In a recent post on social media etiquette, I made the comment that "unless you're Dicks Last Resort, don't be snarky." The reason for this rule is that if that's not the voice you've set for your business, it could come back to bite you.

Case in point - I received this email from a very well known and trusted resource for marketing and social media news:

The email was obviously trying to be funny but that's not the way it came across to me, and in fact, left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Here's what I didn't like about it:

1. I download their information at least weekly and each time I'm prompted to enter my contact information, which I do. (I think they need to change that method but that's a different story.)
2. I've actually used a couple of different points of contact for no reason other than changing email addresses. And, I fill out ALL the information and don't use bogus numbers.
3. Never once have I been contacted by HubSpot in an effort to sell me their services. Never. Once.

So now I'm being sent a marketing e-blast saying that I've done a great job of avoiding their sales reps. Uh. No, I haven't. See #3 - you've never called me.  If they had called me, I might have been amused, but since they hadn't it had the opposite effect on me. What they should have done was an a/b campaign (a to those they had called and b to those they had not called) but instead, it seemed it was an email blast to their entire database.

So I shot a tweet out to HubSpot and this "conversation" took place:

There is a tweet missing from this screenshot where I explained that I was irked because they had never called me and then "accused" me of dodging their calls.

I will give them props that they took the time to look into whether or not they had contacted me, and it's not like I'll never look at their information again because I will. They were actually quite apologetic about it, and they really didn't have to be but in good form, took the right path.

But it's such an important lesson in making sure that the message that you're sending is the right one that fits your company's voice.

And that you're sending it to the right people.

So already a quick update... it turns out that HubSpot WAS trying to do an a/b campaign when one of their staff accidentally sent the email blast out to their entire list - not the segmented one. Unfortunate, and they've been SO apologetic to me which while appreciated, wasn't necessary since we all make mistakes. But I'm a forgiving soul, and there are many that are not.