How “permission marketing” got hijacked
October 9th, 2006Seth Godin published his book “Permission Marketing” in 1999 and challenged the way we think about gaining and keeping customers. In a nutshell, it argues that the traditional ways of marketing and advertising are not sustainable; we are exposed to so many messages every day (up to 3,000 a day, from magazines, televisions, radio, email, billboards, telephone, etc, etc) that we simply switch off.
90% of these messages are irrelevant to our needs or interests. We didn’t ask to be interrupted when we are watching a TV show, surf a website or flick through a magazine. We find it intrusive, anoying, boring.
So our response is to switch off. To filter out. To avoid anything that even smells like a “sales” message. The information age and technology means that we can quite literally do this: filter email, screening telephone calls and even television through services like TIVO. And if we can’t phyically switch it off, we do it mentally anyway. In essence, the power is shifting from the marketer to the consumer.
The alternative is to put the focus (and therefore money and time) into building relationships with highly targeted groups of people; anticipated, relevant and personal communication. It’s about building relationships on your customers terms, not yours.
So what happens when you ask about “permission marketing” to someone involved in marketing now?
I bet they will only talk about email. About “opt-in” lists and buttons on websites. The meaning has been hijacked by “old school” direct marketers who, under pressure from SPAM legislation, were forced to put a facility on their email or website that gives customers some legal protection against pestering.
Not because they think it is good for business, but because it is required by law.
It’s a shame, because the idea is a lot bigger than that.
