Permission marketing

Permission marketing is a term coined by Seth Godin¹ used in marketing in general and e-marketing specifically. The undesirable opposite of permission marketing is interruption marketing. Marketers obtain permission before advancing to the next step in the purchasing process. For example, they ask permission to send email newsletters to prospective customers². It is mostly used by online marketers, notably email marketers and search marketers, as well as certain direct marketers who send a catalog in response to a request.

This form of marketing requires that the prospective customer has either given explicit permission for the marketer to send their promotional message (e.g. an email or catalog request) or implicit permission (e.g. querying a search engine). This can be either via an online email opt-in form or by using search engines, which implies a request for information which can include that of a commercial nature. To illustrate, consider someone who searches for "buy shoes." Online shoe stores have the searchers' permission to make an offer that solves their shoe problem.

Marketers feel that this is a more efficient use of their resources because the offers are only sent to people that are actually interested in the product. This is one technique used by marketers that have a personal marketing orientation. They feel that marketing should be done on a one-to-one basis rather than using broad aggregated concepts like market segment or target market.

In the United Kingdom, an opt-in is required for email marketing, under The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. This came into force on the 11 December 2003.

Another form of permission marketing is in-stream advertising. This type of marketing involves the showing of an advertisement prior to and/or during an on-line video stream. This type of advertising allows originators of the video content to show their video in the highest quality versus other videos posted without consent. Among the different types of in-stream advertising are, standard fifteen to sixty second video advertisements, branded player skins, branded slates, survey ads, and even sponsored blocks of time. This type of marketing allows advertisers to reach a more specific audience that may be more receptive to their product or service. See Anderson School of Management project Promotions Channel: Permission Marketing

Notes

^ Godin, Seth (1999). Permission Marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85636-0.
^ Scott, David Meerman (2007). The new rules of marketing and PR how to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing and online media to reach your buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons, Inc.. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-470-11345-5. "...if you're asking for someone's e-mail address ... you must provide something equally valuable in return."

References

"Seth Godin: Agent of Change". http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/. Retrieved May 5, 2009. - official site
A Comprehensive Analysis of Permission Marketing