This all started a few weeks ago when I got my first shady email from them trolling for my email address .  I actually get a steady stream of emails like this; since my contact form doesn’t disclose my actual email addresses, spammers occasionally send “feeler” emails (“Your domain is about to expire”, “Your hosting has been disabled”, “SEO LOL”, etc).  The idea is that I’ll reply and they’ll have another email address to annoy and sell.  Multiply this by the hundreds of thousands of sites their scripts hit, and this tiny success rate turns into a few pennies’ worth of profit for zero effort.  Between the captcha and Bad Behavior, most of them get blocked.  But every now and then, a few will slip through.

And I assumed this was one of them.  After all, what kind of event invitation demands that I email them back in order to get more information?  And while this all may sound a little paranoid, when I clicked through to the domain they provided, it was a vague, cookie-cutter-website for a “new media marketing consulting group”.

No, really.  They actually say that.

Their website says they’re from Seattle — an unlikely candidate for wanting to organize a Tweetup in Harrisburg.  And if this all sounds a little paranoid, their Twitter feed is a steady stream of cut-and-paste replies begging people to click on a bit.ly link.

Yep.  Totally legit.

Right about now, most marketers — especially those that include terms like “affiliate” or “consultant” in their titles — would smugly cross their arms and say “So?  The whole point is to get people talking about the event.”  The problem, of course, is that nobody was talking about the Clear 4G Harrisburg launch.  After searching Twitter a few hours before the event, it became apparent that the headcount would be extremely low.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who was put off.

At the end of the day, barely a dozen people (and that’s being generous) actually showed up for the event.  It’s hard to get an exact count — especially after their employees started asking questions during the Q&A session — but there were far, far fewer people than should have been there.  Hell, we get twice that many to the Harrisburg Tweetups, and we don’t even have free booze!

The thing about marketing is that you as a client are judged by the image of the firm you retain.  If your marketing company starts annoying everyone they come across, you’re going to look bad.  You and your image are, to most consumers, inseparable.  Simply blaming bad exposure on the marketing firm doesn’t work; after all, you hired them, and you (should have) approved their tactics.  So right off the bat, Clear left me with a second-rate, fly-by-night impression.

This is unfortunate, because competition is always a good thing.  And in the wireless industry, we need as much competition as we can possibly get.  I hope Clear does well, but if they keep marketing themselves like this, I have my doubts.

I’ll post my experiences with the card in the coming days.

See you then!

We’ve been doing these things for a while now.  What’s it been … two years?  Normally we do this at the Abbey Bar, upstairs at Appalachian Brewing Company.  Over the last few tweetups, several people have suggested rotating through different venues for a change of scenery.  Between the clamor of wrapping up 2009, selling my house, and preparing everything for Moving Day ™, I completely forgot to post about the matter.  So, with a week and a half to spare, here’s your chance to sound off on how the Tweetups go.

I personally like ABC.  Our service has always been good, and hey — ABC on tap.  So I have nothing against them when I say I wouldn’t mind changing up the scenery just for variety’s sake.  Anyone have any ideas to share on where?  Bear in mind that any new venue should have the following:

• WiFi (because it is, after all, a tweetup)
• Food
• Alcohol (because it is, after all, a tweetup)
• Free parking
• Open to all / appropriate for our group

The last line is important.  We’ve had tweetups range in size from three people at any given time to three dozen at peak.  Although the colder months generally bring smaller groups, we have no way of knowing how many people will attend each gathering.  So any chosen venue should be able to, without advance notice and without splitting us up, handle a boisterous group between 3 and 30 people.  Any given venue should also be reasonably centrally-located; let’s say anywhere from Mechanicsburg to Colonial Park.

Do you think we should rotate our locations?  Do you like the all-in-one convenience of ABC?  If you’ve never been able to make it before, would an alternate location make it easier for you to attend?  If you’re one of us regulars, would an alternate location make it less likely that you’ll continue coming?  Post a comment below and sound off!

If you’ve never been to a Tweetup, then make this your first!  The Harrisburg Tweetups are open to anyone from the area with a blog or a Twitter account.  It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out, an A-list blogger with a seven-digit Tweet count, or anywhere in-between; people of all skill levels are welcome!

As others have pointed out, we’re just a bunch of regular folks talking about everything from local politics to web advertising.  The Tweetups are about 80% social gathering and 20% business, so don’t feel that you need to be an expert on anything.  No stuffy presentations, no attendance requirements, just a chance to hang out, meet the faces behind the accounts, and — of course — enjoy some of ABC’s seasonal brews.  Free WiFi is available (really!), and remember that ABC is a non-smoking facility.

See you there!