Wine Rack's offer hard to swallow

The Law of Attraction as defined by Michael Losier explains how you effectively get more of what you give, so it was reassuring to see Wine Rack operating a classy piece of permission marketing to coincide with the opening of a new store in Hungerford.

Or rather we were reassured until we read the small print, when it suddenly became a clumsy effort indeed. And all this the very day after Morgan PR gave a seminar on permission marketing

In theory it was a sound offer - 'Save £5 when you spend £25 or more on wine and champagne' and in return you submitted your details that would allow them to market directly to you - with your permission.

Leaving aside that they probably meant 'wine or champagne', its modest offer of a diminishing 20% off with each £1 more than £25 you spend, it was the small print that disappoints.

The offer was severly time limited and in fact only lasted for a week, having expired some days previously.

So were we inspired to shop there? Of course not! Does it incline us to in the future? No, actually it probably disinclines us from using them in the future having had our hopes raises and then dashed.

Morgan PR gives Permission Marketing Seminar

Morgan PR's relationship with many if its clients is understandably confidential; while they deserve to be applauded for addressing the issues we can help with, their competitors might clap for a different reason.

We were in Birmingham today to address the assembled team from a national company on the intricacies of Permission Marketing as we see them, through our experience and not least through the wise words of Seth Godin, author of the PM bible appropriately named 'Permission Marketing'.

Essentially Permission Marketing is the antidote to the garish interruption marketing that we are all exposed to while so few actually respond to; it is about getting people to put up their hands to say they are interested in what you have to offer, and then building a relationship that helps them.

According to Godin:

"Consumers will grant a company permission to communicate only if they know what's in it for them. A company has to reward consumers, explicitly or implicitly, for paying attention to its messages."

Paraphrasing him it means that you should provide something that your customers will want to learn more about, and may be unable to find elsewhere. Some examples include regular e-newsletters with timely news or tips related to your product or service, links to and/or reviews of new and updated Web sites, and problem/solution case studies.

Gather contact information for as many potential customer contacts as you think will be interested in being part of your permission marketing list and then start building the relationship, always respecting them and in effect courting them.

The seminar was delivered to a group who were keen to participate and offer up example of how they work now and they could quickly see how a different approach could deliver better results.