Today's post launches a new feature: Annoying or Clever?
[We could have called it "The end of permission marketing", but "Annoying or Clever" was shorter. And I'm personally hoping that permission marketing makes a comeback.]
You will recall that the idea of permission marketing came from Seth Godin, and he recently defined it thus:
Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.
Birthday coupons is today's nominee for annoying or clever things. Here's how it works. The message below arrived on my birthday.
At first I thought Webshots was another electronic greeting card company.
Since I got a few electronic greetings from other people, I clicked through ... to this.
I don't think I have ever signed up to a list with these folks. And I don't think I have ever purchased anything from them.
What's your view? Is this annoying or clever? Would you sign off on this marketing campaign? And do you think a discount coupon is a gift?
I'll share my views in the next post.
