The Power of Poor Segmentation

Here is an example of poor segmentation from a publisher and how it can potentially impact business.

This morning, I received an email inviting me to attend a breakfast on multi-channel buying. It is hosted by two large enterprise software and infrastructure players that serve the market. So what is the problem? I am not a peer, I work for an agency and work on a competitive account. I never opted in to receive communications, but was signed up by a sales rep as a media contact.

So why invite me to a breakfast? Working in the industry, we know why it happens. Publishers increase the size of their list, the number of contacts is so small as to be trivial, it drives an increase in the number of registrations, and they showcase what other advertisers are doing through their marketing channel. But extending this to an invite for a networking breakfast is going to far, it is a disservice to their advertisers.

What are the ramifications of this? First, the publication's audience was always suspect, more so now that I know I'm included as one of the 'retail executives that start their day with us'. Second, it made a lasting impact on my opinion of the publication's promotions (did I mention the invite was flash, included bad music, and tried to launch a popup when I clicked that was blocked by default Firefox settings!). And finally, the impact was so significant that it inspired me to share it within our agency and take a few minutes to memorialize it here.

Blogging on Lead Generation

Well, welcome author. You read, write and react to what you see in the market around you. Particularly about online lead generation. Particularly about B2B lead generation. So why not use a blog as a place to capture those reactions, categorize them, and possibly even share with others.