Book SummaryPermission Marketing, by Seth Godin

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Permission Marketing

Think back to the last time you were annoyed by advertising—perhaps you had to sit through an interminable series of TV commercials in the middle of a football game or an unskippable 30-second spot on YouTube. But is this disruptive advertising the most effective way for these brands to get their message across?

According to Seth Godin in Permission Marketing, no: There’s a better way for brands to get the attention of potential customers. Instead of resorting to intrusive advertising that consumers are forced to see, it’s possible to create advertising that consumers ask to see. By doing so, you can build a loyal customer base at a fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing campaign.

Godin is an entrepreneur and author of 20 best-selling books on marketing, leadership, and creativity. Although he published Permission Marketing back in 1999, its core concepts are arguably even more relevant this far into the Internet Age. As you learn about permission marketing techniques, you may be surprised to notice how many brands around you employ them.

(Shortform note: Since Godin coined the...

Permission Marketing Summary The Old Way: Grab Attention With Intrusive Advertising

Since the turn of the 20th century, the dominant form of marketing has been intrusive advertising (what Godin calls “Interruption Marketing”). This type of advertising attempts to pull consumers’ attention away from what they want to spend it on—for instance, a commercial might break the spell of a riveting TV show, and a billboard on the side of the road might interrupt a gorgeous view.

Godin explains that intrusive advertising rose to prominence once companies could easily serve customers that didn’t live nearby. The assembly line allowed companies to cheaply mass-produce consumer goods, and automobiles allowed them to reliably distribute those goods to a wider customer base than ever before. These companies used mass media channels like radio, television, and magazines to create public demand for the name-brand goods they now produced and transported.

Intrusive advertising was profitable because its repeated intrusions successfully built consumer trust, according to Godin. Consumers who encountered enough advertisements from the same brand came to believe that the brand was popular and reliable. This led them to choose familiar brands whenever they were available, and...

Permission Marketing Summary The New Way: Building Relationships Through Permission Marketing

Now that we’ve covered what intrusive advertising is and why it fails, let’s take a look at the alternative approach. Here, we’ll first define permission marketing. Then, we’ll explain why it’s so much more profitable than intrusive advertising in today’s brand-saturated market.

What Is Permission Marketing?

Permission marketing involves sending advertising material directly to individual consumers after they request it, explains Godin. Instead of grabbing consumers’ attention while they’re doing something else, promotional material sent through permission marketing is available whenever they want to pay attention to it. For example, if you give your email address to an online shoe store so they can send you exclusive discounts, you’ve opted into their permission marketing campaign.

Permission marketing is the approach small local businesses used before the rise of intrusive advertising. Consumers became personally familiar with the people who ran the businesses near them. If consumers thought they might need something, they would search out a seller and ask them about it directly, and the seller would gladly help. Today, Godin asserts that the internet makes...

Permission Marketing Summary The Permission Marketing Mindsets

Now that we’ve covered what permission marketing is and why it’s so much more profitable than intrusive advertising, let’s start explaining how to put it into practice. Before we get into specifics, let’s cover two key mindsets that will improve the decisions you make while running a permission marketing campaign.

Mindset #1: Your Customer Relationships Are Long-Term Investments

Godin asserts that every consumer relationship you build is a long-term investment. The main goal of permission marketing is to get consumers to trust you more over time. If your brand serves them reliably for long enough, they’ll feel that buying from you is a safe bet and will give you increasing permission to claim more of their time, attention, and money.

For example, if you sell furniture, you could email customers a series of videos over time explaining the effects that different mattresses have on your spine. Eventually, they’ll come to trust your brand because of the consistent value you give them (and simply through repeated exposure). In the future, they’ll be more likely to buy a mattress from you.

In contrast, if you ask for too much permission too quickly, you’ll seem less...

Permission Marketing Summary Permission Marketing Strategy

We’ve established some of the broad basics of permission marketing: Make long-term investments in your customers and personalize offers for each individual. Now, we’ll get more specific and conclude this guide by outlining the steps you can take to set up and profit from a permission marketing campaign.

First, Godin recommends opening a line of communication with consumers by offering them valuable freebies in exchange for their contact information. Then, gain their trust by pitching them the benefits they can expect if they purchase from your brand. Finally, leverage the trust you gain from messaging consumers to implement one or more profitable business models.

Let’s inspect each step in more detail.

Step #1: Open Communication by Giving Out Freebies

Your first goal when starting a permission marketing campaign is to get consumers’ permission to send information about your brand directly to them. Godin acknowledges that permission marketers must initially resort to intrusive advertising to make first contact with consumers and request their permission for later marketing materials. This initial advertising isn’t meant to build brand trust—just to attract consumers...

Shortform Exercise: What Permission Have You Given?

Reflect on the permission marketing campaigns you encounter to gain a deeper understanding of how the strategy works. Then, use this reflection as inspiration to design your own permission marketing campaign.

List a few permission marketing channels you subscribe to as a consumer. (For example, you may regularly receive emails from your local movie theater advertising upcoming events, follow an Instagram account that posts photos from an online travel magazine, and get push notifications from the app for your favorite fast food restaurant alerting you to limited-time offers.)