I’ve been thinking a lot lately about permission marketing. We have a client who firmly believes in email marketing, only, it’s not really email marketing, it’s more, email spamming. I can’t stand spam. I’ve argued with this gentleman so many times, he is actually going out, scraping email addresses from the web (govt. agencies mind you) and sending out thousands of unsolicited emails. He was annoyed one day when nearly half of his outbound spam messages got sent back due to our server settings. Needless to say, I don’t think he’ll be PUSHING his wares via email any longer.
But spam comes in many different shapes other than email:
* The stupid unsolicited telemarketers calling and asking me if I have a cracked windshield.
* The realtor postcards that I enjoy so very much in my home mailbox.
* The crappy hideous flyer’s that some putz always manages to get on my car’s windshield wiper.
* The Stupid pizza flyers placed on my home front door.
* The fliers gently shoved underneath my office door.
* The putz who comes into our office, despite all of the signs that prohibit soliciting and tries to sell us oil changes for the next 22 years.
* The PHONE Book stacked 4 books high in my driveway.
Notice the common thread with all of these intrusions? They are all just that. I gave none of these people to give me anything, or to solicit me, or to touch my car, or to come onto my property and leave fliers on it. Permission marketing however, gets my permission before and is NOT intrusive, and in fact, is even welcomed. Here’s an example: I recently purchased a MacBookPro. Apple asked me if I’d like to learn more about how to use the machine via emailed tips: my response, absolutely. It was a new machine, I don’t have a clue how to use one, and now BAM. I get tips from Apple WITH advertisements for the latest products. It doesn’t phase me in the least, and I welcome it.
When it comes to marketing, are you getting your prospects permission to engage them? Or are you violating their personal space?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Tags: permission marketing
