It's a concept given birth by Seth Godin, president and founder of Yoyodyne Entertainment and author of Permission Marketing . In his book he expertly defines permission marketing as the natural successor to interruption marketing, that style of advertising where companies interrupt their prospects in their daily routines, TV, driving, etc., with an assault of continuous and often overlapping messages. The result of interruption marketing, he says, is that the customer retains only a miniscule amount of information and often no lasting impression. It works like this. It's a commonsense process, yet one that many find difficult to apply.
Many companies find nurturing an elusive concept and one that is initially hard to understand.
It's a bit easier if you think about it in terms of its highest purpose, which is to gain and keep permission from highly desired prospects and clients so you can educate, influence and finally serve them. Here's where the lesson of our childhood game comes into play. Just about every contact you make, every offer you extend to your key constituents on your company's behalf has the intention of ultimately persuading and influencing their purchasing decision. That includes letters, e-mails, gifts, bulletins, newsletters, promotional mailers, etc. Letters and e-mails can say the same things in less obvious ways.