Well, this is an interesting subject line that appeared in my inbox today.

The definition of “whet” is “Excite or stimulate (someone’s desire, interest, or appetite).”

Meanwhile, this means something else again … or nothing entirely. But certainly not what they intended.

*sigh*

Why are communications professionals so lousy at communications so often? It’s downright embarrassing. Just because it’s likely that most of the recipients of that email won’t even notice the error doesn’t excuse the sloppiness of the subject line.

Then again, the whole email was sorta sloppy: Their Facebook button wasn’t clickable and the alt text on the web version of their email seemed to have nothing to do with this mailing.  And is there really no way to remove the Vertical Response logo from the mailing?

Nothing against Digney, specifically — I suspect it’s more about having someone who does online marketing and communications as a fifth or sixth job responsibility handle your online marketing and communications.

Which is a good reason why you want to hire experts and specialists.

Just sayin’.

The official site is over here.

Well, this is pretty appalling.

I click a link in an email I received via Google Alerts and am taken to a website, but before I can actually view the page, I have to click “not interested” to a pair of roadblocks preventing me from seeing the page.

Really?

For a moment, can you imagine what the web would be like if even a tiny percentage of sites adopted such a scheme?

Takeaway for marketers: If you’re considering adding this type of functionality to your website or, worse, if you’re engaged in selling this boneheaded idea to websites, you need to be taken out and flogged.

Last night’s Rachel Maddow Show had an interesting segment that detailed how Facebook can be used by news media (and, not incidentally, politicians) to gauge the interest level of the general public in specific issues. In this particular case, Maddow talked about a veterans jobs bill that got killed in the Senate, and how a story about it received significantly higher-than-average interest on Facebook. Her observations are relevant to news media, politicians and social media marketers of all stripes.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
—Albert Einstein