Permissive Marketing and the Internet

Marketing is a contest for people's attention. Thirty years ago, people gave you their attention if you simply asked for it. You'd interrupt their TV program, and they'd listen to what you had to say. You'd put a billboard on the highway, and they'd look at it. That's not true anymore. The average consumer will see or hear 1 million marketing messages - that's almost 3,000 per day. No human being can pay attention to 3,000 messages every day.

The interruption model is extremely effective when there's not an overflow of interruptions. But there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore. So our natural response is to ignore the interruptions.

What's the alternative?
Interruption marketing is giving way to a new model called permission marketing. The challenge for companies is to persuade consumers to raise their hands - to volunteer their attention. You tell consumers a little something about your company and its products, they tell you a little something about themselves, you tell them a little more, they tell you a little more - and over time, you create a mutually beneficial learning relationship. Permission marketing is marketing without interruptions. You still have to get people's attention in the first place, of course, and that still costs lots of money. But that's the beginning of the story, not the end. You have to turn attention into permission, permission into learning, and learning into trust. Then you can get consumers to change their behavior.  Mass-market advertising helps companies talk to strangers. Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers. It's not just about entertainment - it's about education. Permission marketing is curriculum marketing.

Why would people be willing to give companies 'permission' to talk to them?

Permission marketing is built around rational calculations by both parties.

Look at it from the customer's perspective:

People have money to spend on products. What people lack are the time to evaluate products and the trust in the companies that make them. The first rule of permission marketing is that it's based on selfishness: Consumers will grant a company permission to communicate only if they know what's in it for them. A company has to reward consumers, explicitly or implicitly, for paying attention to its messages.

That's why the Net is such a powerful medium. It changes everything. You can use email to communicate with people frequently, quickly, and unobtrusively - so long as they've given you permission to do that.

 Now look at it from the company's perspective:

One of the problems with interruption-based marketing is that you have to assume that "no" means "no" - when    , in fact, it usually means "maybe." If people see a TV commercial and don't buy your product, or get a piece of direct mail and don't respond, you assume that they've rejected your offer. It's simple economics. If you send 100 people a letter and only 2 of them become customers, the cost of asking the other 98 why they didn't is exactly the same as the cost of contacting them in the first place. So you move on to the next batch of prospects. 

What's so magical about the Net is that the cost of talking to the "no's" more than once is minimal. With email, frequency is cost effective. You can keep communicating with people, keep teaching them, and keep trying to turn them into customers. And it doesn't cost you a lot. That's so important. If you want to change behavior, you have to talk to people over and over again.

Source: FastCompany.com -By William C. Taylor

Phorsite Partners has the perfect platform for businesses to gain that “permission” from their customers. 

It’s called The Free Calling Club! Customers get up to 60 minutes of World-wide long distance when they visit the business’ website and download the dialer that will enable them to make the free calls. In return the business will receive the customer’s basic information that will be converted as an entry in their database.  The business can now create and maintain a dialogue (via permissive email marketing) with their most valuable asset, their customer!

Based on an actual test of e-mail newsletters sent by Selling Communications Inc. sent to a permission-based audience versus a targeted list of individuals.

These numbers should come as no surprise. It stands to reason that people who want information are more likely to open the messages and respond if the information addresses their needs or desires. Getting people to engage and read your communications doesn’t guarantee that they will buy, but it’s an important first step to target your most likely prospects. The more people who view your message, the greater your opportunity to generate response.      

Source: sellingcommunications