Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Navigation Bar

  • About
  • Services
  • What Clients Say
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Communicating / Is Your Marketing Putting Lipstick on a Pig?

Is Your Marketing Putting Lipstick on a Pig?

June 23, 2015 by Dennis Fischman 3 Comments

My wife Rona owns a small real estate agency. The people who try to market to her continually amaze her–and not in a good way.  I told you before about the phone solicitor who lied to her and the email marketer who never told her the truth.  Here’s the story of a bank that failed to earn her interest.

piggy_bank

“We just lowered our rates and are now offering a special discount for purchases and New Clients,” the bank’s email said.  “Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you or your clients.”

Now, Rona had never done business with this bank before. This was the bank’s first contact with her: its equivalent of a cold call.

Rona gets twenty of these marketing emails a week. Most of them, she  deletes unread.  This one, she sent to me as an example of poor communications...and then deleted it.  Why?

  1. The message wasn’t personal.  The bank could have sent the very same message to a hundred realtors (and probably did).
  2. They hadn’t done their homework.  A buyer’s agent like Rona prides herself on service.  She wants to recommend banks who do the same, not necessarily the ones with the lowest rates that day.
  3. They hadn’t built a relationship with her and didn’t try to. The email was quick offer, in and out, wham, bam, thank you ma’am.  (And the person who sent it was supposedly a Senior Relationship Manager!)

Sure, the tone of the email was polite, and it expressed an offer to help…but the “help” would benefit the bank more than it did Rona or her clients.  You can’t put lipstick on a pig, even if the pig is a bank.

Whether you’re a bank, a business, or a nonprofit, if you’re sending out email like this to people and expect them to respond, it’s a waste of  time.  What should you do instead?

  • Personalize it.  At minimum, use the name of the person you’re supposed to be speaking to!  But it’s much better if you can tailor your message to that person’s interests.  And that means…
  • Know your audience.  At very least, segment your list into groups that have something in common and write a message that will appeal specifically to them.  And even better…
  • Take the time to build trust.  Anybody can blast emails.  Only a few will make themselves stand out.  Take the time to be one of those.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Related

Filed Under: Communicating, Marketing Tagged With: 4Buyers Real Estate, bank, Marketing and Advertising, Rona Fischman

Trackbacks

  1. Your Volunteers ARE Your Reputation | Communicate! says:
    November 7, 2013 at 7:23 am

    […] My dear wife Rona Fischman is constantly shaking her head at what passes for communication. I told you before about the phone solicitor who lied to her, the email marketer who never told her the truth, and the bank that failed to earn her interest. […]

    Reply
  2. 4 Ways to Pay for Your Communications Consultant | Communicate! says:
    October 27, 2014 at 11:00 am

    […] You’d like more people to know about it. So you squeeze time for writing newsletters, sending email, and posting to social media into your […]

    Reply
  3. Your Volunteers ARE Your Reputation | Communicate! says:
    June 7, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    […] I told you before about the phone solicitor who lied to her, the email marketer who never told her the truth, and the bank that failed to earn her interest. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Yes, I’d like weekly email from Communicate!

Get more advice

Yes! Please send me tips from Communicate! Consulting.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Copyright © 2025 · The 411 Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in