Marketing from other companies can teach us a lot… what to do and maybe more importantly, what not to do. From using old lists, to not de-duping lists, to cheap materials, bad printing and unclear /confusing messages, we’ve seen it all.

What you put in front of potential customers speaks volumes about your business. Believe me, you are being judged. Here are a few doozies that have come our way.

Welcome to the Hall of Shame.

• 
  Big-dog with a confusing message. It took my business partner and I over 10 minutes to figure out what the offer was here, and our conclusion is still a guess. Lets break it down:
  • $200 AT&T Visa Rewards Card. Is it a Visa card loaded with $200 to spend anywhere? Or is it an AT&T reward only to use as a credit toward my bill?
  • It begins with “Now is the perfect time to switch.” I have been an AT&T customer for 9 years, so that line is confusing.
  • I believe that cable service is about 60 bucks a month, so $2 a day for cable doesn’t sound all that attractive.
  • Does AT&T own DirectTV? If so, was I supposed to know that?
  
  The only thing that’s clear on this is the number to call and that whatever it is that I’m “switching” will be a snap. But I’m not. No one else is either because they won’t spend the amount of time it takes to decipher it.
• 
  Yes, this happened. It actually happens all the time. 5 of the exact same mail piece sent to me on the same day. Lists need to be suppressed/de-duped by address. This is a super-simple fix. I bet you think all marketing companies know this and automatically do it, right? Wrong. The cost for your mail company to do this? Zero. The cost to you when it’s not properly done? Expensive. Dear Brighthouse, time to use a professional.
• 
  This one should scare the crap out of you - because you might not ever know it even happened. When I tried to scratch off the scratch-off, the whole thing peeled off and took my lucky number with it. Maybe I "won" maybe I "didn't". People would just throw it away and you would get a low response. Quality matters. Especially when the main hook is a scatch-off with a lucky number they need to see. Saving a few pennies per piece on the front end, can cost thousands on the back. I wonder how many (thousands of) people this happened to.....
• 
  Even in this digital age, business cards can be the first point of contact between people. All of these were actually handed to me in the current state you see above. Scratched-out & marked up?  Decent business cards are like 30 bucks for a thousand. If the info changed, just get new cards. • There’s nothing wrong with your eyes on the first one.  All the print really is that pixelated and fuzzy. Wow.
  • The middle one nails every business card faux pas there is.  The back had hand-scribbled  additional services they provide.  I have no words.
  • On the last one, apparently the print quality was so bad that the address and email didn’t even print properly.  I’m sorry – if you can’t fix your cards, you can’t fix my computer. No thanks.
   
• 
  Bottom line, roughly 90% of all direct mail goes in the trash, so you better be on point with the 10% that are available. Even the big dogs get fail when they work with the wrong direct mail company. Both of these were sent to me as a "New Homeowner" 2.5 years after I moved in. When we say "the list is everything" we truly mean: The. List. Is. Everything.