Has the marketing world been turned on its head or are businesses so desperate these days that they are chasing up and down every route to market in the hope of a sale?

Every marketing strategy put forward over the last 20 years has been based on market segmentation and the narrowing of marketing channels. The aim has been, and should be, to focus on a key target market, identify how to communicate with it and make the message so irresistible that customers cannot refuse the offer.

So why is it that marketing teams from all sectors are using Twitter to promote their goods and services? Twitter is so broad and so full of white noise from competitors and others that there is little chance of anyone maximising the marketing message by hitting the target market . Don't get me wrong, business can be won that way but the wastage involved is immense. And then there is the use of auto posts. What is the point of pretending to want to communicate with people if you are not willing to or capable of responding to someone that reads your tweet and wants more information? It is tantamount to propaganda, Public Relations of the worst sort and can do more damage than good. Essentially you are warming up a lead and then throwing cold water all over it.

There are numerous ways of setting up a notification service to alert you when someone replies to your tweets and in doing so you will publicly show that you actually want to engage with people – customers, suppliers or anyone that is interested in what you have to say.

So if you are going to use Twitter to fly in the face of marketing theory, please at least have the common sense to reply when someone responds to your tweets – who knows, it could actually lead to new business!

Parker PR is an award winning PR Agency based in North Nottinghamshire, serving clients all over the UK.  Contact us on 01623 638023