You’ve Got (No) Mail!
Lindsay, who apparently is too hot to handle, had her birthday bash at the Green Girl Saloon bikini bar from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it.
I would have loved to pop in, but I live and work in Clearwater, Florida and the Green Girl Saloon is 2,500 miles away in Westminster, California.
So, how did I know that Lindsay was celebrating with a special party at the Green Girl Saloon? Easy. I got an email from the club a week before the party. Showed up right there in my inbox, with a very sexy pic of a young lady—I’m pretty sure it was clip art and not a shot of Lindsay—wearing a fireman’s hat and holding a toy hose. The headline on the ad in my email box warned me that Lindsay was “Too hot to handle” but suggested I give it a try by coming by the club on Friday, Feb. 22.
While I couldn’t make it, I’m sure a lot of guys in the Westminster area, after receiving the same email promo I did, found time to go by the club and spend some money since it was a special event and, hey, they had received a personal invitation.
Want to know what was happening at another 150 clubs across the country on that particular day?
I don’t have a clue.
Because since I typed my name and email address into the “join our mailing list” spot on more than 150 nightclub websites more than a month ago, I have received only two emails from those clubs.
Only two.
Both of them from the Green Girl Saloon. Both of them encouraging me to come to Lindsay’s birthday bash.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how important gathering email addresses of potential customers is and the challenge for us of getting direct email addresses for club owners and general managers. Email addresses are pure gold for any business owner. Other than smartphone notifications, there is no faster way to get your message in front of buyers.
I thought if I joined the email “mailing list” of clubs that still have websites—most clubs now just have a Facebook page—I could 1) see what was happening at their clubs, and 2) capture the email address of whoever sends out the club’s promo and special event announcements. You know, those special invitations to customers who have notified clubs they are so interested in their upcoming events that they have given them their most personal and direct method of contact: their email address.
How clever of me, I thought. I rubbed my hands together in glee and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Did I mention that I received only two emails about an upcoming event—both from the same club, out or more than 150 clubs I petitioned—in over a month’s time?
I understand. I know it costs money to advertise. I know it costs money to promote your upcoming event to potential customers.
If only you could send emails for free.
