Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers

Overall the book raises some good points with regards to developing open dialogs with both existing and potential customers. The book definitely could have been summarized in fewer chapters. Some of the cases cited were great examples of developing interest in a product or service that definitley displayed excellent built in follow up mechanisms. However, since the jest of the book leaned towards the use of the Internet and e-mail as a marketing vehicle the case studies did not necessarily match the vehicle for outreach he was promoting. The book also left one feeling that unless games and sweepstakes were involved the Internet campaign would not necessarily be successful (I may be stretching this view point a bit but it's the impression I left with). Sweepstakes do not work within some arenas. Finally, what I was expecting was some strong advice on Intenet marketing but I felt more like I was getting a sales pitch as to why the firm I worked with should consult with Godin's firm. Perhaps an excellent method of permission marketing! But with any good book I did leave with a few good ideas I could replicate. If I increase my sales from the points of this book it will definitely be well worth the cost.

This sort of marketing has been around for a long time, it's just Seth invented the name. I find that this book needs more substance. What's in it for me? What are the take-aways? There are way better marketing books out there.

I was not satified with the shipping procedures. I rec'd my book 3 weeks after the debit to my account which I must say was an immediate transaction and I can't understand for the life of me why it would take 3weeks for a package to ship within the United States. I must say that the customer service department responded quickly to my email regarding my concerns, but I doubt that I will ever order from the Depository again without reading the fine print.
P.Sullivan
Fishkill, NY

Although originally published in 1999, Permission Marketing continues to be highly relevant. It's a particularly important read for marketers who "grew up" in the pre-Internet world where marketing was about interrupting a consumer during her TV show, her drive (billboards), her reading (print ads). Whether you were classically-trained or grew up in the Internet marketing era, you'll find this an excellent foundation for all modern-day messaging

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers While the book is showing it's age, it's also still vitally needed by marketers of all levels.

One of my friends has an electric car. The place he bought it for, the place that has his contact information, the place that KNOWS he bought an electric car, sent him a coupon for an oil change. Think about it. In an era where big data is a thing, where Target is capable of knowing your daughter or wife is pregnant before you do, we have a car company sending someone a coupon for a service that they cannot use on a vehicle that was sold to them by the same people sending the coupon.

Permission Marketing has a long way to go and for companies to be successful, has to be embraced at all levels.

Seth Godin has amazing experience and insights. The only problem is that when I consider buying his books I find that in my perception, as with this one, is they are usually 1% incredible insights that will change your life and 99% fluff about that one idea without generally going into tangible specifics. Godin was an early proponent of asking people and not spamming them. Of course we all knew that. He was simply the one who wrote the book on it. I find his works are more philosophical than pragmatic.

I'll save you the cost of the book: Don't spam people--Instead build online relationships where they allow you to contact them. Some books can be summarized in an article. This one in a sentence.

Having been published in 1999, the book itself is a little dated. Despite that, this is a must read for anyone in the marketing business. The notion of permission marketing, especially in the context of the internet, is tremendously powerful.

I think a few reviewers have referenced it, but I think for companies looking to adopt Seth Godin's approach, the highest hurdle is the investment necessary to lay the groundwork to build the permission model. As Godin discusses at length, the level of interactivity between the consumer and the seller is taken to a whole new level. It requires companies and markeing departments to develop relationships that ultimately leads to sales. The downside is that it can lengthen the sales cycle.

I think it would be interesting to understand how the new technologies of 2006-7 would play into this idea of permission marketing. From You Tube, to having to get by the increasing amount of Spam.... If I read the book accurately, I think the principles would probably remain the same, its the methods of delivery that have changed.

I am in marketing in a B2B technology company. Internally, we discuss how we can better engage clients, prospects and others. Some of Godin's advice has filtered into those discussions. It is clear that to engage our constituencies over the long term, is much more fruitful than some of the traditional marketing methods.

Anyhow, I could go on, but will leave it at that. I do think that it is a must read for anyone in marketing. Grantd, not everything he suggests may be applicable, but I do believe it can help anyone and any marketing group develop new practices in an effort to draw more client in.

I purchased this book from the store. I highly recommend.

"Permission Marketing" is a must read for those interested in marketing, business development, or just good old relationship advice. One of Seth Godin's older works, "Permission Marketing" sets the tone as well as establish a solid foundation for his future work. One may be tempted to pass this book up as it is dated in some respects, especially compared to recent marketing books - however the information contained within is vitally important to your success.

Marketing, as well as business in general is built upon relationships. Seth Godin likens permission marketing to dating - a solid personal or professional relationship is built slowly over time by gaining mutual trust and respect. It surprises me how many individuals and businesses miss the mark on this. One word of warning - after reading this book it becomes painfully obvious who hasn't. This should really be required reading - the world would be a much better place!

Once you've finished this book check out Seth Godin's other work - you won't be disappointed.

This work is yet another from the growing list of "new economy" prophets who write as if the basic marketing concepts described have only recently been discovered through the author's personal marketing epiphany. The author, who is hardly alone in the the store.com database, ridicules existing practice as a requisite for demonstrating the importance of his "new and visionary" technique rather than supporting his position with a more coherent argument. The first 71 pages and many thereafter derisively attack what the author calls interruption marketing as ineffective, inefficient and an unnecessary money sink. However, the author repeatedly acknowledges interruption marketing as critical to his success story (e.g., "...the first step is still to interrupt the consumer"; and "Permission Marketing can't deliver that first audience of strangers any faster or cheaper than an ad can"). The author's statements would not be so galling had he not so desperately depended on trashing current practice to make the meager case for his concept. The books provides a catchy label to existing marketing communication concepts; it is hardly revolutionary thinking.
The writing is particulary irritating to anyone who has taken a basic course in marketing or advertising. The book is littered with contradictions and distorted treatments of advertising concepts such as reach and frequency. If advice such as "Change all of your advertising to include a call to action" (taken from the author's final checklist of "first steps to take to get started with Permission Marketing") sound like a marketing revolution to you, I'd invite you to sit in on a few classes at your local community college or university.
No marketing communications professional worthy of the profession can consider this book worth the three hours it takes to read it. BTW, the store.com gives second authorship to Don Peppers, who appears to only have written the foreward.

Everyday your letterbox is full of leaflets you never read, your banker send you a new financial proposal you already have in your portfolio... All these papers will go directly to the trash can, but interrupt your customer's life: time, privacy and peace of mind. This is the waste created by the "interruption marketing", which is not using correctly customers' databases or is bombarding TV spots you do not watch during film breaks.
Is this time over? Not sure when you see all e-mails or phone calls you receive to promote products of no interest for you. How to get your Attention in the middle of this information overload? Simply by asking your permission.
Seth Godin, who created Internet marketer Yoyodyne and sold it in 1998 to Yahoo, where he is a vice president is explaining to us how to do it in "Permission Marketing". With practical examples he shows us how to start a relationship with a customer by offering added value. Main ideas are around personalization, long-term relationship and truth building. Customer then is expecting information from you focused on his own needs. The challenge is to move from market share to customer share.
But how is this possible? The use of New Information Technologies and Internet allows a one to one communication with a customer with focused information and at a low price. This is really the contribution from "New Economy" and Permission Marketing is giving the keys to understand how these New Information Technologies allow focusing on a customer more and more demanding. The traditional marketing is moving quickly to One to One marketing.
Do not read Permission Marketing if you want to lose your customers to the profit of your competitor knowing how to build long-term relationship with them. If you add One to One from Don & Martha Peppers to your readings, you will be well prepared to succeed in front of the marketing shift arriving with the "New Economy".

Imagine how effective your marketing would be if you had individual relationships with all of your customers and each had agreed to receive your company's advertising, either because they want the information or because they've been tempted by an incentive. Author Seth Godin makes this connection real, with the help of technology and he says you can do it, too. Godin argues that individualized "permission marketing" can break through the increasing clutter of traditional advertising, which he dubs "interruption marketing." The Internet is ideally suited to building this one-to-one relationship, he says. His engaging book provides a powerful case for this approach to marketing, which begins with getting the customer's consent to receive frequent messages. Godin combines a historical overview and a discussion of advertising's principles with a description of hands-on methods. We [...] recommend his highly accessible book to marketing executives in any industry and especially to managers of Internet-dependent businesses.

everyday we get bombarded with all kinds of advertising..tv, radio, cable, magazines, billboards, the internet. soon, we will be getting interrupted marketing thru our mobile phones and pda's(if it has not happened already) with all this information overload, one may wonder how can any organization hold its customers attention? the answer? thru permission marketing..as seth godin narrates excellently..to be able to get the attention of your customers there must be an offering of value in exchange for something that the organization wants(personal information) without this, we will just be nagged, bothered and totally interrupted everytime we access any kind of relevant information. here in manila, there is a ad war between the two largest mobile companies selling their wap technology. do you know how they spend their money? full page color ads in the dailies everyday. and the ads are all the same.what a waste! they could have easily targeted their existing customers who are more likely to try the service rather than new customers who just prefer to have a phone. they should read this book..

This book was a disappointment. If you know the concepts behind either targeted advertising or relationship marketing, then this book is a waste of time to read. Basically this 'Permission Marketing' is a repackage of old concepts using new words and adding case studies. It is nothing new to apply targeted advertising concepts to the web, that is what is already being done. Sure not everyone is doing it, but then again, not everyone thinks customers are important either. Renaming the old concepts to 'permission marketing' does not change the fact that there really is not much of anything new here unless you were born yesterday or don't keep current reading any of the many online business magazines. After the disappointed read of this book, I came to question the online reviews that claim the author as an expert. Checking further I find books by the same name author who acording to the list in the store has books on subjects such as Poker, Backyard Gardening, Disneyworld, Golf, Traveling, Super Crossword Puzzles, Insurance, and Trivia Challenge. That explains some of the disappointment, maybe, but I guess that does not mean that you can't write a good book on marketing. But then again, maybe it does... In any case, before you spend the money, I suggest you go to your local bookstore and check out this book in person.

Customers have always wanted to be treated with respect, consideration, and to receive educational benefits before buying. In this excellent book, you will get the simple concepts you need to understand how electronic contacts improve your opportunities to be effective. Most people will be in markets where it cannot all be done electronically, but the same principles apply. I liked the way that the book applied timeless principles in the context of e-commerce. Almsot everyone else makes e-commerce sound like something with no connection to anything that has gone before. That is clearly not true. I think that this book will also help to stimulate your thinking about how to attract more customers less expensively. The other electronic marketing book you should read is CUSTOMERS.COM.

The cornerstone idea of 'Permission Marketing' is to turn an advertising monologue into a full dialogue with the customer. Seth Godin argues for establishing one-on-one marketing through successive levels of 'permission' that customer grants to the advertiser. Attention and time are the most scarce resources today; consumers are willing to pay to save time and 'Permission Marketing' aims to capitalize on this trend.

At its core, this book is about converting strangers to friends, and friends into customers. This progression is broken down into implicit 'permission levels' and strategies throughout the book. The ideas proposed have their merit, as both successes of Yoyodine and CyberGold have shown.

Business-to-business marketers have the most to learn from this book - Permission Marketing requires large investments of time and resources into each client (albeit with a lot of automated help) but it is capable of establishing an amazing rapport with the consumer.

As a salesman and marketer, I have come to realize that marketing is much, much more than simple answers. It is a complicated living process. Many people make the mistake of confusing marketing with selling. They are different. Marketing is the process of causing someone to raise their hand and say "I might need your product or service." Permission Marketing assumes that the value you delivered to gain the hand raising response gives you "permission" to continue to add value to the prospect's life -- opening the door to the sales process. I think this book offers a Blinding Flash of The Obvious and a point of focus for us who are in the trenches and waging the war each day.

It's easy to discount a book like Permission Marketing as being a book for...well, marketers. However, like all of Godin's books, the underlying message of this book is for anyone in management.

I won't try to summarize the contents of the book -- others have already done that. What I want to point out are what Godin identifies as the biggest stumbling blocks companies face in trying to implement the concepts in this book ('concepts' is not the right word -- 'truths' is a better fit). These stumbling blocks are: organizational problems, greed, and lack of foresight.

People read books like this and generally recognize the values they impart, but taking the nest step and implementing some of the changes necessary in an organization to reach these ideals is sometimes too difficult a task for a single person - and so changes are not implemented. Sometimes bureaucracy limits your company's ability to change, and only crashing and burning opens the door to change (if the company survives). Greed drives other companies to cut short long-term changes over short-term revenue. And as for foresight - if your company is focused on short-term revenue over long-term planning and building discipline around your strategy, your seeds of change will not be able to take root.

Ok, that last part sounded a bit preachy.

Ok, so what is the core of this book? My take is that it's all about loyalty and retention. Permission marketing is nothing more than building honest relationships with your customers, and doing what is necessary to keep them as customers.

As usual, Godin's delivery of these concepts is warm and fresh, and includes many examples from his own professional experience and from the fascinating world of Silicon Valley startups. To get the real value out of this book, however, it all goes back to those corporate stumbling blocks: readers need to recognize the stumbling blocks at their own companies, and take steps to remedy them. Like any 12-step recovery program, the first step is to admit there's a problem. If your company can do that, you're on your way.

Unlike the Cluetrain authors and Douglas Coupland, Godin is neither angry nor sarcastic, but his now-classic text has made him into one of the leading prophets of the obsolescence of traditional ("interruption-based") big-company marketing methods. The way he tells it, a near-total rejection of modern advertising orthodoxy is only common sense. Godin dismisses the history of advertising from the 1950's to the 1980's with a wave of his hand, arguing that too much of a good thing (easy access to consumers' minds) has left too many messages clamoring for customers' attention. Consumers' retaliatory defence mechanisms are now a permanent condition of the marketplace. Companies cannot penetrate this armor with catchier jingles or increasingly intrusive pitches; instead, they need to build long-term relationships with their customers. As his chronicle of the rise and fall of interruption marketing gathers steam, the reader finds himself nodding his head at every horrifying example of intrusive advertising.
Like Cluetrain, Permission Marketing begins from the premise that corporations need to understand how people actually live. Above all, we're busy. We have heard it all. We have caller ID, mute buttons, and a million other devices intended to shelter us from the cacaphony.
The opposite of interruption marketing, of course, is marketing to consumers who have explicitly given their permission to be contacted. Since Godin lays out a number of highly original and ground-breaking ideas, many of which foreshadowed the huge boom in the development of opt-in email lists, those who do any kind of e-mail marketing will be on shaky ground unless they've read Godin.
Unfortunately, the manner in which corporations have interpreted the idea of permission-based marketing boils down to a heavy dose of email to their customers, email which often violates Godin's stipulations that communications should be personal, anticipated, and relevant.
Godin is willing to take his share of the blame for how the promise of permission marketing got distorted, and turned our email inboxes into battlegrounds ("Permission Marketers: Did We Blow It?"). Arguably, the problem lies to some extent in the lack of plausibility of Godin's original formulation of the concept and principles of permission. His indictment of intrusive mass marketing is unimpeachable, but there is an over-optimism on the permission marketing side of the argument. Consumers don't give so-called permission nearly as cheerfully as Godin's original argument let on. Yahoo, which had hired Godin for a brief period to be its VP of Permission Marketing, is now learning that it's easier to theorize about securing customers' permission than it is to actually do it.
The failure of companies like Yahoo! to profitably implement these principles, and the relative success of "club 'em over the head" methods employed by their competitor AOL, seem to be cause for despair. Surely, if any of this stuff is true, companies like AOL would crumble as consumers tuned out the noise. So far, that hasn't happened. Good old interruption marketing lives on. To millions of viewers, the commercials during the Super Bowl are not an intrusion, they're "destination television." Maybe what Godin has discovered is not a universal principle of the advertising business, but rather the fact that those residing in higher socioeconomic strata have more options for tuning out the noise, and more cultural and professional motivations for doing so. If that's all it is, it's still an important contribution, since many businesses - especially those in the technology industry - market to a more upscale demographic.
Ultimately, Godin's approach can explain some things, but he fails to acknowledge the continued success of major brands like Budweiser and Gillette, who have continued to win the battle to stay first in the mind of their mass market. If Godin had to do it all over again, Permission Marketing might have done well to bill itself as a manual for marketing to highly discerning professionals in a B2B environment, and how to break through to "opinion leaders" and journalists as opposed to customers per se. But then again, that more specialized focus would have prevented the book from becoming a bestseller.

In Europe, internet-phobia is still well alive among many employees for fear of loosing their jobs. I would recommend most business managers to read this regardless if they are pro or con for doing business over the internet. I have loaned my book and tape to many colleagues that were (notice past tense) only seeing doom and gloom in the online sector. There was a rather significant change in attitude and latitude. The book/tape start out in talking using general terms and slowly progress in terminology and complexity of each case. I highly recommend this for the entry level marketer to the expert marketer.

Mr. Godin does a great job of setting up traditional adveritsing's history, leading it into what has become its fatal flaw in contemporary culture. He further exlplains EXACTLY how the internet does indeed change everything, and how to take advantage of it. What's so great about this is that there's none of the typical shysterism and spin usually associated with marketing in this brave new world of permission marketing. Finally, honesty really is the best policy--so refreshing! The future of commerce is the one-to-one relationships enterprises build with their customers. One of the great ironies of the internet age is that even in speeded up "internet time", we must take time to build trust and establish ouselves with our customers. One email at a time. Carefully. Strategically. I can boldly say that anyone involved in the web (which will soon be everyone) who doesn't read and grok this book will be left far behind with no money in the bank and no customers. Anyone who reads this book and "Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity" by Jakob Nielson will rule over all their competitors.

I agree with the author's theory of "Interruption Marketing". Don't you find it pretty true that people nowadays are paying less attention to ads, but yet marketers are trying 'extra' hard to get those attention. See the results of their 'creativity' ... all those banners are popping up here and there while surfing the net! So how effective? Probably hitting the messages across few out of a million.
Meanwhile, if one could get people to be interested, and voluntarily listen to what he gotta say, the story will be slightly different, isn't it? That's the theory behind "Permission Marketing".
I would think the author had nicely contrasted the 2 theories, and why the later works better. Besides, he also illustrated some ways to get people to be receptive, and thus permit one to market to them ... eg, get a freebie if you sign up the mailing list.
Read this book. It'll change your mindset of the present advertising tactics, and perhaps inspire you to come out with better approaches in building a relationship with your 'potential' customers.

Mr.Godin is an excellent teacher of how to market effectively. Before reading this I thought of marketing probably like most do. I thought to be successful in marketing and advertising, that big was the way to go...big magazine ads, t.v. spots, target a large audience and you're sure to get lots of customers, etc. WRONG!
Mr. Godin hits the bull's-eye on the type of marketing that it takes to acquire and keep customers in your business. It is not mass marketing to anyone and everyone that's going to do it. But rather, Mr. Godin shows you how to set up a specific strategy, a clever method in which to acquire the type of customer you want to your particular business. If you own a sports shop, then your ideal customer wouldn't be a chef or a construction worker who just happened to walk into your store...it would be the die-hard, sports enthusiast that you want to attract. Mr. Godin shows you how to attract your "ideal" customer; He teaches you how to get your ideal customer to come to you.
I didn't fully understand all that "Permission Marketing" was really about until Mr. Godin broke it down and explained it to a tee. If you can get a potential customer to say "yes" to you prior to the sale, your chances of acquiring them as an actual customer dramatically increases. This is what Mr. Godin shows you how to do. He is a wise marketer and you can be too! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

It is estimated that every day we are subjected to ~3,000 "interruption"-based marketing messages - on TV, the internet, magazines, radio, billboards, newspapers, etc. [Must be true: I counted 120 display advertisements in a typical morning edition of my local newspaper in the sections I normally peruse - this doesn't include the classified or the additional "advertising package".] Permission marketing seeks to engage customers in a more comfortable, step-wise process and develop a relationship over time. "Opt-In" options for email newsletters are an example of this process.

This book is an excellent source to gain an introduction to permission-based marketing approaches - and to challenge your thinking if you are operating with a traditional "interruption"-based marketing strategy today.

Is permission marketiing something new? Do you remember when you when out with girls? You did not pouch her; you asked permission, subtly, but you did.
This is what this book is about. How can you score with your target, how can you get to them and, ultimately, sell your product. The good thing about the book is that all the ideas you knew, but where randomly kept in your brain (or hard disk) are now systematised, and with a uick peak you can put a simple plan in action.
But I have a question (and I do not have an answer) The click through rate is only 1%. So: how can I get the attention of the ohter 99%, and then start build trust around them?

In addition to working in the profession of advertising and marketing, I'm an adjunct professor at a nearby university. I taught Seth's principles in my course on Direct Marketing last semester, and I intend to teach his principles in my course on Fundamentals of Advertising this semester. In fact, I intend to teach his material in every class I have that's even remotely related. Frankly, I think Seth's material should be taught in every university throughout the land -- and shouted from the rooftops amongst those in my profession.
Simply put, the material in this book -- deceptively clever, succinct and, at times, humorous -- is explosive. I say deceptive because if you don't "get" what Seth's trying to tell you, I imagine it would be possible for you to dismiss the entire concept as shallow or gimmicky. However, I believe this information represents nothing less than the future of advertising and marketing. You will ignore it at your own peril.
One of the biggest thrills for me was hearing my students put into use Seth's Permission Marketing phrase "Turning strangers into friends and friends into customers" -- even months after the class ended!
Not only is that a testament to the clarity and brevity of Seth's ideas, it's also the distillation of his book's premise.
For in today's world, we're bombarded by no less than 3,000 paid advertising messages per day. There's no way we can assimilate, remember and act on that many messages. No matter how creative they may be. It's no longer a matter of breaking through the clutter with killer creative; it's now a battle for one of the most precious commodities we're left with: our attention. And advertisers lose that battle every single minute of every day.
Therefore, agencies who seek ever more creative (and expensive!) creative approaches to help boost their clients' sales would do well to read Permission Marketing. Clients who whip their agencies mercilessly, sometimes changing them as often as they change their underwear (because they just aren't seeing the results they expected), would do well to read Seth's Permission Marketing book. BEFORE they blow millions of dollars looking for the next 15-minutes of fame for their advertisement.
Odds are, it ain't gonna happen.
Permission Marketing clearly describes the problem and equally as clearly provides the answer: ask permission first. Then only send your advertisement to those who ask to see it. Reduced to a catchphrase, what you need to do is turn strangers into friends and friends into customers through the power of direct marketing.
Since my field of expertise IS direct marketing, I grasped immediately what Seth was saying. I "got" it. And I know as sure as I know my own name that what he writes is rock-solid, essential information.
The only critical point I'd make is that right now Seth's ideas have a chance to work. And maybe work for a decade or two into the future. But what happens when even those who have given "permission" to receive advertising messages don't have time to read all the messages they've given permission to receive? I'm a great example of that. I've given permission to receive about a dozen online e-newsletters. (In direct marketing parlance, I've "opted in.") However, I simply don't have time to wade through them all. (Truth be told, the only one I read -- and look forward to -- on a regular basis is Seth's.) So not all permission is created equal. I imagine as people get even more busy that even those advertisers with whom they have a relationship will begin to see a drop-off in response.
But until that time, Permission Marketing should be required reading for all university students, direct marketers (who likely already know its simple, yet powerful message), advertisers, marketers and clients.
Once you "get" what Seth is saying, you'll never look at advertising the same way again!

So there are steps in every transaction. The whole point of this book is that you don't create lifelong relationships with strangers. Every sale consists of multiple mini sales.
turn the page
click the link...
You go to the store
browse through books
see related books
browse through reviews
buy the book
While some of the data relating to the internet is outdated, the fundamental message of the book is still strong. Those who think traditional media outpace targeted ads are dead wrong.

Okay, so Seth in my opinion is the most insightful of the obvious. But keep in mind that the obvious is often overlooked and Seth does a great job of bring it back to the front. Our clients are the most important thing to the business and without them, there is no business, we do and must continue to treat them well. Seth points out it is far better to work with someone that wants to work with you then to just keep interrupting them until they give in. Read the book, it has good insight.

Conceptually, doing 'permission marketing' is right on, but there are two faults with this book. (1) The examples are dated. This is being picky, since it was published several years ago, but I say this so you can go in with both eyes open. (2) There's not a really good blueprint here for how to implement permission offers for your own company.

I do like the analogy of permission marketing being like dating. It kept the concept understandable and identifiable.

When traditional methods of advertising or direct mail don't work as effectively in attracting your customer's attention, what do you do? Read up 'Permission Marketing' and apply the principles and practices recommended by Seth Godin. According to Godin, an advertising message which interrupts a customer's life - her time, privacy and peace of mind - has a lower chance of persuading her to buy a specific brand. Instead, he advocates, a marketer can build a relationship with a customer over time and win her permission to market to her. In other words, make friends with the customer. The customer, then, not only becomes more receptive to the advertising message, but actually anticipates it. Godin calls this method 'permission marketing' and illustrates its strengths with success stories ranging from the store.com to Yahoo!. Simple? Well, not exactly. It requires a deep understanding of direct marketing and using the Internet as a direct marketing tool. But, Godin makes all this easier in his new book. Read it before your competitors do.

Seth Godin is the Vice President of Direct Marketing atYahoo,and before that founded the successful web startup Yoyodyne. Inthis book he tells us what he has learned about 20th century marketing and how it is evolving as a result of media saturation. Media saturation is making traditional forms of marketing less effective. Seth refers to traditional marketing practices as Interruption Marketing and contrasts this with Permission Marketing. There is room for both forms of marketing in Godin's universe, but Seth exhorts most marketers to begin creating a permission-based marketing system for immediate and long term survival. The alternative to a permission based marketing system is the current interruption based marketing system that consists of big budgets for wow advertising that is meant to capture your interest long enough to deliver simple branded messages. Interruption marketing is about being clever at getting attention. You get attention with a great ad campaign where consistent attention grabbing messages are repeated in various media. Marketing research has demonstrated that over time familiarity can build trust in a brand as the solution to a particular class of problems. Trust equals profitability. Relying on interruption marketing techniques to attain "brand trust" is very expensive but can and has been done. TV, radio, and newspapers are required to create initial interest in your product and services. Godin argues that there is no getting around this cost of marketing. To build brand trust, however, you should try to use your interruption marketing to develop a permission based marketing system. In a permission based marketing system, the customer is asked for their permission to receive messages from the marketer. Often the marketer will offer an incentive that makes it worth the customers while to give their permission. The marketer will need to continue to offer incentives for the ongoing permission of the customer. In return, the marketer has permission to educate the client about their product or service and to build trust in their brand. This is most often done through email. In fact, Godin's book could be read as the authoritative guide to managing opt-in email lists for profitability. Saying that the book is about email is not to denigrate the scope of this book. Email is the internet for alot of people. Email is the killer app! Email marketing needs to be understood and mastered by anyone calling themselves a marketer. Godin's book has alot of good advice for marketers who would like to expand their marketing savvy into the domain of permission based marketing systems. On the surface, Permission Marketing is mostly about opt-in email and how to manage it over time. I think that you will find, however, that it has alot to say about how any technology involving personalization should be managed over time. All such technologies are likely to require substantial amounts of permission before they can become effective. Personalization is about more than filling out a form with your name, address and phone number on it. It is about collecting data on users over the long term, looking for patterns in the data, and adapting your interaction with the users based on those patterns. The precondition for this heartier form of personalization is the perception by the user that they can trust you with the data being collected on them. Getting the users permission is central. Godin discusses a variety of techniques and case studies that show how permission can be attained and increased over time. Permission marketing can be done honestly or dishonestly. All you know is that you have to offer free goodies frequently and try to trick the customer into a higher level of permission. I can imagine that many permission marketing systems are run in this manner. They may even be successful. Alternatively, permission marketing may reflect the ethical manner in which you choose to do business with your clients. You ask for permission to educate first and strive to retain that permission by consistently delivering superior value. This form of permission marketing has been practiced by many successful business people over the ages and it is hoped that Seth Godin's book will help us to see this method of business in a clearer light.

This book changed my career - ever since reading it I've pushed the surf company that I work for to adopt the marketing tactics that are so eloquently laid out in this book. We have just gotten to a level now where we're ready to begin implementing those concepts and a lot of people at work are very excited about the prospect of increasing our sales.

The entire concept of permission marketing seems like a natural way to rise above the noise of traditional interruption marketing techniques and Seth lays it out in a manner that's not only informative, but it's also fun to read.

Another aspect of this book that I like a lot is that it's such a trip down memory lane - Seth goes into the histories of a large number of Web 1.0 Internet startups and talks about their attempts at using Internet marketing. The fact that this guy was able to make so many nuanced observations back in the early years of the World Wide Web is a credit to his foresight and natural marketing capabilities. I highly recommend this book to anyone running (or in my case, helping run) a small business.

Many people say that marketing is mostly common sense... it is.
After reading this book I do not feel full of new insights or feel that I have attained any newfounded knowledge. I'd have to somewhat agree with Kerry's review in that this book does contradict itself in several instances, and some of the key points are plain wrong, in my opinion.
The book looks nice and reads well, so I didn't slaughter it with one or two stars. But the content does not deserve 5 as many reviewers are putting it.

In Permission Marketing, Seth Godin, sets forth his principles of what he calls permission marketing. Essentially, becoming a 'trusted friend and advisor' to potential, past, and current customers and gaining the 'right' (or permission) to marketing to them.
Basically, that's it. For some two hundred pages, the explanation goes on, and on, and on. I suggest going to the bookstore and spend 30 minutes reading the "boxed" summaries that can be found at each chapter. Alternatively, find a used copy -- for much less. But certainly don't buy it for more than (price).

If sales people do not believe they are better than an 800 number then they should read this book. Gaining permission from the customer is always the key, and that philosophy is only strengthened in reading this book. The book emphasizes relationships, and leveraging the relationships. The more permission you get the more dollars the client is worth to ones business. I would recommend that all sales people read this book.

I like the book. Seth Gordon gives the procedure for a new way of marketing: Permission Marketing. Main idea is to convince the customers in order to give you permission to contact her. First, you should sell her the next meeting. In the next meeting you have to sell one more. This is great. I mean, if customer gives you permission to go further, you have the right to contact her in future for mutual profit and interest. This would be best for the marketer and the customer. Seth Gordon says that "Permission marketer is a farmer". Permission marketer should buy the seeds, find a land, plant the seed, water them continuously for seasons, watch them grow, and finally harvest. Permission marketing may be the hardest way for marketers, but it is a joy both for the customer and for the marketer. This book does not promise a magic wand for marketers, but introduces the basic ideas of getting permission from customers with examples. It has the feeling of a case study. You will enjoy.

More than a year after this book made waves, critics are now talking about the ideas inside being obvious.
There's a big difference between essential insight and an obvious restatement of the status quo. This book is definitely in the first category!
A critic writes, "It's interesting to me that all these marketers are swearing this is the new Holy Bible of the Church of Marketing, yet I doubt more than 10% of those readers have put any of Mr. Godin's observations into practical use. God knows, everywhere I go, I have to OPT OUT of marketing campaigns instead of OPTING IN."
But of course, if only 10% of the sites he visits gets it, IT'S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER that they read the book to understand WHY it's worth doing it right.
If you haven't read this book, do so. It will change the way you think about how you are marketed to, and what you ought to do to help your company grow.

Seth is one of my favorite authors and speakers. I am actually going to try and have each of his books in my library! This is one of his best. I have learned many ways to promote my surplus electronic parts business better through permission marketing. Among other things, I've added a link to sign up for my "surplus club" in my own website, electronicpartsupply based on what I discovered in the book.

Explains his concepts best in this must read. Great insight into the store & Yahoo. Brilliant insight into building a relationship with the customer. Great info on Opt-in email from a management standpoint. I believe this is Seth Godin's best book. Good information on how to educate your customer. I re- read this book this book all the time.

Any relationship that lasts probably started out slowly and progressed gradually. Love-at-first-sight is too rare to hope for, even in business.

Godin focuses primarily on email and the web, but it applies to more than that. Direct mail folks to learn a bit from this book.

Get permission to communicate with a customer. Give them value before taking the relationship to the next level. Let them control when the relationship ends, or if it moves forward.

Explains his concepts best in this must read. Great insight into the store & Yahoo. Brilliant insight into building a relationship with the customer. Great info on Opt-in email from a management standpoint. I believe this is Seth Godin's best book. Good information on how to educate your customer. I re- read this book this book all the time.

Any relationship that lasts probably started out slowly and progressed gradually. Love-at-first-sight is too rare to hope for, even in business.

Godin focuses primarily on email and the web, but it applies to more than that. Direct mail folks to learn a bit from this book.

Get permission to communicate with a customer. Give them value before taking the relationship to the next level. Let them control when the relationship ends, or if it moves forward.

This was a terrific book for marketers, especially those who use the Internet in any way to promote their marketing efforts. It is very current and apllicable to todays environment. This is a must read for anybody in charge of marketing budgets and anyone who spends money on mass media advertising, it will save you money and get you results!

Yes, you have to get permission and build relationships one at the time to maintain a loyal, longterm customer base! It's no surprise to me as a MK consultant, but for those on the outside of companies like Mary Kay, this information is revolutionary. It really will change how you approach marketing and customer service.
I strongly recommend this and Seth's other book "Unleashing the Idea Virus" to anyone attempting to open their own business - online or brick & mortar.

The book is excellent. It sharpens what insights you may have already developed about the failures of interruption marketing on your own. Outlining the very principles the marketing community needs to understand quickly, especially with the convergence of the internet.
I found the book to contain plenty of specific examples of past and current marketing efforts, in addition to clearly laid general permission marketing principles. You can readily conjure up specific solutions tailored to meet the needs of your client and understand the reasoning behind it all.... and know there's proof in the pudding.
The poor person who types in caps to get your attention displays a deep irony. Read the book and you'll see.

While Godin astutely details the need to build relationships with customers, that's been amply covered by other authors. My main beefs with this book are its dismissal of all forms of "traditional advertising" and its specious claim that offering prospects incentives is revolutionary. Wasn't John Caples offering how-to booklets to ad respondents sixty years ago?
However, Godin frames these tried-and-true techniques within the context of the Information Age, offering helpful examples of relationship marketing using e-mail, the Net, databases and the like. That may be particularly useful to business-to-business marketers. But anyone marketing to consumers should beware...brand story, great copywriting and broad visibility do matter still.

Friends:

I have been using Seth's permission marketing strategies for many, many years. They are one important facet of our Marketing campaign.

Google my name to Learn more.....

Arthur von Boennighausen

Here is a simple application of the "permission marketing" concept that has worked for my company. We have attendees at every event drop their business cards into a bowl to be entered into a drawing. Within 24 hours following the event, we email all those who have given us "permission" to market to them by providing their business card. This allows us to quickly reach out to hundreds of individuals who recently learned about our company's service all for the cost of a gift basket! Find your application of this concept. I bet it will work for you, too.

Seth Godin challenges many of the assumptions behind expensive advertising campaigns which rely on intrusive marketing and builds a very strong case for permission marketing. This is a short, easy read which is perfect for reading on your next trip.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. I have been in the Executive Sales Arena for some time now, and I found Godin's book to offer a unique twist on marketing. The main idea is repeated over & over throughout the book--sometimes too much--but he also offers interesting anecdotes from which to learn.
If you want to learn how to sell in the new e-conomy, read this book. Godin describes how marketing techniques have changed from interruption marketing to practically having your clients and prospective clients actually asking you to market them. Good reading.

This book changed the way to talk with customers. In fact, that statement alone reflects the change-- talk WITH, not to. Gave me an entirely new perspective, which has really helped me on the job and helped me to be way ahead of things which we are just starting to see now, such as all the social media sites coming online. Seth Godin is great and I love his books, but this is one of the best. Still as valuable now as it was when it came out. I look it over at least every year, just to keep me on track.