Permission vs. Interruption Marketing

Hello everyone!!!

This is my first blogging experience and since this blog is devoted to Digital Marketing subject I thought of writing my first blog about the Permission Marketing and the Interruption Marketing.

First we’ll look at what Interruption Marketing is

According to the Wikipedia, Interruption marketing is a pejorative term that refers to promoting a product through continued advertising, promotions, public relations and sales. It is considered to be an annoying version of the traditional way of doing marketing whereby companies focus on finding customers through advertising. This can take various forms such as, Telemarketing, Print advertising, Direct mail, E mail spam and television and radio advertisements.

Then what is Permission marketing?

Permission marketing is a term used in marketing in general and e-marketing specifically. Marketers obtain permission before advancing to the next step in the purchasing process. For example, they ask permission to send email newsletters to prospective customers. It is mostly used by online marketers, notably email marketers and search marketers, as well as certain direct marketers who send a catalog in response to a request.

Since there is a strong backslash consumers regarding this interruption marketing more companies have adopt this permission marketing to promote their brands. Here the information about the products is sent only to the consumers who are really interested about the product effectiveness and the response rate of this method is really high because consumers are receiving the information they are asked for. Permission marketing can be offered via the internet, telephone or through the direct mail. These high results of permission marketing can be further enhanced by utilizing database technology and well segmenting the consumer.

There are five steps in permission marketing.

1)  Obtain permission from consumer 

•  Permission is obtained mostly by providing incentives to the consumers such as information, entertainment, gifts or cash.

2)  Offer the consumer an ongoing curriculum that is meaningful.

3)  Reinforce the incentive to continue the relationship.

4)  Increase the level of permission

5)  Leverage the permission to benefit both the parties.

Permission marketing programs have the potential to built strong and ongoing relationships with customers when the program offers something of value to the customer. By featuring Empowerment and Reciprocity the results of the permission marketing can be optimized. Empowerment means consumers believe they have power throughout the relationship and not just the beginning when they agreed to join the program. In order to maintain the positive attitudes consumers should be given the instant rewards along the way. This creates the feeling of reciprocity. One mistake that most of the companies do is rewarding consumers only for joining the company’s permission marketing program. Empowerment and Reciprocity lead the consumer to believe the company values the relationship. This enhance the quality of the program and increases the chances that the consumer will remain an active participant in the program.

Permission vs. interruption marketing

• Permission marketing is more about getting found by customers. The main components of permission marketing include content, search engine optimization and social media.
• With permission marketing, the company is encouraged to build up a long term relationship with   customers which can be beneficial in the long run.
• It allows for a more targeted traffic on websites
• It increases the conversion rates.
• With technology, permission marketing is often considered to be more effective and less costly.
• Interruption marketing techniques are becoming less effective.
• Most people are more accustomed to interruption marketing and this often results in companies spending more of their marketing budgets on outbound marketing. To be able to gain additional advantages, some companies are combining both inbound and outbound marketing and making use of multiple channels to reach a larger audience.

The challenge for marketers

The challenge for marketers is to persuade consumers to volunteer attention - to "raise their hands”. “Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers”. “It’s not just about entertainment - it's about education."