First off, permission marketing pertains to delivering relevant and personal messages to people who actually wish to receive them. Marketers realize that getting an individual’s close attention is a rare and precious opportunity, and thus when it happens should not be wasted. Permission is usually not obtained easily and takes time as the target person has to be won over bit by bit.
Ask permission to build a great brand following
Once a business has the attention of its target audience, one thing that the business will notice is that permission is cost effective. You can use email and RSS feeds to deliver your message to the people who have agreed to listen to you. Subscriptions ensure you have a loyal and valuable audience. However, getting to such a level where you have an audience of loyal customers takes patience and humility.
If you’re an entrepreneur, how you conduct your business will reflect even more so on your personal brand.
Permission Email Marketing Tips to Help Exude Your Personal Brand
The following tips can help you get permission email marketing right:
- Avoid becoming a spammer as it will impact your reputation. Send out messages with calculated frequency; filling customers’ inboxes with messages will paint you in bad light. Also, never email anyone without getting their permission first. As such, refrain from getting email lists from third parties.
- The double opt-in method of customer subscription will ensure you get only genuine subscriptions to your content.
- If you haven’t sent your email message for some time, say about six months, ask for the recipient’s permission again before emailing them.
- Clarify to the subscribers the frequency and content of your emails so that they know what to expect and what the emails will be about. This will also reduce any chances of spam complaints.
- If possible, give subscribers the choice to select the frequency and content of the emails they wish to receive.
- Make good use of the permission you have obtained and send relevant and useful messages in every email to build a fruitful relationship.
- Give subscribers the option of opting out if they don’t find your content useful or interesting.
Social Media Permission Marketing for Personal Brands
Individuals can use social media networks like Facebook to engage in permission marketing. The process starts with these three steps:
1. Make friends
2. Convert your friends into subscribers
3. Message and maintain subscribers
Depending on the messages you wish to convey, first decide who your target audience is. Do your research to determine the groups of people you wish to have as subscribers. Tell them clearly what kind of messages and content they are going to receive such as entertainment tips, problem solving advice, and financial information, among others. Social media is a great vehicle for word of mouth marketing so if you share useful information and content with your subscribers, they will publicize your services to many others.
Use interest lists to network. [tweet this]
First, you can use already made interest lists and subscribe to those so you won’t ever miss a conversation or insight from a connection or an information source. Secondly, you can create interest list and include yourself in the list. Then, when people share the list you will be always included in the list and “branded” as a viable contributor to leading edge discussions.
More Tips for Personal Brands
- Earn the respect and trust of your subscribers which can make them loosen up and be more responsive. This will give you more opportunities to provide better value to them and close more deals.
- Remember to focus on what you want to be known for. Then, what can you do or provide that would make you known for that?
Permission marketing is ideal for individuals who wish to promote themselves or their services. By going about it in the right manner and getting customers to willingly sign up for constant updates or subscribe to your personal profile or page, they are assured of a receptive audience who will wait eagerly for the next message, look forward to the interaction and who will gradually be molded into loyal and long-term brand advocates.
Maria Elena Duron, CEO (chief engagement officer), buzz2bucks | a word of mouth marketing firm, is skilled at making networks “work” and harnessing powerful online and offline buzz, she facilitates online visibility services and word of mouth coaching and workshops – taking companies and professionals from buzz-worthy to bucks-worthy.
