> Are there professional e-marketers to reach: 1. muncipal and state
> government people, i.e. MIS administrators and grant development officers
> 2. college and university administrators
[...]
> Do you think that using their resources will get a positive response or
> would be alienating? Any experience with??
Definitely alienating. Speaking only for myself, of course.
My last job was in college computing [services, not instruction],
everything from flunky to director of the department (I was there a long
time :). I detested marketing email. The *only* vendor email I cared
about was from vendors with whom I already had a relationship or from whom
I had solicited information.
Colleges and universities tend to have relatively small budgets, so we're
used to aggressively looking for what we need. To market me, get a web
presence, get in the trade rags, and treat your customers right (word of
mouth among peers). It may sound archaic, but I'd rather get postal mail
than anything else for a cold sales contact.
Usually I'd delete unsolicited messages without even opening them. I'd
sometimes look at the messages, but only with curiosity about technique,
not content. The silliest statements were things like "I recently visited
your website", "a friend referred you to us", "thank you for your inquiry" -
- yeah, right. The stupidest things have been the n00 KB or N megabyte
messages with a handfull of Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, PDF files, and
images. Surely they were on drugs if they thought I was going to open all
that up to read or print.
A few persistent vendors I actually replied to, letting them know that
through their obnoxious, ill-conceived marketing campaign, I had put them
on my blacklist and that I'd never do business with them.
Never, *ever* put someone on a periodic marketing list; especially never
say "you're on this list because you signed up for it" unless you can prove
it. Automatic kiss of death.
sorry for ranting,
loh
