Yesterday, when I opened the wrapper on a magazine I’m subscribed to, a 4 page brochure fell out, advertising a one day seminar with the title “No Budget Marketing”. The subtitle: “New clients don’t have to cost anything!”.
Pleasantly surprised by the concept of “no budget” instead of the usual “low budget”, I looked inside the brochure. It showed a few appetizers and the day’s program. Quite interesting I thought, and I quickly skipped to the application form on the back of the paper. At the top were the terms & conditions, and as I read the second paragraph, it dawned on me that “no budget” of course, never really means “no budget”. The paragraph started with the sentence “After receiving your application, we will send you a confirmation and an invoice.”… Invoice? For a No Budget thing? Ah, there it is, in the third paragraph: “This seminar requires an investment in time and money: € 895.-.”
So much for finding clients for free… If I’d have that kinda money lying around, I’d be going to @media, which is two whole days with several excellent speakers and three evening events, all included for only £ 395.- which equals about € 580.- (okay, that’s the ‘early bird price’, but still, you get my point).
