Remember: "No" means "No!"

Melbourne Herald Sun, Friday November 2, 2012 

"We want to put out a regular email newsletter for our services, we've got lots of ideas but don't have the database. How do we put one together, Ray? You know about these things."

I was flattered but in my head ran the thought, "Blowed if I know - if I did I'd have done it myself."

So I decided to ask some experts because by now I was curious too. Building my own small list has been a long slow process, while others have done it big and fast and made millions.

One of the first rules hammered home was: get their permission, make sure they "opt in". And believe it, that "no" means "no". Just last week Tiger Airways learned that lesson the expensive way. They failed to respond when customers asked to be deleted from their mailing list. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) hit them with the Spam Act and they were fined $110,000. They were fortunate - it allows penalties of up to $1.1 million a day.

In fact Australia has some of the harshest spam legislation in the world. As usual our pompous legislators have created an excessively cast-iron act that is totally ignored by the people who need to be regulated.

While honest Australian businesses are burdened by the yolks and chains, the merry spammers of the world flood our mailboxes. I still get a hundred spam a day promoting growth of hair or sex organs or offering me a five million dollar inheritance, and if you threatened those shadowy spammers with ACMA they'd pull out the pimple cream.

So how do you avoid the traps and reach your audience? I asked Australian Direct Mail Association's CEO Jodie Sangster. "You need consent obtained by another means - not by sending them a spam letter." You can write to existing customers, but non-customers have to give consent first.

Not surprisingly, she recommends using her own association's members, pointing out that they have to subscribe to a code of compliance that spells out the rules.

List brokers like Simon Remington hunt out lists to order. They make it their business to know where to find specific groups, perhaps from professional associations or magazine subscriptions. They are "permission based". That's what you are doing when you check the box, "Would you like to be told about special offers?" when you sign on to a web site.

The lists usually cost between 20 and 40 cents a hit, or a dollar or two to buy, plus a set-up fee of about $200. The broker will connect you with the list vendor, and can arrange graphics and creative.

If you want to make a contact your own, they have to respond and give consent. So you offer something free, an incentive. Ebooks have value but are inexpensive. Alan Kohler has built up his Eureka newsletter with a constant flow of "free" marketing or investment reports to those who subscribe.

Investors' advocate Stephen Mayne built the big circulation for his Crikey.com through the media attention on his news scoops. But he admits the biggest boost was through his standing for board election for the likes of Woolworths, NAB, Telstra, Commonwealth Bank and other giants he slashed.

Each was obliged to send candidate CVs to all their shareholders. And Mayne's always started with: "CEO of Crikey.com". When the shareholders checked him out they were introduced to Crikey.com and its special offer. All 5.6 million of them.

Let's hope he can come up with some equally creative solutions for Melbourne Council's problems, now he's on board. But after this past election, we don't need any more spam.

ray@ebeatty.com
Blog: themarketeer-raybeatty.blogspot.com