Still, it amazes me how many “professional” marketers overlook the permission part of PERMISSION marketing. I recently had a casual acquaintance add me to his newsletter mailing list without so much as a mention that he’d be publishing one. I’ve also had other marketers in the biz add me to their mailing list because my email is listed on a Web site and they just “KNEW” I’d want to get their stuff. Seriously?

I can totally relate to your pain and am glad that you shared this post with us. Hopefully, it will coach a few more ittybiz owners to a place where they have better email marketing manners. ;)

@ Julie, an email marketing handbook…. that could be a good idea…

@ Andy, Permission to comment granted. ;-) Mistakes are good. Mistakes are the best way to learn. It’s not a competition to see who can build the biggest list quickly. As Naomi has said previously (no, I can’t remember which post) you want YOUR RIGHT PEOPLE on the list. Not any email address that you can find, you want people who are truly interested in what you’re offering to be on your list.

Indeed, it’s truly Babautabian the amount of time you’ll save cutting out the spam driven detective work!

You’re scaring me here…. ;-) I think I’ll just leave that one alone, except to say that people find you, you don’t find them. Your ‘stuff’ goes out into the internet – that’s your Marketing – and then people come to you. The detective work should be focussed on where your target market is and how best to reach them, not how to grab their email address.

@ Scott, yes, an email straight after the Expo would have been a much better way to make a connection. There are ways to build your list ethically, have a look at Dave Navarro’s “More Buyers Every Month” program when it opens again http://www.morebuyerseverymonth.com/

I would imagine that an e-mail should have been sent as a follow-up from the expo. A simple nice-to-meet-you kind of e-mail. This e-mail could have had a simple link to the opt in form as a way to stay connected. Atleast you know that they can follow that link and give you their permission at that point in time. Since you must met, and did a follow up, I would assume someone might be more inclined to give permission at that point of time than 2 years later.

;) Sorry, just my silly POME humour.

I enjoyed your post, Melinda and I think it really shows you’re a seasoned hand at something which I’ve only started to learn this year, if I’m brutally honest, namely the permission marketing approach and how to leverage it by (staring and trying hard to) building the right social media presence.

Spam is a total off-pisser, but as an reformed spammer who didn’t know any better (my fault for being uninformed, of course) I can see why so many ittybiz owners (mine’s more ittybittybiz!) fall into the spam trap. Indeed, reading your post even had a few of my cringes cringing at some of my desperate Eeew-mail attempts as a one-man company sweating on the monthly payments; although I was never as stubborn or thick-headed as the foil in your story (honest!).

Why do I think the Ittybizer gets snapped up in the spam trap?

1. Being misinformed (your fault – the blue ‘e’ on your desktop and a bit of time will sort that out):

2. Fear (I get that!)

3. Desperation (sadly, we ALL get that)

This all leads to a massive thought-error. You know that you can impress if someone …anyone gives you a chance. At that point its not hard to end up wasting, TRULY WASTING hours and hours and HOURS trawling the Net for potential prospects’ contact details before embaking on an ignorant programme of self-harm resulting in an army of spam and masochistic cold-calling. That’s what the free, dusty old sales books from the library (another waste of time) and the era of Interruption Marketing swore would work!

But a Purple Cow and change of horse later (apologies, that’s a truly crippling metaphor) and I’ve learnt the valuable lesson which you’re sharing: quality not quantity.

Indeed, it’s truly Babautabian the amount of time you’ll save cutting out the spam driven detective work!

Thanks for your post!

I create and sometimes manage email marketing campaigns for clients. They ALWAYS have an opt-in sheet and a way to opt out.

This person you describe not only doesn’t get it, she is damaging her business reputation as well.

I would never even consider that!! I didn’t even realize there are some folks out there clueless enough to do that; you always want to keep your email marketing on the positive site and ideally, write so well your readers look forward to getting your messages.

You learn something new every day.

It’s just difficult to track down spammers in order to fine them or close them down.

@ Heather. Good on you! :-)