Do I Have Your Permission?
When Seth Godin first came up with the rather queer concept of Permission Marketing, he found it difficult to explain it to his marketing peers. Here’s how he made it easy for them. Seth drew an interesting analogy between permission marketing and, of all things, dating! Dating - in its bare fundamentals - is seeking attention, making a move and finally, landing the phone number. Permission Marketing is just the same – earn attention, make a decent pitch and land that sale!
Simple enough? Not really!
The keywords for permission marketing are “Earn attention”. Sure, you have one cannon of a sales pitch, but you lose points for approach under normal marketing practices. Permission marketing is seeking real permission to pitch your product/service by evoking prior consumer interest.
If you have only 2 seconds more, I’ll just say Permission Marketing promises a sale every 2 times you pitch. If you’re still with me, you now know what Permission Marketing is. I made you a promise, just to evoke your interest and, consequently, you have given me some more time. This is when I have to make my move on you, the client. Now that I have instated your interest, all I need is to back up your anticipation with some good, soul scratching pitch that will make you fall in love with my product, or at least consider an affair with it.
Now, I have your permission to market. Godin calls it “Real Permission”. And real permission is the cornerstone of Permission Marketing.
The Practical Relevance of Permission Marketing in India Today
India today, in marketing context, is a volcano of consumerism that is simmering despite an ever reticent economy. Automobile, Real Estate, Hospitality, Information Technology – Indians today are shooting big on investment. The new-age, worldly wise Indian is not afraid to spend on a good deal. That’s good news for us marketers. Knowing that the intent is there, all we have to care about is the approach and presenting the consumer with real deals they feel happy to spend on. | |
| Get that "Yes" first! |
Real permission isn’t implied, real permission is garnered. If you account for the number of people who actually want to listen to you, without knowing about you or your product, the numbers are discouraging. Especially in India, where the “Kitna Deti Hai” conundrum transcends across investments of all nature, gaining real permission can be a real pain. The Indian customer is suspecting and untrusting. He has been brought up on the sound wisdom of making “safe” investments, like real estate and gold. Obviously, he is not interested in the automated “best deals and offers” mails you flood his inbox with, the stalker-like approach you invade him at the malls to visit his counter or the pesky calls you make him to apply for a personal loan. No, he doesn’t like outbound marketing. Not anymore.
How do you make him listen to you, then?
You don’t, actually! You make him come to you.
Okay, but how do you make him come to you?
The easy part is you make him a promise of a good deal, the harder part is to back up on your promise. The promise gets you his attention and the attention will get you his permission. You create content that is so strong, so effective, yet so subtle that he feels the urge to come back to you and enquire. Real permission is not just gaining your audience’s interest. Real permission also implies your audience misses you when you’re not there. That means your email subscriber cribs when he doesn’t get his daily newsletter, that customer from the mall asks for directions when he can’t locate your store, or your client calls the bank’s helpline when he doesn’t hear from you for 2 straight days. Of course, the viability of your product can never be undermined. But it is still your marketing skills that will win the average Joe over.
India is a particularly competitive market where adherence to permission marketing calls for a lot of patience and sustenance. The Indian consumer, despite all his financial idiosyncrasies, is still gullible once you win his trust. And he will buy your product, but only when he buys your argument!
Sushant Sharma