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Archiver > APG > 2005-05 > 1115306496


From: "Richard F. Robinson" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] RE: Ancestry Marketing
Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 11:21:36 -0400
In-Reply-To: <003801c55127$86978ae0$0900a8c0@LISSALAP>


All,

Remember, Ancestry marketing is not done by the people we know who put out
the newsletters, magazines and books. Their job is to inform, and many of
them are professional genealogists.

The marketing people are in a separate department or different company.
Their job is to sell. Historically, there has been little or no coordination
and understand between editorial and marketing people in many
publishing/information companies.

Our job as professional genealogists, then, is to educate the marketing
people that in genealogy there are no guarantees that you can find any
family with any product or service in a certain amount of time.

We might suggest to Ancestry marketing executives that they might promote
their products something like this: "You can instantly find an amazing
amount of clues that may lead to finding your family, saving countless hours
of additional research." I think this is enough of a benefit to convince
consumers to buy.


Dick
=============================================
Richard F. Robinson, CGRS (sm)
Legacy ScribeR, LLC, Boynton Beach, Florida (legacyscribe.com)
Connecting present and past for the future
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CGRS, Certified Genealogical Records Specialist, is a service mark of the
Board for Certification of Genealogists (R), used under license by
professionals who pass stringent, periodic competency evaluations

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Elissa Scalise Powell, CGRS [mailto:]
> Sent: Thursday, May 05, 2005 12:04 AM
> To:
> Subject: RE: [APG] RE: Ancestry Marketing
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: MJ Mann [mailto:]
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2005 11:08 PM
> <snipped>
> > the conference to confront these executives. If they see a group,
they'll
> take things more seriously than a
> > number of individuals approaching them separately. I think it would
> > definitely make an impression on them.
> > Just a thought,
> > Maureen J Mann
> > Middletown, NJ
>
> Maureen,
> Confrontation is not what Sandy had in mind. She knows that personal
> invitations have been issued to many leaders in our industry to meet with
> Ancestry executives to hear concerns, issues, ideas, trends, and needs
from
> the genealogical community. Many of those invited are on this APG list and
> have read all the posts. Think of those who are invited as your
> representatives from the professional side of genealogy to one of the
> largest commercial genealogical concerns in America. Discussions are
usually
> full of ideas with genealogical community needs and trends being noted and
> prioritized in friendly group conversations. Believe me, we consumers
> already make an impression on Ancestry which they acknowledge by
initiating
> this contact periodically. They are interested in what we "in the
trenches"
> have to say and are willing to listen to the leaders among us, much to
their
> credit.
>
> With that said, I will be interested to hear what their marketing strategy
> is with these ads and hope they will see the point that we all seem to
know:
> it isn't as easy as one would be led to believe. But then I think of a
> librarian I know who tells the story of the lady who came into the library
> and asked for the book on her family. The librarian asked if someone wrote
a
> family history and that she just wanted to see if the library had it? No,
> says the woman, I "know" the library keeps track of my family history and
I
> want to see it!
>
> Classic case of wishful thinking such as this makes our job of educating
the
> public so important. In this world of instant potatoes, instant coffee and
> instant messaging, how can we tell them that it can take months or years
to
> find grandma's town of origin in the old country? It is an uphill battle
but
> one we have to wage.
>
> Sorry for the soapbox. But it is an important one that we all have a hand
in
> since education is never ending and will take all of us to be effective.
>
> -- Elissa in Pittsburgh
>
>
>
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
> http://www.apgen.org/publications/apg-l/index.html
>



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