Permission-Based Marketing

If you think about it carefully, the term “permission-based marketing” is almost an oxymoron. After all marketing is something we do to persuade someone who hasn’t heard about our product or has little interest in it that they should sign up and reap the benefits. And that’s why good marketeers are paid a fortune – to develop strategies and campaigns to win us over!

If marketing is permission-based then it is more akin to taking orders from a willing if not eager set of customers. Any marketing person worth his salt is going to shudder at the idea that his value lies in just order fulfilment, but if it brings the dollars in, then why not? Actually we think that this is the space that all the smart marketeers should be flocking to – and see it as our job to give the tools to do the job properly.

So the customer is on board – he is a willing buyer, not just now, but hopefully in the future. His focus needs to be on tools that help him ensure that the permission that has been earned stays that way. And this is where technology plays a key part.

Consumers want information about products and deals when they want it! And delivered in a way that suits them, be it physical distribution, or the appropriate digital method from a choice of multimedia. Perhaps email during the day – or via SMS in the evening, or chat whenever they are close to a PC. Not for us to dictate but for the consumer to choose.

Get used to the idea that the consumer is fickle, changeable and demanding – and be willing to communicate with him any which way, any time, using any media then permission sticks. The marketing job may not be as exciting as it was in the days of cold contacts, but it is certainly going to lead to a better bottom line.