Famous Last Words: Link Me Out

I run an ad in the back of this magazine offering a free critique of anyone's direct mail. I'm also happy to look at Web promotions or off-the-page advertising.

Yes, it's no secret. I'm trolling 
for clients.

I never say whether or not I like or don't like the stuff that people send me. I can't judge good direct marketing; it judges me. In other words, if it's working—bringing in orders at an acceptable CPO—it's good. What I do is tell people where they may be breaking the rules and what rules they are breaking.

A number of years ago, a guy I know in the directory business asked me for advice on some direct mail he was doing. He's a good guy, hard working and honest with a good product. I was happy to oblige.

As a return of the favor, he gave me a preferred listing in his directory, which included LinkedIn, a site I didn't understand and did nothing about.

In May 2011, LinkedIn was all over the news like a cheap suit with an IPO that was reminiscent of the Nutsy Fagan lunacy that went on at the end of the last century during the dot-com boom. Bloomberg Businessweek called it, "the hottest initial public offering in the U.S. since at least 2006."

I never got around to activating my LinkedIn subscription. Over the years, friends and colleagues have invited me to exchange LinkedIn connections, along with a slew of people of whom I have never heard. Finally, I composed a letter that is my standard reply to everyone who contacts me about a LinkedIn exchange:

Dear [NAME]:

Many thanks for thinking of me as a LinkedIn connection. Am honored.

I am into this LinkedIn thing by accident—having once been an unpaid kibitzer to the publisher of a directory, which got me free listing in this LinkedIn thing and it won't go away.