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'Permission Marketing' Can Empower Consumers

Marketing guru helps companies avoid 'interruption marketing'

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 17, 2008
Consumers buy things and companies sell things – that's the way it's always been. But the transaction process seems to have gotten more and more unpleasant in the last few years.

Consumers are constantly bombarded by advertisements and marketing promotions. Aggressive sales people always try to "up sell," while some marketers push the envelope of legality, using negative option techniques to sell consumers products and services they don't want and never asked for.

For many marketers, the message they deliver is clear: "it doesn't matter what you, the consumer, want or need. Rather, it is what I, the business, need to sell to you."

Many consumers are simply "mad as hell and aren't going to take it anymore." And marketing guru Seth Godin has heard them loud and clear. Smart companies, he says, will change their ways. They'll make more money and their customers will be a lot happier.

Godin has coined the term "permission marketing," and in his book by the same name, he offers this revolutionary concept: just market to consumers who are actually interested in your product. Get a consumer's permission before you send them a marketing message.

He argues that when businesses advertise in magazines, direct mail, and on radio and TV, they are engaging in "interruption marketing."

Perhaps the most extreme form of interruption advertising is telemarketing. Consumers grew so sick of being interrupted by phone calls from salesmen that Congress created the Do Not Call list, allowing consumers to "opt out" of these calls. The fact that millions of consumers signed up almost immediately is perhaps testament to the extent of the brewing consumer revolt.

Godin has tapped into this anger, counseling business to treat consumers with respect. The payoff for business, he says, is being able to identify those who are truly interested in their particular product or service. He argues that it also is very empowering for consumers.

"Because I have the power to ignore the salesperson now," Godin told ConsumerAffairs.com. "I don't hear any pitch I don't want to hear."

He says consumers who give their permission are likely to pay more attention to the marketing messages they receive. He cites Amazon.com as a prime example of a company successfully using permission marketing.

Why wouldn't a business embrace permission marketing? Is it fair to suggest that businesses using Permission Marketing have a high degree of confidence in their product while those using more abusive forms of marketing do not?

"Confidence, plus humility," Godin said. "Exactly."

Godin didn't set out to be a hero to long-suffering consumers. Rather, he developed his concept to help businesses be more successful. Even so, he says he does hear from consumers who like the idea that sales people might not intrude so much into their lives.

"I get a lot of email," Godin said. "Generally, what's happened is that the bar is getting higher. Stuff that was okay five years ago isn't okay any more."

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