By Brian Pasch
Are you tired of getting spam in your inbox every day? The obvious spam emails are filtered out of my inbox, but there are still a number of emails that get through. The ones I hate the most are the companies that think its ok to “purchase” email lists and mass mail companies.
There is another kind of marketer that figures out a pattern of email addresses, like firstname.lastname@company.com, and send a mass blast through your organization. There is a third company that trolls LinkedIn profiles, and pieces together email campaigns based on what they think are good prospects.
Lazy marketing tactics may seem like a way to build a new business, but it always backfires. In this case it pissed off the CEO of one company Bluefire Mobile wanted to target.
Bluefire Mobile Emails
Today was a tipping point, so I’m calling out another company that has taken the low road to building a business. Mabel Bastidas, is a former employee that left the company three years ago. According to her LinkedIn profile, Mabel was an Internet Marketing Manager for PCG Digital Marketing.
On April 17, 2014, Mabel was sent an email from Bluefire Mobile in Austin Texas, addressing her as an Internet Marketing Manager with a business address of New York. The email to Mabel states that the PCG Digital Marketing website doesn’t navigate well and needs a responsive design.
Trying to scare Mabel, the email uses the words “difficult to navigate” and “scroll extensively” when describing how the website works on mobile and tablet devices.
Mabel was never based in New York; she worked in our Ecuador office. Our website has a responsive design so this email had nothing to do with our specific website. In fact, I think that this was a mass “spam” attempt to get people worried about their website and call the company for help.
Interestingly, on April 12, 2014 Steve Murphy, a former employee of PCG, received the exact same email, but he was called an Digital Marketing Consultant, a title on his LinkedIn profile. His email also had a New York address, which is odd because our office is in Eatontown New Jersey.
Looks like a pattern here, and it reeks of bad practice.
DO EMAIL Marketing Ethics MATTER?
It looks like Bluefire Mobile bought or created a list, and is sending out emails to people who never indicated any interest in their company. In my opinion, the e-mails are not based on any analysis of my company website and I think that that are intended to generate fear.
Is this the type of company you would want to handle your online presence? You will have to make that decision yourself.
I am just tired of email scare tactics, like the old domain registration emails, that are flooding inboxes. What kind of strategy does Bluefire Mobile have in mind for next year?
Have You Been Spammed?
If you have received an email from Bluefire Mobile, forward me a copy please so I can try to figure out how they are building this list and take appropriate action.
Forward the email to: brian@pcgmailer.com
On the BlueFire Mobile website, the company lists their management and sales team, but there is no Jaime Ryan on the list of employees. The LinkedIn list of employees for Bluefire Design did list Jaime Ryan as an employee either. In fact there is no person on LinkedIn with that name, that works at Bluefire Mobile.
I did however find a photo of their founder, Dan Monahan, who is obviously celebrating for some reason. His LinkedIn profile identifies him as the founder of Bluefire Design, which I guess is the parent company.
The Attorney General in Texas would love to see how many business owners are being told their website is effectively “broken” via a mass email campaign, to people who never opted-in.
Brian
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Consulting
732.672.2356
The post Bluefire Mobile in Austin Scares Businesses With Spam Message appeared first on Brian Pasch.
This article was found on http://brianpasch.com/