It seems that on a daily basis my spam email box gets limitless offers giving away everything bar the kitchen sink.  It has even got to the stage that I have had to stop my 9yr old (Happy Birthday son!) from using the computer for fear of him entering one of these spam so-called competition offers.  There is an anecdote that ‘Nothing is Free’ but I remember not so long ago that there were genuine offers which honestly did give away items for free.  Perhaps I am getting cynical in my old age but I honestly beilive it is the organisations continually bombarding us with this tripe that have become cynical in their advertising methods.

Do they really think that we need to be hassled every day to sign up to their mailing list in order to have an opportunity to ‘win’ a freebie that maybe we need (yeah right!)  The Advertising agencies they use are, of course, as much to blame.  Instead of thinking of unique ways to suck us in to their most recent method of being able to mail us with all and every offer from now until eternity shouldn’t they be doing market research to discover what we actually want or need.  I believe that used to be the way once upon a time – has the digital age changed us so much?

An example – A few days ago I got an offer from a large Supermarket.  Spend £50 and get £10 off.  Sounds reasonable, yes?  Well as it goes it was pretty much genuine.  Many of the deals in store were unavailable but we managed to get to the £50 value in dog food.  Then we had to book delivery which was unavailable for a few days.  This meant that most of the deals we achieved in our shop were no longer available.  More time spent reordering until we had the £50 again.  So the order is received and despite the problems we got £10 off – THE END?  Unfortunately not.

Upon checking my second email box reserved for indirect emails I find an average of SIX emails daily from this Supermarket Chain.  That equals 42 per week and 2190 per annum.  Do I require 2190 emails to tell me that everybody needs food to survive?  Of course, it is simple to unsubscribe from this aggravation but my thoughts are that it should not be happening in the first place.  Am I alone in the belief that this kind of behaviour is less likely to encourage me to shop with them again?  I seriously hope not!!

So that is how the giants do it.  What about the small companies?  My experience tells me that most of the smaller companies operate on a different strategy.  It seems that where employees are not anonymous in the whole then customers are treated in the same way.  How many small companies do you get spam emails from?  Not  many, I bet.  It is easy and cheap to set up an automatic email host to spam customers – so why don’t they do it?  My belief is that they care about their customers and apply the simple thought process of ‘Would I want it done to me?’  As a result it is the norm that smaller firms usually have competitions that are totally genuine and do not require a minimum spend to start with.  I have discovered a few offers recently from less established companies that really offered something of value and I wasn’t overloaded afterwards.

Here is a good example:

ADH Gems Vintage Jewellery specialist is offering a gold and diamond ring in their October giveaway.  If you are into Antique Jewellery you will enjoy the site anyway, however the important point to note is  there is no purchase necessary, there is no  registration needed and definitely no need to phone a £2 per minute phoneline for 6 minutes just to claim a pen that you could have just gone to Poundland if you really wanted it.

My passion is Antique Jewellery so naturally this competition appeals to me greatly but there are numerous smaller websites offering equally attractive offers.  My advice is to look at the SMALLER fish, those that don’t spend all their budget on SEO, in the field that you are primarily interested in and you may find something to excite you.

Details of this  can be found at:

http:www.adhgems.co.uk/competition

If you find a deal from a similar company please share it here or on your own blog.

All the best

Image via Wikipedia

In ancient India, to prove their capability to provide for a woman, men would bring a desirable woman’s father cattle as a gift. The more cattle they could give him without going poor themselves the more capable the man would be deemed to provide for his daughter. In ancient India cattle was used as currency. This is why herds of cattle were given to the father. Today, fathers do not own their daughters (although it still is customary and completely romantic to ask the father for permission) and therefore proof of capability to provide is not given to the fathers but rather the woman herself. Today, cattle is not used as currency and instead to represent the man’s capability they give the woman a diamond ring. The bigger the diamond, the more capability the man has to provide for the woman. So in essence it’s all about how much money you can afford to throw away. I hope you enjoyed this did you know event brought to you by: Fish Flakes-if you buy our cereal you really will be throwing money away ;D

In fact, it seems bigger is better, and the best man no longer wins. Here are some of the things that women want, and want it big:

A Study of 500 Women Shows That:

1. House:

   Women want a large house, this includes at least 3 bedrooms, and 2 baths. Don’t think just any house is going to do the trick. 65% of women surveyed said a man should be able to provide a home that is at least 3,000 square foot, if they want a family.





2. Wedding Ring:

   Thinking of getting married? 65% of all single women surveyed say the engagement ring should be at least a half a caret clear diamond, and sterling silver bands are not even an option.





3. Bank Account:

   These days women are making just as much as men. Women have proven themselves to be successful, but that doesn’t mean anything. 80% of all women surveyed say the man should make more or just as much as the women does. Plus, 75% of all women believe men are responsible for most of the bills, and seeing that their wants, and needs are fulfilled.

The first thing on a mans mind when you mention size, is their penis. However only 20% of women thought the size of a mans private was important. But, 45% of women surveyed said that have, or possibly would cheat on their man if they weren’t sexually satisfied. So maybe size matters after all.