What many people who have been online for awhile sometimes forget is there are literally thousands of people each day who are just finding the internet. As strange as that may sound to the millions of internet veterans the tap to the flow of people coming online has not been turned off. However, the drain plug has also bee pulled and just as many people who are coming online are leaving just as fast as they came. Why? Well,, the main reason has to do with growing amount of deception in the form of Spam communications being sent at all levels.
The people I interview and who come to me to find help on understanding the internet all report they previously entering the internet only to be overwhelmed but unwanted solicitations. Since Spam was the ONLY communications they were getting that was their impression of what they would be in for each time they step further into learning how to use the internet. It did not take them long to get fed up and leave.
This mass exodus of people from the internet is really not helping the global economy. Since more and more of the economic growth is based on small business growth the internet becomes this section of the business industries primary marketing tool. This places more importance on the internet becoming the New Market place for millions. Unfortunately, complete acceptance of the internet by the majority of the world population has not been achieved and if the growth of deceptive marketing tactics like Spam are not put in check the internet will never become a viable market for many.
Even though the golf industry represents on a small part of the overall scope of businesses online it has the most at risk with losing so many potential customers. Statistic show that most golfers are not online and many of them are part of these people who come on line…get a ton of Spam and leave with a bad taste in their mouth about the internet and anyone how does business online. Spam and other deceptive schemes people use to promote their businesses is not helping Golf.
Killing Off Niches
What I am finding more concerning each day is the growing number of people who suddenly decide to start a golf business and immediately take on Spamming people thinking they are marketing. Sometimes these people take the Spam road since that is what they are introduced to when they entered the internet.
More concerning is many of these start-ups are created by non-golfers…people who do not golf or understand the golf industry. It seems apparent that most all of them create golf businesses since they see Golfers as consumers with deeper pockets. As a result of all this trash being sent out to golfers new to the internet they get the wrong impression of the internet and immediately leave.
How the Damage is Done!
I thought I would target one of these businesses as a way to alert you of how this business prefers to do business online. I choice this one post as an example of the over 150 emails and comment I average getting on my sites a week. What is really giving golf a bad name are emails like this one being sent to non-golfers… (links to the site have been removed for obvious reasons)
Hi there, I found your email through the Internet, maybe you are interested in some of our items. We are a golf wholesaler, here is our website:18golfwholesale.com (Google it) , You can have a look at there and thanks for your time. If your order comes within the next 24 hours, I can send you an extra Cap as gift(maybe a hat & fairwayswoods & putter or bag)! Don’t delay! Sincerely 18golfwholesale customer service rep. Betty 18golfwholesale.com
OK, first off, this is the worst tactic ever ..I really mean EVER..to use to pitch anything..especially anything in golf. Even if it was an email sent to someone they knew it would be pretty embarrassing to think ,with the sentence structure and the way the email was written, they want to be taken seriously.
It is obvious this site has hired someone, probably offshore, to email anyone they can find online. This is not a good way to do business online. Many of my friends who are not golfers notified me they also received this email. Some of the questions and comments they offered clearly gives me the impression they think even less of golf as a result of getting these type of emails.
It is this indiscriminate spamming of everyone on the internet that is running people away from using the internet. Using a golf product scheme blindly emailed out to thousands is not helping golf and is now giving golf a bad name. I hope that exposing this site as a spammer’s site may help you avoid being spammed or at least know where it is coming from.
