One of the buzz words of the last 10 years or so is “Permission Marketing”, a concept invented (and title of a book) by Seth Godin. Godin became famous as one of the first people to make the Internet work in the business world.
Published in 1999, his book is interesting in part for what is NOT in it. Google (then still a small upstart) isn’t even mentioned in the book.
But his basic idea is timeless and fascinating to me in the way it complements the Long Tail idea. Both are concepts empowered by technology. The Long Tail refers to getting rich selling a small amount to each of a lot of people, of a lot of products and/or in a lot of places.
That wouldn’t have been profitable or perhaps not even possible before digital technology. Amazon.com sells millions of titles. It may sell only a handful per year of some of them. Impractical and a money-loser if they had to store them all in a warehouse.
“Permission Marketing” is the idea of taking a prospective customer through a series of small, personalized steps from first contact to sale to loyal customer. Automated responses and customized messages – easy things to do in the digital age – make it possible. This strategy potentially multiplies the effectiveness of your advertising many times over.
Both concepts are worth looking over. Though perfect for large, well-funded start-ups, these strategies can be applied in many smaller businesses too.
For example, do you have a good website, that really introduces your company and products to a visitor, and gives them actions they can take short of purchasing? If you do, your advertising can then primarily sell people on going to your website. Your website takes it from there.
It’s a much more comfortable series of steps for many people, rather than going straight from ad to telephone.
We’ve documented a good website doubling the number of new patients a Doctor was getting. This is Permission Marketing at work.
Permission Marketing and The Long Tail
