Do I Have Your Permission?

Are you the kind of person who likes to bother people?

No - of course you're not.

Do you like people who bother people?

Probably not.

So why would you consider bothering strangers by sending them a mass e-mail without their permission?

It's easy to send bulk e-mail, and there's nothing really preventing you from doing it. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Think of the other messages you're sending about yourself aside from the one in your fancy HTML e-mail.

1. Respect. Sending a bulk e-mail to someone you have no real connection with sends the message you think you're more important than they are. It takes no time to send an e-mail to someone you don't know. It takes time for them to decide whether it's junk or not. You're interrupting them and wasting their time which is not a sign of respect. If someone did this to you in another context you'd likely get annoyed.
   


2. Work ethic. When you take the time to build a permission-based list, you're doing things the "hard" way. You're offering something of value to your audience and you are rewarded when they CHOOSE to sign up to your list. Message after message you send to that list contains enough value that they remain subscribers and you are rewarded for that effort when subscribers buy from you or tell people they know to choose you as a supplier they can trust.
   
   Sending bulk e-mail takes very little work. You haven't built a relationship built on value with your audience and they know it. Your spam campaign might generate some results, but you lower your credibility and damage your reputation with everyone else who doesn't respond.
   


3. Quality. Think about the other things pushed on bulk e-mail. Flaky investment schemes. Lottery scams. Libido (and other body part) enhancements. Porn.
   
   Do you really want to be lumped in with the rest of the companies that use spam to push their products? I know - you're using spam to let people know about your wonderful product or service and you have no other way of reaching them. However, since you're sending e-mail flogging your business to people who don't know you, how are they to know you're a legitimate business and not some fly-by-nighter? Spamming your list regularly isn't a way to show you're a stable company either.

A list built on permission is a great asset. People have chosen to give you their attention instead of you begging and pleading for it. This is why I'm a fan of blogging and permission-based e-mail marketing. The value you get out of them depends on the value you put into them. Think about that the next time you are tempted to use spam. In the long run it will likely do more harm than good.

Better Isn't Better When . . .

• nobody knows about it;
• the "betterness" isn't obvious;
• the "betterness" isn't communicated.

A story from a client about two organizations in his industry.

Organization #1 is a non-profit, has high standards and to achieve certification, you need to demonstrate extensive knowledge and put in a couple of years of study.

Organization #2 is a for-profit company that will certify anyone who can pass the organization's online certification test. It was demonstrated on television that a 12-year old with no industry knowledge could pass the test. The certification therefore requires next-to-no industry knowledge and virtually no time investment.

#1 has a small marketing budget due to its small membership. #2 has a large marketing budget because of its large membership.

To make things more interesting, because of government regulations, #1 can not say anything overtly bad about #2.

Despite the fact that individuals certified by #1 are arguably "better" than those certified by #2, the general public doesn't know that. The marketing of #2 is far superior to #1's efforts, so #1 is generally ignored.

Imagine having a root canal performed by person with no training. Ouch - with LOTS more ouches to come.

Imagine the same root canal performed by a professional dental surgeon. Ouch - but a much better probable outcome.

If masses of under-qualified individuals marketed dental surgery better than professional dental surgeons, which would you choose? Would you still choose the professional? Not doing so would be ridiculous. But what if you couldn't tell which was which? That would be scary.

Yet every day, consumers choose companies that have an industry certification that is essentially meaningless, largely because #2's better marketing drowns out the efforts of #1, which has a better "product".

Organization #1 has a serious problem - and it's primarily a marketing issue. More awareness. More focus on creating a compelling story on WHY their certification is better and why, by extension, their certified members are the best in the industry.

The good news: things can change - if organization #1 and its members get passionate about what they do.

They need to tell a better story, tell it to more people, and tell it because they really CARE. Who cares more - the person with several years training and the certification that demonstrates their capability to do the best possible job or a person who took an online course that virtually anyone could pass?

The sad thing is, the story I've told could describe ANY organization in any unregulated industry. Ignorant buyers - beware.