The Internet's promise as a one-to-one marketing medium is starting
to be realized through Permission Marketing, which gets potential clients to volunteer
their attention. Permission Marketing on the Web is simply the best way to build
relationships with your site visitors and turn them into your customers.
To practice Permission Marketing on the Web, you would typically start
by making an offer. You could do this through your web site, via banner ads, or
through email to qualified third-party opt-in lists. The prospect would then
respond to your offer and give formal consent to receive that information or
incentive from you. (Incentives, such as a free trial issue of a magazine, are popular
among industries where sampling is the best way to get your target audience to experience
your product or service.) You should also provide an option for the client or prospect to
receive future offers that meet their needs.
Effective Permission Marketing utilizes opt-in email as the channel for
reaching a target audience. Opt-in email is not spam. Spam is unsolicited email, whereas
opt-in email is requested by a subscriber based on a value proposition to fulfill a specific
need or desire. That value proposition could be delivered in the form of a marketing
announcement, an online sweepstake contest, or an electronic newsletter. To understand what
form of communication will work best for your audience, it's critical to understand the different
motivations behind why people give their permission to receive information via opt-in email:
- Subscribers to announcements for specific categories of interest have a strong desire
to learn about that topic because of their hobby, passion, or lifestyle.
- Those who participate in online contests are generally willing to exchange a certain level
of personal information for the chance to win a prize of perceived personal value.
- Regularly published electronic newsletters that provide free value added benefits are
highly desirable for those who want to be informed, educated or entertained.
WHY IS PERMISSION MARKETING CRITICAL FOR ONLINE SUCCESS?
This provides an opportunity for a Permission Marketer
to offer valuable information using a "push" methodology. E-mail is still
the only truly effective push technology that marketers have to reach
their target audience on the Web. This opportunity is dramatically illustrated
in the results of a PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey in which over 83% of
respondents indicated that email is their primary reason for using the
Internet.
Two consistent criteria for what motivates people to buy on the Web are brand
awareness and discount pricing. Unless you're already a household name or you can consistently
provide the lowest prices on your market niche, you are going to have to create a unique value
proposition to engage your target audience in a meaningful dialogue.
A single opt-in email campaign, designed around the
needs of your target audience, will help you achieve measurable and profitable
results. Basically, Permission Marketers want the same thing their clients
want: honest and well-designed marketing offers targeted only toward those
who will appreciate and respond to them. Discounted rates are avalable
to re-blast your message.
1-800-DUNHILL (386-4455)
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