“Stop interrupting, get permission for marketing” Seth Godin

“Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends into Customers” written by Seth Godin in 1999, is arguably one of the best business books ever written.

Permission marketing is a term popularised by Seth Godin (but found earlier) used in marketing in general and e-marketing specifically. The undesirable opposite of permission marketing is interruption marketing. Marketers obtain permission before advancing to the next step in the purchasing process. For example, they ask permission to send email newsletters to prospective customers. It is mostly used by online marketers, notably email marketers and search marketers, as well as certain direct marketers who send a catalog in response to a request. (Wikipedia)

Permission marketing (also called invitational marketing) envisions every customer shaping the targeting behavior of marketers. Consumers empower a marketer to send them promotional messages in certain interest categories. Typically, this is done by asking the consumer to fill out a survey indicating interests when registering for a service. The marketer then matches advertising messages with the interests of consumers.

Even though targeting appropriate customers has been recognised early on as a core marketing principle, most targeting today can best be described as “targeting on averages.” The advertiser obtains the average profile of the consumer (e.g., a marketer may identify the proportion of a show that meets a certain pre-specified demographic or behavioural category) and chooses, say, a TV show that matches the target consumer profile most accurately. This leads to low targeting precision since not all consumers match the profile. Since one-on-one marketing and relationship marketing both propose marketer-initiated targeting, several problems arise. For example, consumers receive an excessive volume of proposals for relationships with firms, they do not perceive control over the terms of the relationship and do not perceive much value addition from such relationships. As a result, these techniques breed consumer cynicism. This is especially a problem with the Internet because the marginal cost of sending an additional promotional message is nearly zero.

When you’re thinking about the benefits of using permission marketing it’s all about narrowing down your customer base to the people who will truly be interested in your product. You need to consider how this works on the most practical level. If someone gets on the internet and searches for garden supplies, there is no reason why you would want to discount jewelery to this person. Of course, the same person who searches for garden supplies might need jewelery at some point, but the trick is to wait until they search for the jewelery.

By reaping the benefits of using permission marketing you will be saving your company time, energy, and money. You will no longer be sending ads and catalogs to shoppers who have no interest in the product you’re selling. The money and energy you spend will be on the customers who might really come through. This is the first step in developing strong, intelligent bonds with your customer base.

Due to the pure logic and common sense of Permission Marketing, I have included many of the

principles into my own Perfect Marketing System (PMS).