Social Media Explorer explains why.

I probably receive many of the same sorts of pitches that Mark Smiciklas writes about in his post. Here’s the thing, though: Engaging in pure one-one-one outreach is not always cost-effective, even for the most knowledgeable and experienced marketers. On the other hand, engaging in sweeping one-email-size-fits-all outreach to a large mailing list can, as Mark correctly notes, erode business value.

The question is this: How does any given company find a cost-effective happy medium?

I wish I had an easy answer. I do believe that the answer begins, as so many marketing answers do, with “it depends.”

It depends on the nature of the business, the nature of the outreach, the nature of the audience, the nature of the communication goal — in brief, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to avoiding a one-size-fits-all solution when customizing outreach for each of 1,000 (or even 100) recipients is damn near impossible.

Is that time-consuming one-on-one outreach “the only real effective way to nurture relationships that can add business value over time” as Mark writes? Probably. But that won’t stop companies of all sizes from trying to cut corners.

Takeaway for marketers: When you’re cutting those corners, and you will, do so with a scalpel, not a hatchet. That way, you at least have a shot at learning something and minimizing any damage you might inflict.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1st, 2012 at 8:58 pm and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways, Social Media.