Comments on: Dish Network: A Profile In Poor Marketing

By: p.lions

p.lions — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:02:55 +0000

I hate Dish Network! I get at least a mailing every month asking me to switch from cable. How much money have they spent on glossy printed material and killed trees so I can throw it away. I wish there were a national Do Not Snail Mail list.

By: Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee

Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:34:55 +0000

Thanks for your input Steve. I guess we are both on the same list:) It would be interesting to see how many people are on that list, how many actually speak Arabic, and how many sales Dish actually got as a result of this mailing.

Cheryl

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:02:55 +0000

Cheryl:

I had a similar reaction. A flier came yesterday in Arabic. Didn’t bother me at first, but then my blood started to boil. I’m, like, 4th generation.

Strange, I went next door to my neighbor (with an Italian last name). They didn’t get one in Italian. Next door down – German. Nope, none of their Dish marketing stuff was in German. And so on.

So, there’s a profiling campaign going on. It’s actually both comical and disgusting. All I know for sure is that I will never sign up with Dish. I don’t like what they put on their plate.

God Bless America.

Steve.

By: Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee

Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:52:02 +0000

John,
I realize that they most likely purchased a targeted list and the poor quality of the list may not be the direct fault of Dish Network. However, Armenians are not Arabs, and not all people with Arabic names speak Arabic. It is the responsibility of the Dish to make sure that their marketing efforts are reaching the right people. Leaving your efforts completely in the hands of a third party is poor marketing. The list company is going to try to sell Dish the largest list they can to make the most money. Dish should find themselves a new direct marketing partner….

Thanks for stopping by…
Cheryl

By: John

John — Thu, 06 May 2010 13:38:41 +0000

Just to point out why this likely happened – many of the ethnicity appends available to purchase by direct marketers are based on the name of the recipient. Obviously, this is less than ideal.

Unfortunately, unless you ask how a given append is determined, you may not realize how it may be less than ideal. In this case, they probably purchased a list labeled “Ethnicity: Arabic” without realizing how that was calculated.

Also, they probably should have purchased one that said “Language: Arabic” instead of Ethnicity, but because those lists are generally smaller (since the ways to determine language spoken are much more stringent), then someone probably decided to include the ethnicity one as well. This may not have even been marketing at Dish Network making the decision, they may have contracted out the request to a third party who purchased the list and sent out the mailing.

By: Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee

Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:36:06 +0000

Renee,
Seems to me that Dish should look into hiring a new agency to build their direct marketing lists. I doubt you and I are the only ones that have been targeted in this way. Thanks for adding your thoughts.
Cheryl

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:54:19 +0000

This just happened to me today. I received a mailing for Indian Dish Network packages based on my name. I am not Indian. I do not speak Hindi, and there are few Indians in my area. I cannot believe that this company does not realize the negative impact they may have by ethnic based marking.

By: Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee

Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:50:30 +0000

Greg,
You are probably right, but I still feel that it is the obligation of Dish to know exactly who they are targeting. Even if they had successfully created a list that only went to those with an Arabic name, again, they still run the risk of missing their target. Not all people with Arabic names read Arabic. Making assumptions about who people are and what language they speak or what interests they have simply based on their last name is just plain ignorant. Maybe Dish Network should ask for a refund on that targeted list that they bought!

By: Greg Satell

Greg Satell — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:36:33 +0000

Cheryl,

Or put another way, Pay Attention!

Your name is clearly Armenian and there is no way it should be confused with an Arabic name.

I have a hunch that what probably happened is that a DM agency tried to create a database where there wasn’t one. Instead of telling the client that they couldn’t get enough names, they simply broadened their target.

- Greg

By: Jay@DishtvBlog

Jay@DishtvBlog — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:50:52 +0000

That is a very poor way to market. I am an affiliate marketer and would never use direct mail that way. I do know that the Dish Network team on Twitter does a great job of taking care of questions and service issues. I follow their Tweets. There still is no excuse for them not connecting you to someone to take care of your concerns.