Putting all the pieces together

The current cacophony once upon a time, there were three TV channels. No cable, no Fox, no history or sports or movie channels. Bus stops and park benches were plain metal or painted green. Grocery store receipts just had prices, not extra coupons or additional offers printed on the back. And of course, way back then when dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was no Internet, much less blogs or YouTube or MySpace.

Things are a little different today, aren't they? We're fast approaching a Minority Report world where we'll have to pay extra to keep from having ads implanted in our dreams. Anything that might command our attention has an ad tacked onto it. Web sites, grocery store carts, buses, benches, cars. Even good old Sesame Street, once pristinely advertising-free, is loaded up now with "underwriting."  There are an awful lot of people trying to capture our attention. They might have a product or service to sell. They might have a worthy nonprofit organization to raise money for. Or they just might have a cool project that they want more people to know about.

The old expression "stop and smell the roses" has turned into "hang up and drive." So many people are doing so much multitasking that none of us has two seconds of undivided attention to devote to anything.  The response of the marketers who want that attention? Increase the number of ads and divide our attention further.

Every day it becomes more and more obvious that this situation is unworkable and insane.  The way out in 1999, Seth Godin wrote a mindset-busting book called Permission Marketing. Things were already insane then, just not as insane as they are now.  Godin had perfected a direct marketing technique that obtained people's permission to be marketed to. He convinced people to voluntarily sign up and find out more about his products. Then he created a sequence of communication to increase those people's comfort level, describe the product's benefits, and eventually convert those prospects into happy, loyal customers. Godin's particular combination of permission and multi-step communication has been adopted by millions of businesses, individuals and enterprises. It's hard to remember now that this was ever a groundbreaking idea.

This idea worked not because Godin is a genius (although he is pretty darned smart), but because the Internet lets us broadcast communication to as many people and as often as we like, essentially free. It actually works offline too--Dan Kennedy makes lots of money advising businesses to follow a similar line with direct mail. But it's cheapest and easiest to do over email or the Web.  This is extremely cool if your Spidey-sense isn't tingling by now, it should be.
Permission marketing lets you step out of all that advertising clutter and confusion and enter into a conversation. It's like stepping off of a noisy street and into a nice quiet courtyard. Permission marketing gives you time to introduce yourself, establish trust and rapport, and make yourself useful before you ask for something in return. In other words, it gives you time to develop a relationship.

It's also a great way to keep in touch with folks who aren't ready for your product or service yet. It lets you maintain a friendly connection until they're ready to do business with you.

How to create a permission marketing campaign A typical marketing campaign has a beginning, middle, and end. Permission marketing is different. You're going to create an ongoing meaningful relationship with your prospects and customers, which is both more satisfying and more profitable than constantly knocking on the doors of strangers.  The first step of a permission campaign is to provide something useful in exchange for your prospects' permission to contact them. For example, I provided this ten-part marketing tool kit in exchange for your email address and the attention you pay to these newsletters. You can offer free samples, a contest, a special report, an introductory discount--there are thousands of possibilities. Just make it something of real value. If all you offer is a free coke, you're going to get fifteen cents' worth of response.

Once you've won permission, stay in touch and don't make yourself obnoxious. Have you ever signed up for a free newsletter that did nothing but beg for your business three times a day? How long did it take you to unsubscribe?

Use your permission communication to give value, to provide helpful resources, and to make you useful. Think about the kind of person you want to do business with, and be that person. As far as vehicles, you can use postcards, email, paper or
electronic newsletters--whatever works for you. Email and the Web are nearly free, but snail mail is more likely to get read. Most businesses can benefit from using both. There are lots of resources out there that can walk you through how to execute any one of those.

Over time, you build great relationships with your prospects and customers, because you're coming to them from a spirit of giving, benefit, and helpfulness.

Keep the lines of communication open, keep offering value, keep measuring your results, and keep tweaking to make things perfect. You're going to achieve amazing success.