Seth on spam, spammers and marketers

I try to add value with each post, but sometimes you just have to "shrug and quote"...

Writing about a poor email solicitation from Forbes, Seth Godin notes that the outcome of any kind of spam (email, blog etc.)...

"...is that it eats away at your brand. If you don't have a brand, you might make some short term cash but it gets tiresome creating annoyance everywhere you go. If you do have a brand...you don't notice the brand erosion... until it's too late."

Very succinctly put. Of course, a common response is to say, "Well, I know that. But I don't send spam, so I'm OK."

None of us (I hope) are spammers in the traditional sense. But we need to acknowledge the ever-present possibility that some recipients could perceive us as spammers.

1. ...because the difference between a legitimate marketing email and a piece of spam is always a matter of perception.

2. ...because we now know that recipients consider unwanted solicited email to be spam, not just unwanted unsolicited email.

Once you understand that risk and the consequences of "spamming," then the need to pursue best practices becomes clear...even if less-than-best practices are still making money for you at the moment.

More on the basics | Tags: email marketing, permission marketing, spam

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