Can OnLine Ads Get Permission Marketing in the Mix

Seth Godin, back in 1999 wrote a book about Permission Marketing.  It represented new ways to market where the customer asked you in to the mix.

• For B2B this was revolutionary!

It downsized many sales teams and outbound call centers.

However, it pointed to a focal point, where getting the word for customers to find you was still hard to manage.

And yet we ended up with a burst of energy where new companies were formed and flourished.

• Seth reflected the impact of Web Search

Looking back Seth writes “The biggest impact of Permission Marketing isn’t that there is less spam. In fact, there’s more, because it’s so cheap. No, the biggest measurable impact is the growth of truly opt in marketing, from close to zero to a number big enough that we’ve all seen it and are part of it.”

What has happened is the” Opt Out” has made relentless sales methodologies a thing of the past.  That’s probably a good thing.

He does say in retrospect that I’d change is the emphasis on games and prizes over promises and connection and information. I think the latter end up scaling better and are more universal and reliable.

• Invitation Marketing

We would like to suggest that the next phase of online advertising is to make outbound marketing more like an invitation.  We all get invitations, and when we open them we determine our willingness to grant permission.

AdJumps is a communications client aimed at taking advantage of customer interest by changing the normal click through methodology with a cascading dialogue that allows the customer to jiggle the handle without being forced to choose to follow an ad.

This revolution is coming in various ways in the market.  Like many B2B opportunities, it’s impact is coming to consumer marketing as well.