What's In The Mailbox?

Bobbette Madonna  
Copyright 2001 & 2003

When's the last time you opened and read (or skimmed) an
obvious piece of junk mail (the first one - snailmail)?

Did you ever stop to consider WHY you did that? Of course
you haven't.  Let's take a look at that.

A trip to the mailbox can garner 8 to 12 pieces of junk mail
in a week's  time. I hear those 'yeah, right, try 20!' 
We're doing an average here. Let's say 12. You stand by the
garbage can  and flip through the mail. The bills are tossed
on the desk for later scrutiny.  Ah, there's a letter from
mom! Junk, junk, junk........

Hummmm! What's this? GET A REFUND OF $250 NOW! You look at
it  for a few seconds, toss it in the garbage with a shrug
and continue. Bill, bill,  junk, grocery ad, bill, junk. Ok,
so much for that. You look in the garbage and  there is that
$250 REFUND staring back at you. Well, ok, I'll check it
out, you  say to yourself, and pick it up.

Why did you do that? Well, you saw a potential BENEFIT.
Something you  needed - MONEY. And, even though you know to
get a refund you would have  to spend money, just maybe you
already have spent the money and some nice  person want's to
give you some back. You were motivated by a possible benefit.

We all know that the junk mail businesses send out, cost the
customer billions  a year. But then, what doesn't?
Businesses try everything imaginable to get us  to OPEN
their mail. Chances are, we don't. So, if you owned a
business, what  would you're junk mail look like?

It would look like that piece you pulled  out of the garbage
can! It had one sentence  in big red letters sprawled across
the tri-folded piece of  8x11 paper. That's it. Not  a bunch
of hype type. If you couldn't have read that in the 3
seconds you held it in  front of your eyes, it would be
history. So, less IS more!

Ok, so what's the point. Well, with all this in mind, let's
take a look at an email. We  get our cup of coffee and head
for the computer to check our various mailboxes and  there
they are - junk! You get how many a day? EGAD! Now, like
your trip to the  mailbox (outside) it's time to skim
through the email and get rid of the junk.

Both worlds are real. Both worlds are part of our lives.
Some gripe about it and some  do damage where they can.
Others know that there are millions of people on the net 
and everyone has their own ideas on how to get thier message
out there. MAIL - that's  the way it is - the future is
here! Those that don't like junk mail - to the point of
acting  crazy - better get out of the kitchen!

Oh, I digress, did you keep any of those junk emails? You
did! Let me see... Ahhh,  you kept the one that, again, gave
you a potential benefit. One that didn't sound like  HYPE. A
sensible subject line. And, the sender didn't have a name
that sounds like  spegetios! The one with a straight
forward, honest sounding message for you to  investigate.

Good!

The world is much smaller than ever before. We communicate
faster than the speed  of sound. So, why can't we get rid of
junk mail? It's the people stupid! They have  something to
sell or say or do and they want everyone to know about it!
It is our  responsibility to bite the bullet, get a grip, be
a citizen of this great planet,  and DELETE the junk just as
you DUMP the physical stuff!

Just do it!

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About the Author:

Bobbette Madonna publishes LOGON NewZine and the Guerrilla
Marketing Resource Center.  Also, she is the owner of
www.niba4u.com - a spam watch site and is a partner for the
fight against unfair termination of service at
www.spamattorney.biz The main subscription and marketing
site is located here: www.logonnewzine.com 
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