Permission marketing: turning strangers into friends, and friends into customers by Seth Godin

Xavier Savage
Nov 14, 2019
5 min read

Why should you read permission marketing?

Permission Marketing is about 20 years old.

The information contained in this book, is still relevant today, interrupting and bombarding potential consumers with your message doesn’t work. With out permission, we feel annoyed, thing of the friend who tags you and fifty other people in a post they found interesting.

Interruption marketing is Dead, permission marketing is alive and well

Most of us, maybe aren’t old enough, or weren’t using the internet to the capacity we do now. But at risk of sounding older than I am, back in the day there was no spam folder, or unsubscribe button and those emails would dominate your inbox.

That is by definition the worst form of interruption marketing. We still see interruption marketing with spam dm’s on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with random people offering their unwanted services to us. Or tagging us in something trying to push or sell their products or shady offerings.

Permission marketing is a must read, because we still have friends, who will tag all of their friends in one message or post and that is the depth of their marketing plan, and expertise.

confronts the conflicts and challenges that modern marketers face in the digital age and offers a viable alternative. It explains how the advertising landscape is filling up and how this makes traditional advertising ineffective. The author suggests that smart marketers no longer simply interrupt consumers but invite them to volunteer their time and become active participants in the marketing process.

Interruption marketing is fine, in certain places, or at certain times, like when promoting movie, or live event, placing ads near the place may work. But I’ve moved away from traditional marketing, I was literally hanging up posters, mailing flyers and leaflets, as well as papering car windows , with my personal training flyers, 9 years ago.

At the time the gym I was working at just opened so I created a buzz in the area, 3 years later the fan fare died, so it became more and more unwanted and annoying.

I would spend money both online, and with print media, and even back then I did both forms of marketing, knowing that online marketing was cheaper and better. Why did I continue to market both ways? Simply because I wanted to cast a big net, even though I did I wasted money as well.

With permission marketing I was giving people incentives and reasons to follow me, with interruption marketing I was annoying and trying to capture the attention of thousands, hoping for the occasional I saw you on a bill board, and than I logged on to Facebook and saw you, so now I wanna buy training guy or gal.

You want them to come to you

If you build it they will come, with permission marketing, if you build it, and leave bread crumbs they will come.

Examples of permission marketing

You go to a clothing site, and you are about to leave, and they offer you a 20% code, for your email
Some new author, claims his book is the best, and will exchange the first 3 chapters of his book, for your email.
At fitness conventions, Rivalus gave out their protein, a dope shirt, and a bunch of supplements for an email. I still buy from them today because of it.

In each case the reasoning for giving up my email was different, but the logic behind giving up my email for gifts, is why each company succeeds in their marketing endeavor.

Anything less in terms of marketing is insanity yet, we have newbies and oldies who still expect people to just buy because they said so.

In perennial seller Ryan Holiday, discusses how Kevin Hart captured emails during his shows, in the early stages of his career, and it helped him build a brand, that we know and trust.

Permission marketing is the reason we will go the distant, to purchase items, after we see the value, of the free item, We are more comfortable purchasing the full item.

Consent is key

Without Consent, you risk being sent to the spam folder via email, and blocked or unfriended via social media.

You may have to use interruption marketing tactics in the beginning to garner attention, but if you are targeting the right audience and core group, with a remarkable product all with be forgiven.

Permission marketing, requires you to appeal to your idea consumers self interest, remember we all say “w.i.i.f.m” or “Whats in it for me” when considering any product or service.

This is why even when YouTuber’s and other social media influencers, put out a like of great viral like content for free in the beginning, before dropping the capitalist hammer on its audience neck.

And it works, we know this movie reviewer, criticizing others in his field for selling cheesy t-shirts, is waiting of his subscriber count to hit a certain number before he starts marketing to his audience.

Even though this is dishonest, we as consumers, allow this form of permission marketing to occur because we recognize this pattern.

The long Game is what needs to be played

A lot of people follow the same cheesy tactics, to market, which is why this book holds so much relevancy today, you have to be willing to build a dialog with your clients and converse over a long period of time in order to gain a true tribe.

Pay your dues | The Summary

It cost’s to run ads and it costs aw little bit more to run permission marketing based ads because you are trying to reach the masses, with a message, that will place in the category of being a household name, Which in the long run will make it easy to sell and reach the same demographic in the future, if you sow your seeds, properly today.

If this is your first Seth Godin book I would have to rank my top 5 as follows:

Permission Marketing