Today’s marketers face a huge problem: consumers no longer pay much attention to advertisements.
Most marketing comes in the form of advertising, and over the past decades a tactic called Interruption Marketing has dominated the field. Using this method, consumers are interrupted by advertisements and their attention is directed toward products or services. A classic example of this is the television commercial: regular programming is interrupted and viewers are forced to look at cars, fast food, running shoes and other products being advertised. The world became so filled with advertisements that people stopped paying attention to them. Companies responded to this by placing more and more ads and coming up with increasingly unusual means of interruption.
Today there are ads plastered on the floors of supermarkets and the tops of taxis, but customers usually ignore them. Most people simply don’t have enough time to absorb so many demands on their attention. This development marks the demise of Interruption Marketing as an effective advertising method. As an Interruption Marketer today, you must compete too hard for too little attention, and your message will likely be ignored or forgotten.
Traditional advertising that relies on interrupting customers is losing its effectiveness. Permission Marketing still requires interruptions, but they are focused, frequent and appeal to consumer self-interest.
Although Permission Marketing is less intrusive than Interruption Marketing, you still need to grab consumer attention to start the process. So some kind of interruption is still required. Yet, while Interruption Marketing relies on ineffective, ill-directed interruptions targeted at no one in particular, Permission Marketing takes a more focused approach.
So how do we need to start?
- You must offer obvious, clear benefits to the consumer to justify the interruption. People are selfishly motivated, and they’ll only pay attention if they are offered something of personal relevance. If the benefit to them isn’t clear, they will quickly direct their attention elsewhere.
- The message needs to be frequently repeated. A personal incentive for the customer is not enough, as any individual message can easily be ignored or forgotten. Frequency combats this and makes it more likely that consumers will see the message, remember it, and become engaged in the process.
- You need to focus your efforts. Repeat your message to people who are likely to be interested in your product, and do this through media they pay attention to. Frequency has little value when it’s directed at a large group of people who are unlikely to care about the message.
Focuses on existing customers and sends them catalogs and appealing new offers several times throughout the year. This tactic makes it highly likely that sooner or later those customers will be tempted to return.
By Marietta
- Permission Marketing is a process that builds up robust customer relationships over time. It is a process. Permission isn’t established overnight; it has to be carefully cultivated over time in order to be fruitful. The goal of the initial interruption should be to invite consumers into a relationship, not to sell products.
- After a consumer has volunteered their attention in this way, the process must continue: the company must cultivate the permission gained. This means reinforcing the initial message and teaching consumers about the benefits of the products offered.
- Eventually, the consumer will start to feel as if they know and trust the company. This is the goal of any Permission Marketer, as people are far more likely to buy from a company they see as a friend rather than a stranger.
Permission Marketing is a process that builds up robust customer relationships over time. As consumers’ trust in a company grows, they allow more continuous marketing.
Big businesses can benefit from Permission Marketing, and the resulting long-term customer relationships, as much as smaller ones can. For example, airlines such as Emirates Airlines often have frequent-flyer programs, which allow customers to collect bonus points that go toward free travel. This encourages loyalty, as customers have an incentive to stick with one airline only. In return, the airlines gain permission to collect data on customers and send them relevant marketing messages.
The popular Internet retailer Amazon is a good example of how Permission Marketing can produce far greater returns than traditional Interruption Marketing. Customers are initially attracted to Amazon by its extensive selection of products that can be conveniently ordered via the Internet. However, they keep coming back due to relevant personal recommendations. In turn, Amazon keeps a huge, growing database of customers, and it can send messages to them at very little cost when it expands and launches new offers. This is much cheaper than advertising to a general consumer base.
In Permission Marketing, costs are more manageable and sales more frequent than in Interruption Marketing.
Interruption Marketing techniques that try to direct consumer attention toward products and services are no longer effective. Consumer attention is much harder to get and hold than it was in the past, so it’s necessary to take marketing efforts in a different direction. Permission Marketing grabs consumer interest through personally relevant, interesting offers, and keeps it by allowing the consumer to volunteer his or her own attention and be an active participant in the marketing process. It heavily relies on forming long-term customer relationships, which pay off over time.
Are you ready to start with Permission Marketing? Or share your achievements:-)
Love, Marietta
