Book Review: Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin is a must read for those who are in the marketing business or even those who are interested in creating a loyal customer base. Even though the book was published in 1999, which is pretty old in the business world (the case studies he mentions are outdated but the cautionary tale they tell is still worth a read),  the message of the book still rings true. In a nut shell, Seth Godin argues that a company’s future success and profits will come from “permission marketing” which is basically like an opt-in program for customers that span their whole lifetime with the company. It’s when potential customers agree to a an initial dialogue with the company that results in a meaningful relationship for both parties in the long run. The customer gets relevant information and offers and the company gets a loyal customer for life! Thus through direct marketing (ie. dialogue) you make your customers into friends who trust you.

Godin mentions some very obvious advice that a lot large companies don’t follow, unfortunately for them. For instance, companies should ensure that their websites are so easy to navigate, that a ten year old child can do it. The average person likes to feel like they’re above average, so if a website is making life difficult for them, then chances are, they’re never going to go back. Not too long ago, when I was looking at various hosts for this blog, I started with tumblr. The reason is because it kept popping up in my other social media channels so I decided to give it a go. Holy crap is tumblr impossible to navigate! I don’t know if it’s just me but I had such a hard time trying to figure things out that I just gave up on the whole endeavor. Some things that I couldn’t figure out how to do were simple tasks like search for specific usernames! I consider myself pretty internet savvy so when it took me over ten minutes to figure it out, I threw in the while towel and called it a day. Although tumblr is not exactly selling a product and I’m not paying anything for the service, they still lost some potential traffic.

Another good point he brings up is that companies that have permission from the customers should not, under any circumstances, sell their customers’ information to third parties, even if that means losing out on some substantial profit from those third parties. The reason is because once your customers’ know that you are basically whoring them to the highest bidder, they are not going to trust you anymore. This issue is becoming more relevant today with the advent of social media and cloud computing – which I will touch upon in another post in the near future.

With the advent of social media, this kind of marketing can really take off. Companies are now able to see who “likes” them on Facebook and follows them on Twitter, further allowing them to reach out to their customers and create some meaningful dialogue. Permission Marketing is reaching whole new heights with targeted ads and social media, marketers should educate themselves on this strategy in order to leverage the current customer base to gain information and ideas for acquisition strategies of new potential customers.

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LinkedIn Boot Camp

It amazes me how many people underestimate the power of social media. Most if not all the people I know are not using these amazing tools to their full potential and it’s such a waste. I even know a few people who don’t have any online presence (read: no social media accounts to speak of)! They don’t understand that this can actually handicap their employment potential, not to mention their social potential. But that’s another topic for another day.

With that said, your online presence is becoming more easily accessible with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and WordPress, just to name a few. Employers are quickly snooping you on Facebook or LinkedIn to see what kind of person you are and if they would enjoy working with you (you better ensure you have the highest privacy setting on Facebook if you haven’t already ;)!).  So, it’s importance is unquestionable. My communications class even required us to create a LinkedIn account as an assignment! . With so many mediums to choose from, I can understand where all the confusion stems from. But if I had to pick one that was the most important for my professional development, I would pick LinkedIn, hands down. Why? I will let the infographic explain (found via Pinterest)…

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60 Second Elevator Speech

If we were to meet on an elevator right now, I would probably just stare blankly straight ahead or at the TV monitor at the front that’s spewing out news bits and stock indices. I am, by nature, a very shy person. I did an informal personality test once (don’t you love those?) and it labelled me as a textbook introvert. So you can see why speaking to a stranger on an elevator would probably send me into a cold sweat and my heart to race. But since introductions are a must, let me give you my 60 second elevator speech, once I ever find the courage to actually use it one day – hopefully in the near future. (I’m working on my shyness, but more about that later!)

Currently, I am a post graduate student studying marketing at a local College in Toronto. Technically, I am only child between both my parents but I have 5 siblings between the two of them (3 on my mom’s side and 2 on my dad’s side). I got into the marketing game quite late since I am already a University graduate with about a year of work experience under my belt. The reason is that my mind is fickle, but as they say, “better late than never”. For a taste of how fickle my mind can be, when I started University was in the Business program, and then switched to Sociology, then Political Science, and then Philosophy, with the future goal of heading to law school. Once done my program I realized that Law School just wasn’t for me so I was back to the drawing board.

My decision to go into marketing, I’m embarrassed to say, actually originated from my interest in the show Mad Men. I was enthralled by the sheer variety of the work that was available. They can be working on a lipstick account one day and then an airline account the next day. The possibilities were literally endless and the only thing that was holding them back was their ability to achieve new accounts. Being a person who is fickle by nature, I was instantly attracted to the diversity that came with being in the marketing industry. Although Mad Men does focus on the advertising aspect of marketing, I wanted to know exactly what went on behind the scenes starting with the client themselves. With that said I signed myself up for the next enrollment at my local college and started the journey into the Marketing Industry this past January. With one term done, an internship at an ad agency scheduled for the summer, and one more term to go, I am excited about what the future will hold for me.

This blog is a way for me to archive my experiences and to critically think about my work by writing it all down, with maybe some self marketing thrown in the mix and an opportunity to make some valuable connections along the way.

Have you ever found yourself wondering what you were going to do with your life after finishing University? I would love to know your decision process!

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