We’re all on the receiving end of email marketing messages. The problem is that most of them appear to try and do too much. It often feels like marketers have a list of all the stuff their solutions do and they want to cram it all into one message to make sure they say something that interests you.
That kind of content makes my head hurt. It’s confusing. It takes too much effort and I can’t be bothered to listen to someone who’s so unsure what to say to me.
Talk about impersonal. That’s about as general as you can get. At a time when buyers can filter the content they choose to read, you can’t afford to use kitchen-sink content.
Besides that, it’s lazy. And one of the most obvious traits of kitchen-sink content is that the message becomes so convoluted that it doesn’t make sense.
Here’s an example of a marketing email I received from a PR firm the other day:
Yes. It was all in this one paragraph.
What really irritated me was that the PR firm probably charged this company for creating this drivel. Not only is the grammar awful, but the intention is muddy. I still really don’t have a clear idea of what this company does or why I should care. Unless, of course, I want to “tailor an email to abandon customers.”
The elements of kitchen-sink marketing are:
- Trying to say too much without understanding what it is you want to convey.
- Tossing in terms because you think they’ll catch attention – not because they make your message better or more easily understood.
- Displaying a self-oriented focus that doesn’t serve anyone well.
The effects of kitchen-sink marketing on your audience include:
- Instant delete or abandonment
- Negative credibility for your company
Obviously, this kind of content doesn’t create engagement. Nor does it enable marketers to sustain interest across a complex buying process. Suffice it to say that this is a surefire way to lose people, immediately, who could become qualified leads over time.
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