Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
The man Business Week calls "the ultimate entrepreneur for the Information Age" explains "Permission Marketing" -- the groundbreaking concept that enables marketers to shape their message so that consumers will willingly accept it.
Whether it is the TV commercial that breaks into our favorite program, or the telemarketing phone call that disrupts a family dinner, traditional advertising is based on the hope of snatching our attention away from whatever we are doing. Seth Godin calls this Interruption Marketing, and, as companies are discovering, it no longer works.
Instead of annoying potential customers by interrupting their most coveted commodity -- time -- Permission Marketing offers consumers incentives to accept advertising voluntarily. Now this Internet pioneer introduces a fundamentally different way of thinking about advertising products and services. By reaching out only to those individuals who have signaled an interest in learning more about a product, Permission Marketing enables companies to develop long-term relationships with customers, create trust, build brand awareness -- and greatly improve the chances of making a sale.
In his groundbreaking book, Godin describes the four tests of Permission Marketing:
1. Does every single marketing effort you create encourage a learning relationship with your customers? Does it invite customers to "raise their hands" and start communicating?
2. Do you have a permission database? Do you track the number of people who have given you permission to communicate with them?
3. If consumers gave you permission to talk to them, would you have anything to say? Have you developed a marketing curriculum to teach people about your products?
4. Once people become customers, do you work to deepen your permission to communicate with those people?
And in numerous informative case studies, including American Airlines' frequent-flier program, Amazon.com, and Yahoo!, Godin demonstrates how marketers are already profiting from this key new approach in all forms of media.
Seth Godin, one of the world's foremost online promoters, offers his best advice for advertising in Permission Marketing. Godin argues that businesses can no longer rely solely on traditional forms of "interruption advertising" in magazines, mailings, or radio and television commercials. He writes that today consumers are bombarded by marketing messages almost everywhere they go. If you want to grab someone's attention, you first need to get his or her permission with some kind of bait--a free sample, a big discount, a contest, an 800 number, or even just an opinion survey. Once a customer volunteers his or her time, you're on your way to establishing a long-term relationship and making a sale. "By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message," he writes. "It serves both customers and marketers in a symbiotic exchange."
Godin knows his stuff. He created Internet marketer Yoyodyne and sold it in 1998 to Yahoo!, where he is a vice president. Godin delves into the strategies of several companies that successfully practice permission marketing, including Amazon.com, American Airlines, Bell Atlantic, and American Express. Permission marketing works best on the Internet, he writes, because the medium eliminates costs such as envelopes, printing, and stamps. Instead of advertising with a plain banner ad on the Internet, you should focus on discovering the customer's problem and getting permission to follow up with e-mail, he writes. Permission Marketing is an important and valuable book for businesses seeking better results from their advertising. --Dan Ring
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Good Marketing & Relationship Advice |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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"Permission Marketing" is a must read for those interested in marketing, business development, or just good old relationship advice. One of Seth Godin's older works, "Permission Marketing" sets the tone as well as establish a solid foundation for his future work. One may be tempted to pass this book up as it is dated in some respects, especially compared to recent marketing books - however the information contained within is vitally important to your success.
Marketing, as well as business in general is built upon relationships. Seth Godin likens permission marketing to dating - a solid personal or professional relationship is built slowly over time by gaining mutual trust and respect. It surprises me how many individuals and businesses miss the mark on this. One word of warning - after reading this book it becomes painfully obvious who hasn't. This should really be required reading - the world would be a much better place!
Once you've finished this book check out Seth Godin's other work - you won't be disappointed.
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| Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers gave me some good ideas, and a good perspective on marketing, but some of the information is dated. I also found some of the book unnecessarily repetitive.
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| Still Very Relevant |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Permission Marketing is a marketing timeless classic - a must read for all marketing students and professionals.
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| Conceptually right - but.... |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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Conceptually, doing 'permission marketing' is right on, but there are two faults with this book. (1) The examples are dated. This is being picky, since it was published several years ago, but I say this so you can go in with both eyes open. (2) There's not a really good blueprint here for how to implement permission offers for your own company.
I do like the analogy of permission marketing being like dating. It kept the concept understandable and identifiable.
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| Interruption Media is Dying |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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Update August 1, 2009: I found myself referring to the concepts in this book and my notes (I borrowed the book from my local libray) that I just had to buy a copy to mark up. It may have been written in 1999, but it was ahead of its time, and is very on-point for today's online marketer.
What I wrote in June:
This book may have been written in 1999, but the concept is still "fresh". Actually, it's fun to see how most of his predictions about "permission marketing" and the importance of the web have come to pass. (Don't expect an update of this book, per Seth's UK version intro.)
This book is part of my crash course in marketing; as a solo entreprenuer, I need to learn how to market on a shoestring. This book puts my head in the right place to develop my ideas further. Also recommend "Tribes" and "Free Prize Inside".
Good read, well worth my time.
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