How to damage your brand

Asian firms are increasingly resorting to direct mail as a way to differentiate their brands. There is no doubting the potentially effective nature of direct mail but the campaign must contain the right information and be targetted at the right market, otherwise the effect can be disastrous.
Send data too often and to the wrong people will create a negative feeling toward your brand. Bearing in mind that consumers will talk about a negative interaction with a brand for longer than they will talk about a positive experience, the danger signs are obvious.
I signed up with a local event organiser for information on forthcoming branding and marketing seminars they organise in the region. Instead, I get one to three emails a day on human resource, accounting, insurance and other events related to events I have nothing to do with and no interest in. These emails are trashed with the same irritation as the ones for Viagra and incestous sex. The result being that I do not have anything positive to say about the organiser.
In the mass economy of yesterday, with limited conduits to consumers as well as less competition, mass, un-targetted, poorly written, repeatedly sent, direct mail was tolerated. Today, if you want to protect your brand from the ever more influential voice of the consumer, it isn't.

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