Nearly 20 years ago, a book was published which was to change marketing forever.
Before that, marketing* was about interrupting people with messages they didn’t ask for and didn’t want.
“Interruption Marketing was easy. Build a few ads, run them everywhere. Interruption Marketing was scalable. If you need more sales, buy more ads. Interruption Marketing was predictable. With experience, a mass marketer could tell how many dollars in revenue one more dollar in ad spending would generate. Interruption Marketing fit the command and control bias of big companies. It was totally controlled by the advertiser, with no weird side effects.” ― Seth Godin
The problem
Until February 2007, it was fair game for businesses to beg, borrow or ‘steal’ as much information about us as possible and use it to bombard us with ‘buy my shit’ messages.
Leaflets shoved in our faces, mail stuffed through our letterboxes, email spam, ads in newspapers, ads in magazines, ads on the radio and ads on TV. No stone, unturned.
The trouble is, for many, nothing’s changed. In fact, with the onset of social media, messaging apps and mobile devices the problem is worse than ever.
The problem is that we don’t like our personal data being used behind our backs and without our permission.
We don’t want to be force-fed random ‘buy my shit’ messages for stuff we don’t want.
The book introduced a solution to all this. And yet most businesses and marketers carried on as if it had never been written.
The carrot
The book of course is Permission Marketing (Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers) by Seth Godin.
The key point of the book is that businesses and marketers need to explain what they’re about, what to expect and seek permission before pushing any kind of marketing message or communication.
“By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message,” Seth writes. “It serves both customers and marketers in a symbiotic exchange.”
The best marketers got the message, changed their behaviour and made hay.
The rest continued to seek ever more devious ways to spend ever more money on driving the rest of us away.
The stick?
If Seth’s book was the carrot for better marketing, then GDPR is the stick.
In many ways GDPR is merely forcing bad marketers to do the right thing.
If, as Seth has said, “Advertising is the tax for the unremarkable” then GDRP is the super-tax for the unscrupulous.
What next?
Bad and unremarkable marketers who are not taxed out of existence are likely to rely ever more on ads.
Ads of course have their place but there’s a big difference between a ‘buy my shit now’ ad and a subtle push for your latest ‘guide to planning a wedding for the over-sixties’.
For good marketers, nothing changes. Except perhaps that a lot of noise from bad marketing will fade away.
For us consumers, dare we expect less spam email? Easier ways to opt-out of email. Less crap through the letterbox?
GDPR is enforceable from today!
Could GDPR create more room for the good stuff? For the genuinely helpful, educational, entertaining stuff sent by good marketers for people who raise their hands. For those who willingly give their permission.
I believe that GDPR is a golden opportunity for good marketers to do even better!
*To be fair ‘some’ marketing has always been exceptional – even before Seth’s seminal book on Permission Marketing.
Book a demo now
Get insights into responsible lending
Enter your email to get insights once or twice a month
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.