotional material; they are out of touch with what works today; or they simply don’t care. Hopefully, it’s not the last.
I appreciate your objection to the ad’s impersonal nature. I just hope you also find it morally offensive.
Do you want me to call them and give them a bit of thunder?
Crikey!
When will businesses get it?
I find this to be pretty cheesy, but then again I was never much into Halmark holidays.
Kevin, I must admit you are an icon because you continue to tell us that building
relationships is the key to being a successful marketer and if you see something that is the opposite of what you teach, you will quickly remind us or in this case show us an
example of what not to do.
Kevin, When I first looked at the picture, I thought what is Kevin showing us this picture. Then I realized you are showing us what not to do, in advertising and connecting with people. I agree with Susan Collins, what do I know. So much of marketing is this way on TV and in print material. I worry about children being raised in a society with this kind of material so prevalent.
Well at least the women in the pictures are hot. I signed up for both the “Singletine’s Party” and the “Sweethearts’…salsa? salon?” whatever. It’s party time for ole Handsome.