A
Guide to Permission Marketing
Permission
marketing is an immensely powerful idea of simply
getting a consumer's permission to send advertising to him
or her.
The
most bare-bones form is the email list (or newsletter or ezine).
The consumer signs up (opts-in) asking specifically for mailings
with offers for products in his or her area of interest.
The
term was coined by Seth Godin in his book "Permission
Marketing: Turning Stranger Into Friends and Friends Into
Customers." However, the techniques certainly didn't
begin with Seth Godin. They had been practiced long before
Seth came on the scene.
In
the hierarchy of response rate, from lowest to highest you
will find:
- Cold
calling (such as door to door).
- General
untargeted advertising (such as billboards or some TV/Radio)
- Targeted
ads (such as mailing lists to select groups)
- Permission
ads
Permission
marketing is able to enjoy the highest response rate for several
reasons:
- The
targeting is razor sharp, since only those who have asked
specifically to see your products receive the ads.
- The
consumer is often eagerly awaiting your ad and thus more
likely to read it.
- The
ad does not come across as junk mail or spam.
- The
ad cuts through the clutter of all the other advertising
surrounding the consumer.
- You avoid the resentment factor consumers feel when they
are interrupted by advertising. They feel they are not being
"sold to" but invited to view an offer they want
to see.
Godin
also talks in his book about many related topics. He talks
about ways to maintain and guard the trust of permission consumers.
He specifically points out mistakes one can make that will
break that trust.
There
are also considerations in how you obtain the permission.
Often the permission is granted in exchange for a special
discount, a sweepstakes, a free giveaway, or some ongoing
savings plan. These are often called point systems.
One
example of a point system was the S&H Green Stamps program.
Today it often takes the form of rebates, frequent flyer miles,
or punch cards at a coffee shop. There is a fine art to using
the carrot to attract permission customers and to the care
and feeding of the customer in order to keep him or her.
Of course the concept
of permission marketing was popularized due to the widespread
problem of email spam. Permission marketing opts the reader
in to wanted email rather than having the reader opt-out of
unwanted mail. It protects the advertiser from being shut
down for spamming as well. It is a win-win situation.
I want to be careful
not to violate copyright laws here by going over too much
of Godin's work in detail but I very highly recommend his
book. Here is the Amazon link to it.
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