Remember when the world went into panic mode about GDPR?
25th May (today) back in 2018.
Wowzers!
Whilst well intentioned, it was hugely overblown and the response from “marketers” was tedious beyond measure and worse…they missed a golden opportunity.
Or rather, a speckled pinkish one…
I lost count of the emails begging me to remain on marketing lists leading up to the deadline.
Why they had waited so long to clean their database I do not know. The vast majority had never
bothered emailing me before. They wanted me to stay on their list, despite offering ZERO value to do so.
This annoyed and inspired me in equal measure which is why I bought 100 tins of Spam.
Obviously!
This was my direct marketing move after GDPR, or #GregDoesPR as I dubbed it.
I sent a “tongue” in cheek newsletter to subscribers with a recipe for Spam, to opt in or both.
The amuse bouche if you will.
Then I went old-school with direct mail to grow my list again with new leads (and create a live
case study to entertain the list with again).
I then sent 100 tins of Spam to carefully chosen people I would LOVE to work with but who were
NOT already on my opted-in list and pretty much explained the below.
100 splits into percentages and I can measure the success of this campaign.
Would some of these people laugh at me and not with me? Maybe.
Would some think I was an idiot? Perhaps.
Would some drop me a line to set up a free PR strategy call? You betcha.
Now…
Did some convert into clients and customers? Yep.
Circa £7000 of business, minimum.
Did some of these people end up on my newsletter list to market to again (hello there!)?
Of course.
However, you can bet your life it wasn’t me putting them on there and hoping they might stay.
They opted in because they liked my approach.
That or they really like Spam!
Interestingly, I still have one tin as a prop for exhibitions and talks. It went off in 2020. Turns out Spam doesn’t keep as well as you might think.
So be honest, when did your marketing go stale?
PS two different media targets interviewed me on this because I was DIFFERENT. Creating
another case study in itself and more content for me to send to my new and improved list.