“Do Not Call” register in Australia - another nail in the coffin for interruption marketing
May 8th, 2007Australia has just introduced it’s “do not call” register and the sigh of relief around Australian dining tables is audible. There are plenty of companies who have telemarketing as their only or main form of promotional/sales activity; it is direct, it is measurable and relatively easy to implement.
I wonder what they will do next. Will they realise that this is not some bad weather, but climate change?
The only reason this register exists is because people are so fed up with being interrupted they actually got politicians to do something about it. And the politicians did, because there is no downside; you can’t loose votes on this issue.
On the first day, the “do-not-call” web server suffered meltdown with the demand from people wanting to register. That just shows how passionate people are about this issue.
I wonder what companies who relied on telemarketing will do now. I’ve heard of companies considering going back to door-to-door sales. Really.
courtesy Rich Baker
Hopefully they will realise that blunt instruments and short cuts won’t work in todays’ market. The sledge hammer approach, the one-step sales/marketing process from stranger to customer is less and less likely to generate results. Unless they are willing to work the telephone in with more targeted, permission based campaigns they will run into the same wall of opposition that has created the “do-not-call” register in the first place.
Time to re-think the strategy.
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Hi David - in my work as lead generation consultant specialising in online lead gen, I regularly hear from companies whose sole method of lead gen is telemarketing. The general gist is, “Help! Our telemarketing isn’t working!”. I think you’re absolutely right that the DNC list is “another nail in the coffin of interruption marketing.
Keep up the great work!
Will
May 24th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Will, thanks for stopping by. Yes, I think the challenge is that everyone understands what a telemarketer does and it can be done in virtual isolation of “business as usual” and it’s highly measurable of course.
“Online” for many businesses is still a new and confusing world. Pay per click, Search Engine Optimisation, landing pages….that’s a lot different from a list, a telephone and human being.
Through this legislation the urgency for business has just increased significantly be to get a better understanding of online lead generation and what is involved for their business.