What is a marketing/sales tactic that you think is totally pointless?

30 comments

1. You would be surprised the number of people who do just that, mostly the older generation or people who aren’t tech savvy.

2. bill boards. they’re ugly, and inefficient

3. I hate these people on social media, predominantly LinkedIn, and the people who put your name in out of chance on your company email address trying to sell the business their “brand new innovative product.”

   Then when you explain to them that’s not your remit, it’s “okay, no problem, can you put me in touch with the person who can help me then?”

   No, I can’t.

   I work in transportation for a large European company, so it’s always somebody trying to sell new telematics technology, tracking devices or other fleet management tools. I’m at the bottom of the chain and can’t bring these new products in, neither can my manager, neither can the site manager, neither can the regional manager or probably even our director of transport.

   I can appreciate this method might work well for directors of small businesses. But as low as I am in such a major European company, you better know I’m gonna ignore that email and not pass it over to the relevant department, as even I don’t know who that relevant department is..

4. Prices being 99.99. That just says to me that the price should have been 70 or something, but the price has been arbitrarily raised so it ends in ’99’. I hate it, I don’t see the point. Petrol stations especially are egregious for this. Pump prices always end in 99. We all have to buy petrol, it’s not like we nip to the garage for a laugh.

5. Those kiosks are literally just to mine data from the general public. You express an interest and then the company calls you and closes you over the phone.

   Source: I work in sales

6. Salespeople that latch onto you the second you enter the premises.

   If I want help, I will ask for it, all you are doing is putting me off buying from you.

7. When I’m WfH I occasionally see a salesman going door to door selling double glazing etc, I’m not quite sure how much trade that’d get you these days.

8. Seeing a lot of adverts where they’ve got some kind of streamer/influencer talking about how amazing the game/app/product is.

   Seeing a lot for Navan at the minute, they’re particularly annoying because Navan is crap, they pronounce it “navarrrrn” and the influences they use just come across as arseholes.

9. Door to door sales.

   I know it works with some people, but I just can’t fathom how.

   If I wanted a conservatory I’d seek one out, you’re not going to convince me on my front doorstep.

10. Not pointless maybe but surely TV advertising isn’t worth the amount the companies pay for it any more?

    Long gone are the days of people sat watching the adverts, during breaks everyone whips out their phones. I can’t think of a single advert that has made me want to buy anything recently, and just generally we don’t get iconic/memorable adverts like the Cadbury gorilla, Nike football etc any more

11. Yeah completely agree with yours – similarly, has anyone ever really just finished doing their shopping and thought “oooooh, I should join the RAC!”

    Or “yes, what a fantastic place to make a big commitment to getting new double glazing”.

12. People with funny voices ringing me up and telling me I’ve won a *Massive Yacht*, especially on [*Tuesday* ]…

13. TV adverts. They’re just so crap. They’re one of the top 3 reasons I don’t watch normal TV anymore.

    I mean honestly has anyone ever seen a TV advert and that made them go out and buy the product? Marketing and advertisement is a billion £ industry, you’d think adverts would be more entertaining than the actual TV shows but no.

14. Being overly pushy, especially if you’ve already said no to something or aren’t given chance to look at/consider the options.

    Lush and car dealerships seem to be some of the worst offenders of this!

    Maybe it’s me, but the pushier someone is, the less I want to buy from them!

15. EVERYWHERE HAS THEIR OWN CARD. I legit can’t keep up these days, fair enough if I sign up and get a discount I probably will if I shop there often. Tesco/Sainsbury’s etc make sense as I often shop twice or three times a week.

    But I went into a Superdrug the other day and I literally never go there aside from a niche item for my fiance. I got to the till and I’m bombarded with upselling and trying to sign me up for a SUPERDRUG LOYALTY CARD.. No I don’t want your protein bar or lip balm. No I come here ONCE A YEAR FOR PRACTICALLY NOTHING AND I WON’T BE BACK UNTIL NEXT YEAR. I HAVE NO LOYALTY TO YOU SUPERDRUG DUCK OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Anyway.. Fair play if you have a superdrug card. Just y’know.. tailor your audience please, companies.

16. On the flip side, one pointless corporate tactic is when management tries to integrate marketing and sales. It just can’t be done!

17. I remember my dad resubscribing to Sky TV at one of those kiosks about 15 years ago.

    Funny enough, I’ve been considering getting Sky put in myself lately and resolved to speak to the guy in the shopping centre the next time I’m passing. He’s not going to convince me to buy if I hadn’t wanted to already, but it’s nice to have the option to speak to someone face to face. That’s a rarity with services like that these days

18. Just because they don’t work on _you_ doesn’t mean they’re totally pointless. If the campaigns didn’t bring in more money than they cost, the companies simply wouldn’t be doing them. It’s like those emails you get from a Nigerian prince. Enough people are falling for them to send enough money to make them worthwhile, even if the thought of it is ridiculous to you.

    A lot of the comments on here describe tactics that have been around for years, such as TV adverts. Why would companies still put adverts on the telly if there was no was demonstrable benefit? They wouldn’t – and there is. Not all TV adverts will be successful, but most will be. These are big companies with huge advertising and marketing budgets and they will have data to show that television advertising is worthwhile. It’s a multibillion pound industry.

    Everyone thinks they’re above advertising methods, and can cannily recognise them and avoid them. Don’t delude yourself. I mean, here you are giving free airtime to Sky packages!

    Source: work in marketing.

19. Littering people’s hallways with flyers. They go straight in the bin.

20. Cold calling

21. Moving shit around in supermarkets so i have to refind the stuff i want and maybe see other stuff on the way, annoying. Having things priced x.99 oh right yeah thats convinced me its not that expensive.

22. Email marketing. It’s basically all just spam now, and I think most consumers are aware that companies just want their data(?)

23. Any radio ad that has a background sound that my car also makes. Don’t need those mini panic attacks in my life.

24. YouTube advertising I will literally black list every YouTube advert I see and go out of my way not to buy the product. Surely I can’t be the only one that does this?
    I don’t care if the product is the best I’ll but the one I don’t have to be forced to watch a 15 second advert for.if I could skip the advert from the off I wouldn’t be bothered.

25. Companies that celebrate X week or month, just smacks of corporate toadying to me. If some LGBT person thinks “oh I’ll buy a ford, they have the LGBT flat on a f150” then fine, maybe I’m just cynical

26. Salespeople literally standing in the doorway of a shop ready to accost you the moment you even consider going in.

    I can only imagine this puts off more people than it attracts.

    Watched a good example of this at Bluewater on Sunday; sales-chap stood in the middle of the entrance to the shop. As soon as anyone noticed him, even when they were just walking past, you could see them try to get as much distance between them and him as they could as well as avoiding all possibility of making eye contact.

    Gave me and the wife a good chuckle for at least ten minutes.

27. In business to business sales, hassling potential customers by phone, requesting face to face site meetings (heard of work from home? I’m not there and one wanted to come to my home) and demanding meetings with seniors (they really don’t want to see you and believe me).

28. Upselling.

    I’m buying what I want/need. If I wanted more, I’d buy that too

29. Door to door charity fund raising. I’m all for charity work etc, hell I even donate but the way these people do it is so dumb.

    I’m not giving my details to a stranger at my door

    I’m not deciding on donating £10 a month immediately now with zero thought

    They NEVER have a leaflet or additional info to leave with you

    It’s such a shite way to elicit regular donations

30. I’m surprised that MLMs still exist in the UK given the power of online shopping. Like honestly, you would have to be an absolute nutter to go to a house party for makeup, candles, sex toys etc. It aint 1997 anymore!