Are you tired of intrusive advertising that interrupts your favorite shows or online videos? Seth Godin’s “Permission Marketing” offers a better way for brands to engage with potential customers. Instead of forcing ads upon people, this book reveals how you can create advertising that consumers actually want to see. In doing so, you can build a loyal customer base at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing campaigns.
Seth Godin, a renowned entrepreneur and author, introduced the concept of permission marketing in 1999, and its relevance has only grown in the internet age. This guide explores permission marketing techniques and shows you how many successful brands employ them today.
We’ll start by delving into the problems of traditional intrusive advertising, explaining why it no longer works in today’s changing landscape. Then, we’ll introduce the concept of permission marketing and its profitability in the modern marketplace. You’ll learn the mindset required to be an effective permission marketer and discover practical steps to launch a successful permission marketing campaign.
Our commentary will provide a comprehensive understanding of Godin’s marketing perspective, drawing from his other works. We’ll also offer additional insights from books like “How Brands Grow” and “Dotcom Secrets” to help you maximize the potential of permission marketing. Join us in revolutionizing your approach to marketing.
The Evolution of Advertising: From Intrusion to Innovation
For much of the 20th century, advertising thrived on interruption. Seth Godin, in “Permission Marketing,” describes this as “Interruption Marketing,” where ads vied for our attention, often disrupting what we genuinely wanted to focus on, be it a thrilling TV show or a scenic drive.
This disruptive advertising found success as companies, thanks to assembly lines and automobiles, began serving customers far and wide. Mass media, including radio, TV, and magazines, shaped public demand for their name-brand products, fostering trust in consumers’ minds.
However, this mass-produced, mass-distributed model had a downside: products became uniform, unremarkable, and uninspiring. To cater to the broadest possible audience, companies opted for bland offerings. Godin introduces the concept of “Purple Cows” – products that are exceptional and innovative, products that big corporations are hesitant to mass-produce. These unique products resonate with early adopters, who, in turn, promote them, enabling them to disrupt existing markets and compete with industry giants.
Now, why does intrusive advertising falter in today’s world? Three key reasons:
- Ad Oversaturation: The world is inundated with ads, making it easier for consumers to ignore most of them to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
- Diverse Media Consumption: With the internet and its countless options, advertising on a single website reaches far fewer people than 20th-century mass media.
- Good Enough Goods: Most brands offer products that are “good enough,” leaving consumers content with their regular choices and unreceptive to intrusive advertising.
These insights reflect a shift from intrusion to innovation in the world of marketing.
The Power of Permission Marketing: Building Trust and Relationships
Transitioning from intrusive advertising to permission marketing, we delve into what this new approach entails and why it’s so profitable in today’s brand-saturated landscape.
Permission Marketing Defined: Permission marketing is about delivering advertising materials directly to consumers who have requested them. It’s the antithesis of interruptive advertising, as it respects the consumer’s choice of when and what to pay attention to. For instance, when you subscribe to an online shoe store’s email list to receive exclusive discounts, you’ve embraced a permission marketing campaign.
This approach has roots in the way small local businesses used to operate, where a personal relationship with customers was vital. Today, the internet has made permission marketing more scalable and cost-effective, particularly through email campaigns.
The Profitability of Permission Marketing: Both intrusive advertising and permission marketing aim to build consumer trust in a brand. However, permission marketing offers a far more cost-effective way of achieving this goal.
Inefficient Intrusion: Intrusive advertising requires repeated exposures to a brand’s message before it sticks in the consumer’s mind. This repetition is costly and often wasteful. Initially, most consumers ignore these ads, and even when noticed, the message may not be understood or retained. Only after multiple encounters does intrusive advertising influence consumer behavior.
Permission’s Efficient Trust Building: Permission marketing, in contrast, doesn’t demand as many repeated viewings. Since consumers willingly engage with these materials, they pay attention to and digest them immediately. Moreover, permission marketing allows you to communicate your product’s benefits more thoroughly, as consumers are already interested in your message. This efficiency in building brand trust often leads to a rapid increase in sales.
Mindset #1: Building Long-Term Relationships: Every consumer relationship built through permission marketing is a long-term investment. The primary goal is to foster trust over time. Pushing for too much permission too quickly can backfire, causing customers to view your brand as less valuable and pushing them away. Consistently providing value and trust-building is key.
Mindset #2: Personal Data for Personalized Service: Permission marketing involves requesting personal information from consumers to offer them personalized service. This helps in tailoring messages and ensuring that offers are genuinely valuable. However, it’s vital not to sell or trade this data to other companies, as it erodes trust. Respecting customer privacy is essential.
While Godin’s predictions about the rise of third-party cookies in online advertising were accurate, his expectation of consumers abandoning companies that sold their data hasn’t materialized to the extent anticipated. Nonetheless, concerns about privacy have led to changes in the industry, with some browsers blocking third-party cookies.
Permission marketing is all about trust, respect, and personalized service, making it a powerful and cost-effective marketing strategy in the modern era.
Building Profitable Permission Marketing Campaigns
In the realm of permission marketing, specifics are key to success. Here, we outline the steps to create and profit from a permission marketing campaign, starting with building trust with your customers.
Step 1: Open Communication with Valuable Freebies The initial goal of a permission marketing campaign is to secure consumers’ permission to contact them directly. This might initially involve some intrusive advertising to grab their attention and prompt them to opt into your marketing channel, such as an email list. To incentivize this, offer something valuable in exchange for their contact information. The freebies you provide can range from product samples to helpful information that aligns with your brand. The objective is to attract your target audience.
Step 2: Build Trust by Pitching Your Product or Service Once you have permission to communicate directly with consumers, it’s crucial to use this channel to build trust in your brand. Send a series of marketing messages that emphasize how your brand can improve their lives. These messages should be engaging and provide enough value to retain their attention. Continue offering valuable content and freebies to keep them engaged and interested.
Step 3: Establish a Trust-Based Business Model Once trust has been established, various trust-based business models become available. These models can drive your company’s success:
Option #1: Subscription Model: The most valuable form of permission involves charging customers for goods and services they want without requiring explicit permission for each purchase. A recurring subscription model, where customers trust you to provide what they need, is the most profitable.
Option #2: Rewards Program: If a subscription model isn’t feasible, implement a rewards program. Points can be earned through purchases and actions that increase the likelihood of future purchases. Structure the rewards program to encourage loyalty, where points are most valuable to loyal, frequent customers.
Option #3: Personal Sales: For expensive goods and services, you can establish personal trust with customers. Reach out individually and build personal relationships, capitalizing on the trust created through personal connections.
Remember, authenticity and shared purpose are essential in building trust. By demonstrating shared values and beliefs, you can foster trust on a personal level. This can apply to personal sales, where aligning with the customer’s values can help establish trust.
These trust-based business models can be lucrative and make your brand a success within the permission marketing framework.
Burak Bakay 