To quote Smart Marketing Blog – “Cold-calling makes you a commodity”
Ryan Barton – author of said blog – has 5 tips for us to grow our businesses ethically and with longevity in mind…
Here’s number 1:
How to build business – tip number 1
“I’ve told you what I think about cold-calling, and how it can effectively destroy your brand. So instead of being (too) critical, here’s the first of five ways for you to give your business a boost in a responsible and professional manner.
1. Permission-based marketing
This was the soap-box for my initial comment/rant. Under the permission marketing umbrella, we only reach out to those people who expressed an interest in our product. They raised their hand, they said they want to know more. And unless they do that, we consider them off limits.
It may be tempting to take a customer’s email address and drop it into your email blast client, but unless they gave you permission to ping them with follow-up email marketing, we don’t do that. It’s easy, but it’s not right.
Here’s a few blatant examples of both the bad, and the good:
Bad – Buying a list of email addresses and auto-deploying an email
Good – Establishing sequential messaging based on buying cycle status
Bad – Poaching email addresses from web pages
Good – Establishing a list that’s 100% permission-based via submission
Bad – Putting business cards on random front doors and car windshieldsGood – Providing strategic content on request
If you’re concerned with the longevity of your business, if you’re looking for a long-term growth strategy, you need to utilize permission-based marketing. Ignore the overnight shortcuts, keep your business blinders on, and pound the pavement.”
So, do you agree with Ryan’s points? Are you careful about creating a permission -based culture within your marketing?
Are you using social media to reach out and find your potential customers by listening to what they are talking about and what they are interested in? Do you know what they are saying about your business and are you using  that information in your marketing strategy?
Do you use pinpoint marketing in your business by creating a message and then delivering it to potential customers who want to hear it?
Or do you have trouble seeing the point in all that – are you a scatter gun fan? Leave me a comment below and tell your thoughts…