Permission Marketing by Seth Gordin Free Summary

Permission Marketing by Seth Godin (Free Summary) from YouTube

 

Transcript:

Introduction-   What’s in it for me? Learn how to do marketing better

The world is constantly bombarding us with commercials, special offers, and advertisements. And, if you’re like most people, this constant influx of ads is nothing but an annoyance you learn to tune out. So, how can today’s marketers break through the babble and buzz to actually connect with potential customers? Well, to start, they can stop interrupting.

This is the idea behind permission marketing, my model of advertising that’s all about enticing customers to willingly hand over their valuable time. These blinks outline the theory and practice behind this bold new approach. Listen on and you’ll learn why the traditional modes of marketing no longer fly and how actually honoring peoples’ attention is the real key to making a lasting impact.

Key idea 1 – The traditional model of mass marketing no longer works.

When you go out tomorrow, I’d like you to try and keep track of all the advertisements you come across during the day. You likely see dozens before you even leave the house. There’s promoted posts in your social media feeds; logos on your clothes and appliances; and, of course, that pile of junk mail on your kitchen table.

Outside it’s even worse. There’s billboards along the road, jingles on the radio, and, if you look up, maybe even skywriters putting taglines in the clouds. Our world is downright saturated with ads. Even by conservative estimates, we see thousands every day. But, unfortunately for marketers, most of them are completely ineffective.

We’ve simply learned to tune them out. Since the dawn of the 20th century, the marketing industry has largely adhered to one approach to reaching customers. This traditional model has companies vie for the public’s attention by jamming advertisements into everyday life. They place flyers in newspapers, put ad breaks in television shows, and put posters around town.

The goal is to have you stop what you’re doing and think about their product. I call this model Interruption Marketing. The problem is, Interruption Marketing doesn’t work anymore. There’s just too much advertising—no individual has enough attention to engage with all of it. Think of it this way, if you’re walking through an airport and one person asks for directions, you’ll likely have time to oblige.

Now, imagine if dozens, or hundreds, of people are trying to flag you down. You’ll have to ignore all of them or you’ll miss your flight! Of course, this hasn’t stopped marketers from trying. Companies attempt to keep the old, interruption approach working by throwing more money at the problem. They place more ads in more places or spend millions on new, flashy campaigns or increasingly high-profile stunts – Campbells Soup put ads on parking meters while other companies hired award-winning directors to make TV spots.

Yet, this just deepens the crisis. After all, if the problem is too much advertising, creating more and more ads will just further crowd the field. It’s a lose-lose game of diminishing returns. The more interruptions you create, the less effective they’ll be.

Key idea 2 – Interruption Marketing no longer works, but Permission Marketing does.

Let’s say you want to get married. Great! Now, all you need is a spouse. What’s the best way to go about finding a partner, and, crucially, how do you get them to that fateful “I do”? Well, if you’re an Interruption Marketer, your approach would look like this: First, you’d spend heaps of cash on an expensive suit, flashy haircut, and bouquet of flowers.

Then, you’d hit up every singles’ bar in town to propose to each and every patron. Would it work? Nope. A better approach would be more like dating. You’d use your charms to entice potential partners into spending some time with you. You’d go on a few dates, really get to know each other, then you’d pop the question.

Essentially, you’d build a mutual relationship. In our economy, commodities gain value when they’re both desired and scarce. Any product, from raw materials like gold to consumer goods like cars, are worth the most when many people are after a limited supply. Given this, the most valuable assets for today’s marketers are people’s time and attention.

Even the wealthiest people on Earth only have a finite stockpile of these essential goods. The main flaw of Interruption Marketing is it tries to take people’s time and attention for free. Understandably, most people are reluctant to comply. A more effective approach is to entice potential customers into voluntarily giving some of their valuable attention to your company.

This is the idea at the heart of Permission Marketing. In this model, companies don’t just force customers to listen to a pitch, instead, they make customers want to listen. Permission Marketing asks people to opt-in to the marketing process. You invite the customer to willingly spend time with your company in exchange for tangible benefits.

This could be entertainment, information, or even free products or services. Once you have this buy-in, you can take your time to make your pitch. Because your customer chose to listen, they’ll be more open to considering your offer. Yet, this initial exchange is just the start. Just like dating, the goal is to build a relationship over time.

A savvy Permission Marketer will continue forging a bond with customers through an ongoing dialogue. You’ll inform them more about your products, they’ll share more about their preferences, and over time, they’ll become a loyal customer. It’s an investment, but it’s worth it in the end.

 

Key idea 3 – Permission Marketing turns interested strangers into loyal customers.

Hooked on Phonics wants to help your kids. At least, that was the gist of their very successful advertising campaign. You see, this company sold educational materials designed to teach children basic reading skills. But, in order to make sales, they first had to reach parents about their products—and they did that through Permission Marketing.

Hooked on Phonics’ ads didn’t pitch their courses directly. Instead, they asked for permission to start a dialogue. They invited parents to sign up to receive free information about childhood literacy. Then, they sent interested families brochures describing how Hooked on Phonics could enhance their children’s education.

Since parents requested the materials, they were already receptive to the message. From there, the sales were easy. Back in the early 90s, marketing experts Don Peppers and Martha Rogers had a realisation. Companies were wasting money by constantly trying to acquire new customers. They argued that businesses could reap larger profits if they instead fostered the customer relationships they already had.

After all, it’s easier to sell more products to existing customers than it is to convince a new customer to buy their first item. Permission Marketing builds on this idea, but pushes it further. With Permission Marketing, you start building relationships with people before they even become customers. Then, you nurture that relationship.

After the first sale, you continue asking for more and more permission to sell more and more products. The more you interact, the easier the sales become turning strangers into friends and friends into customers

Consider Amazon. Amazon starts its relationship with customers by offering retail products at very low prices—sometimes even at a loss! In return, the company asks permission to track customers’ browsing and buying habits.

With this access to a customer’s details, the company can make more personalised and relevant offers tailored directly to each person’s needs. The more permission the customer gives, the more accurately Amazon can anticipate their needs. This type of relationship compounds over time. Nurturing that first hint of interest into a first sale unlocks a whole host of future sales down the road.

So, it’s essential to cultivate that relationship from the start. First, catch your customer’s interest, then, offer a no-cost opportunity to engage with your company more. The more frequently and thoroughly a potential customer interacts with your marketing team, the more likely they are to become a loyal customer.

Key idea 4 – Permission Marketing excels by building trust over time.

Happy anniversary! You and your spouse are celebrating ten happy years together. To mark the occasion, you want to buy them an elegant necklace. Now, where should you go to pick up this new bling? Well, you could go to the family-owned jewelry store downtown.

They’ve been there for generations. But, there’s also a guy selling discount jewelry from a briefcase on the corner. Opt for him and you could save some dough. Obviously, you pick the established business, of course you do. That way, you know you’re getting the real deal, and not some counterfeit junk

Like all customers making important purchases, you always feel better going with the people you trust. Trust is the bedrock of any successful business. It’s the reason people pay a premium for name-brand goods and companies hire consultants from stalwarts like McKinsey and not some flashy new start-up. Everyone wants to feel confident they’re getting a quality product.

But, where does trust come from? As it turns out, trust is highly dependent on familiarity—and familiarity comes from frequency. The more consumers experience your brand, the more likely they are to remember it and to trust it. If you see a TV ad once, there’s only a ten percent chance you’ll recall it in the morning.

In fact, according to marketing guru Jay Levinson, a person needs to see an ad 27 times before they really catch the message. The challenge is that reaching consumers frequently enough to build familiarity and trust is difficult. In the old Interruption Model, this usually required dumping tons of money into blanket advertising.

To ensure enough people saw your ad enough times, you had to run the same ad, over and over, for weeks on end. And that only delivered a very superficial message. Permission Marketing offers a more efficient and effective solution. When you earn a consumer’s permission to market directly to them, you gain the opportunity to communicate with them again and again over time.

That’s the ideal setup for building trust. Not only that, because the customer is willingly paying attention, you can deliver more nuanced and information-rich messages. Instead of hammering in a quick tagline, you can teach a whole curriculum. This sustained relationship will connect you to customers in a much more intimate way than even the most pervasive ad campaign and that means more sales

Key idea 5 – There are different degrees of trust and familiarity, and each comes with their own privileges and boundaries.

Your best friend can get away with a lot. They can dole out unsolicited advice on your intimate relationships. They can playfully tease you about your quirks and foibles. Maybe they can even drop by your home unannounced—some might even be allowed to let themselves in without knocking. However, if your colleague, or worse, a stranger, tried the same thing, it’d be a different story.

You might look into changing your locks. Not all relationships are equal. There are different degrees of trust and familiarity, and each comes with its own privileges and boundaries. Permission Marketing works the same way, and businesses with the most permission reap the most rewards. You can think of permission like a ladder with different rungs representing different levels of access.

Down at the bottom rungs are low levels of permission. These strata afford some perks, but have limits, too. For instance, there’s situational permission. This is the fleeting permission you give to a salesperson in a store. They can ask if you’d like help right then, but they can’t knock on your door tomorrow with more sales pitches.

Alternatively, the highest level of permission is intravenous permission. At this level, the customer gives a business complete authority to make purchases on their behalf. A book of the month club, a weekly meal-kit delivery program, or any similar subscription model works on this level. Once a customer signs up, the business can send them any product they select and charge a preset fee all without asking for approval each time.

This level of permission is the holy grail for marketers because it ensures a steady stream of income in perpetuity. However, it’s important to remember that such a high level of familiarity and trust shouldn’t be abused. Remember, permission is selfish and temporary. Customers only grant this prerogative when it works for them.

They can revoke it at any time. Businesses must work to keep their offerings relevant and high-quality to keep the customer coming back. Because permission is such a valuable commodity, businesses will try to get it the easy way—buying it. Consumer data like shopping habits and personal preferences fetches a high price.

Though, real permission is non-transferable. Simply having this information isn’t so useful without the real relationship to put it into use. So, it’s best to gain your customer’s permission by actually investing time and effort to earn it.

Key idea 6 – The internet is the perfect environment for Permission Marketing.

The internet is not television. It seems obvious, yet somehow, so many major companies, marketing firms, and advertisers forget this basic fact. It’s not a small mistake either—confusing these two mediums can lead to lots of wasted time and money. The difference is that TV is a broadcast medium. There are only so many channels and the majority of viewers only tune into a few of them.

On the other hand, the internet has millions of websites—so many that the average web surfer most likely won’t visit yours. And, if they do, they probably won’t come back without a good reason. So, while buying ads on TV might easily reach millions, your website won’t. Luckily, if applied correctly, Permission Marketing can solve this problem.

So, how can a Permission Marketer make the most of the internet? Essentially, they’ll take an active approach to engaging with potential customers. An Interruption Marketer will buy a bunch of pop-up ads and call it a day. In contrast, for a Permission Marketer these eye-catching announcements are only the first step, the initial investment in a longer process.

Let’s see how it works. Remember, the first step of Permission Marketing is getting that initial buy-in from the consumer. So, a Permission campaign starts with an enticing offer to coax potential customers into opting in to future communications. This could be as simple as running banner ads promising information, discounts, or freebies in exchange for an email address.

The goal here is to have strangers volunteer to become friends. Once you have that contact info, your campaign really kicks into high gear. Now, you can start a dialog. Directly email your customers with additional information, offers, and sales from your company. You can even begin asking for further permission to collect info on your customers demographics, preferences, and buying habits.

This data lets you further tailor future emails to be more effective. Test and experiment with various offers and phrasings to see which have the highest response rate. If done correctly, you’ll build a very accurate profile of each of your customer’s dispositions and desires. Your future communications will be so in tune with their preferences, they’ll begin looking forward to seeing your brand in their inbox.

Just imagine it—thousands of people opening your emails each week, each eager to see which new offers you’re presenting today.

Key idea 7 Every business can benefit from a well-executed Permission campaign.

Each year, this small kosher catering company makes the same mistake. Toward the start of spring, they pay a hefty sum to run an ad in The New York Times.

The spot promotes their “Kosher for Passover” special and lists the entire menu in tiny lettering. Unfortunately, this Interruption approach is always a bust. First, the vast majority of Times subscribers don’t celebrate the holiday, so the message is lost. And next, those who do aren’t going to drop everything to place an order based on one cluttered ad.

Imagine if they took a Permission approach instead. They would spend all year collecting contact info from practicing Jewish families, then when Passover rolled around, they could send beautiful, enticing menus directly to those most likely to order. Now that would work! The beauty of Permission Marketing is its versatility.

Almost any business, both online and off, can adapt the Permission framework to suit their unique needs. Let’s take a look at how a few companies, ranging from small operations to huge multinationals, have leveraged this approach to create a whole pool of loyal customers. First, meet Zygi Szpak, a handyman who’s developed a foolproof system for his business.

First, Szpak meets potential clients by word-of-mouth. Then, he gets permission to do a small job by offering well-below market rates. After he’s wowed the client with his skill, he asks permission to tour the property and identify other things he can fix. He always finds plenty to do, and the client is happy to pay—suddenly, one small job has turned into a steady workflow.

Now, on a larger scale, there’s American Airlines. This massive travel company uses its AA advantage program as a Permission Marketing tool to great effect. Travelers join the program in exchange for a few discounts. Each member gets a unique number used to track their travel habits and preferences. Then, the company uses this info to send further targeted offers.

The more people fly, the more offers they get. When considering how Permission Marketing can aid your business, start with the basics. What can you offer to gain the first customer opt-in? What further information and permissions will you ask for down the line? And, ultimately, how deep do you want your relationship to be? Who knows, maybe you’ll achieve intravenous permission.The only way to find out is to try!

Final Summary The main message in these blinks is:

The traditional model of marketing is all about interrupting a customer’s daily life with flashy, one-size-fits-all advertisements. This is both ineffective and annoying! Permission Marketing is different. In exchange for perks, potential customers opt-in to receive more relevant and personalised communications from your business.

Over time, this communication develops into a dialogue that builds familiarity and loyalty. By giving you permission to market, customers get better offers and you get happier customers.

Actionable advice: If you want to apply what you just learned, here’s a challenge for you: people LOVE a little entertainment, so try enticing your customers to give you permission with a game of trivial or chance.

You’ll be surprised by how willing people are to give out their email address for a shot at a prize.”