3rd Deadly Sin of Advertising: Feigning Ignorance
Have you ever known someone who posted something on one of your business email groups knowing that it probably wasn’t allowed but they would rather ask forgiveness than permission? When caught, they usually say something like…”Oh! I am so sorry. I didn’t realize that wasn’t allowed!” Now sometimes they truly had no idea that a certain rule exists, but many times they secretly hope they will get away with it and rely on the kindness of people to forgive their little sin.
Be careful! I have seen people do this once too often and it can backfire in a big way. The net is a surprisingly small world. Many of your group members are also on other groups with you. Once they get to know you, you have a reputation. It’s wonderful to have a reputation for being honest, trustworthy, kind, uplifting… But a reputation for posting “Ooops! I didn’t know…” emails will catch up with you.
Similar to this is the Facebook practice of sending ads to your entire friends list. I think folks may be interested if you are doing something brand new and if it isn’t a recurring event, but to email 3000 of your closest Facebook friends every time you list something on Etsy, Craigs List or eBay get’s a bit tiresome for most of your friends. I’ve had people do that to me generating several emails an hour for a few days only to start all over again a few days later when they have another sale. Contacting them to ask them to stop sending me a notification on every item, they usually say, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I had no idea it was going out to all my friends.” I’m not sure I believed them even at the time because the link you click to send an email says it is going out to all your friends. However, I was sure they knew when it was sent out six more times the very next day.
Aside from the fact that Facebook takes a dim view of ads on a personal wall (that’s why they created business fan pages), your friends will find your spam annoying but they will quickly see through the excuses you give for not knowing what you should have known, especially if they are the ones who told you.
What’s your experience with this deadly sin of advertising? Who has been a victim of someone feigning ignorance of the rules? Did it color your opinion of them and their business?
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