No, this isn’t a rant! I try not to rant. I don’t always succeed, but I try. This is more a statement of surprise that a company would spend money on print advertising that left at least this potential customer puzzled and frustrated. In my work-a-day world, I’m Operations and Marketing Manager for a software company. I’m interested in what does and doesn’t work in online marketing. So, I guess this is more an open letter to the company in question, asking “Am I missing something here?”

To the marketing manager of Company X: You placed an ad in Trailer Life™ magazine in which you warned me that “Your RV is at risk!” You told me that if the keys to my RV’s storage compartments bore the number CH751, I was in trouble. You told me to call your 800 number immediately! You also gave your company web address. Well, like a lot of people today, I’ll go to a web site LONG before I’ll call and chat with a salesperson! You listed your site URI and I was there in a flash, expecting to find out why my “RV is at risk” because of these keys. NADA! I could tell what you make. My impression that you sell on a wholesale basis to dealers, OEMs, etc. was confirmed when I clicked your “Order Online” link and woke up on a ThomasNet page where I could view your catalog and request a quote! Like that’s something a Trailer Life reader is likely to do!

Nowhere on your web site could I find any reference to your Trailer Life ad, the problem with my keys, my “at risk” status or how to fix it. IMHO, what your advertising dollars really did was waste my time and your money. You left me frustrated because you got my attention with your ad – that’s a good thing. You told me I might have a problem and gave me the impression you could solve it and made me want to know more – a good thing, too. Then you left me with nothing – not so good.

Ok, so maybe if I’d called your toll-free number one of your sales people would have taken care of everything. But come on, people go to web sites today – for information – to learn about how to solve their problems – to buy things. You ran an ad that got my attention, now take me to a landing page that follows through on the story you started to tell. Explain the problem. Explain your solution. Tell me how to buy your solution. Maybe I will.  Maybe a lot of other Trailer Life readers will too. Give us a chance, or don’t waste your advertising dollars.

Oh, by the way, I think you’re telling me that my CH751 key might open my neighbor’s RV storage compartments, and vise-versa. In fact, I found an eBay listing for “Replacement Keys for RV Locks CH751 – 6 Keys.” Certainly, if anyone with a similarly numbered key could open one of my storage compartments, he, she or it could get inside my trailer. Of course he, she or it could do the same with a crowbar!. Anyway, I think this company is trying to tell us to replace our old locks, to which many people may have keys, with new ones having unique keys. If that’s the case, I’m with them. I’m just not buying from them because they’re not helping me to do so.