Marketing Communications & Strategy

Permission marketing at its finest:

"May I have the next dance?"

A polite request to hold a pretty lady (or handsome gentlemen) in your arms while you sway together can create marketing communications at the highest level. But it has to start with permission.

It’s the same in today’s marketing arena as in the dance hall. Whether you sell products, programs or ideas, before you can get on the dance floor with your audience you need their permission.

Sure. You can shout at them and get attention, but they’ll only “hear” if they want to listen and ”see” if they want to look. Folks are tired of being annoyed. And a bigger ad spend is not the answer. You’ll just add more to the clutter.

I’ll be the first to agree that sometimes intrusive marketing is an easy way to get the lady to notice you, but it should be done with a touch of class. You can still be polite. Not stuffy polite. Just polite and nice. Empathetic polite.

I think Seth Godin was the first to coin the term permission marketing. He did it seven years ago when he published Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers. The growth of spam blockers and the use of opt-in email show he was right on with his message.

Here’s a tip you can use: Both big and little guys can find a ton of marketing ammo and insights on Seth’s blog at: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ He’ll even send you four FREE chapters of his book via email.