Let's talk about consent.
This is a very important topic for marketers. How do you get it, how long does it last, and how do you maintain it? Commonly referred to as permission-based marketing, consent is required for marketing offers and announcements to appear in a user's email or messaging inbox.
Consent is a dynamic state of the relationship, not a static state, so consumers must be provided with an easy means to provide or withdraw consent. One-click email unsubscribes and STOP2END reminders at the end of SMS marketing texts are great examples.
Unfortunately, despite countless brands' rhetoric about being customer-centric, permission-based marketing has become a game of obfuscation, confusion, and misdirection, with consumers putting their best interests first. It has become clear that we are taking away the right to act. To generate more leads, sales, and conversions, permission has moved from agency to manipulation.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
Marketers have to do better. It's time to make a choice. Either we mean what we say and empower consumers, or we drop all the performative talk and keep doing what we're doing. But you can't continue doing both.
In that spirit, we propose a new path: Ethical Permission-Based Marketing (EPBM). EPBM enables users to define and control their relationship with a brand's marketing communications in the most user-friendly way possible.
Information hierarchy is distorted
Below is an example of permission-based marketing from GolfChannel.com.
After reading the article, consumers must choose whether to enable advertising. And, of course, readers are reminded in a not-so-subtle way that opting in to this tracking helps keep the site running. (Why think about a monetization strategy when you can just sell consumer data?)
Digital entrepreneur, marketing storyteller and adventure seeker. Living my story means turning passion into a profession and dreams into plans. I'm the CEO of my own life.
