Email marketing is a direct pitch that encourages potential customers to take the next step in your cyber relationship. The email encourages them to make a purchase and will likely give several plausible reasons why a purchase may be beneficial and even desirable.



Other permission marketing ideas include free site memberships, ezines and ecourses. Let's take a look at each of these.

Free site membership – This can be online access to information or to interact with like-minded consumers. The consumer will need to view the membership as something worthwhile so you may seek to provide free gifts (a free sample, report or even an ebook) when customers sign up.

Ezines – These are regularly updated and are infused with meaningful and helpful content. This information is to be considered valuable to customers while resisting the urge to pander to the weak-willed.

Ecourses – These should be well-developed information that may read a bit like chapters in an ebook. You can, in fact, work to develop these courses into an ebook for other marketing prospects. The customer should come away from reading these reports or ecourses with the feeling that the inside information they received will either make them money or make them very proficient at using the product they have either purchased or may purchase in the future.

Many times the products sold have multiple uses. Your exploration of those uses in a free report can allow consumers to truly envision the total value of the product they purchased. Too often business owners simply allow consumers to figure it out on their own. A proactive approach using permission marketing can go a long way in establishing brand, instilling trust and motivating the consumer.

Email marketing should only be used with permission. Refuse the idea of blasting individuals who have never given you permission to contact them. This often results in hostility as well as reports of spam abuse.

When any of these permission-marketing strategies are used they should be infused with the belief that the trust between you and the consumer is sacrosanct and any violation of their trust will likely result in a lost customer and an angry advertiser.

What I mean by an “angry advertiser” is that this consumer will have no problem advertising for you, but it will not be advertising you want or need. It will be easy for this individual to recount the real or perceived violations of their trust. When you choose permission marketing you should only submit marketing material to those who have given you permission to do so. Make this a hard and fast policy now and resist the temptation to deviate from this directive.

“Permission” at its very core presents the idea of trust. The consumer presents enough trust to see if you will deliver on a promise where money is not involved. If you can be trusted to manage consumable information you may find that your diligence may result in paid orders from those who learn you can be trusted.