One of the most interesting books I've read on marketing and digital stuff this year is probably Seth Godin's permission marketing. I was a bit late to the party again granted, (it was first published in 1999) but it's still as relevant today as it was back then if not more so.
It's based on the single thought that one of the most valuable results you can get from someone visiting your website is their permission for you to contact them again. Simple as that.
I went over to visit Charlie Saatchi's new place yesterday and he seems to have got his head right around this. He's set up a permanent room in the gallery just to get peoples permission for him to contact them again via a very simple form.
The clever bit is that in offering it up as free membership to an exclusive arts institution (the Tate charge about £40 for membership in comparison) people were queing up to hand over their details.
And as it's a permanent room he's now going to get a constant stream of permissions on a daily basis to fill his data base up with. Plus all the demographics stuff on top of it.
Makes you wonder if everyone shouldn't dedicate a permanent room to free membership.
The title of this post is quite cynical, but what if you actually gave those new members actual membership to something and let them help you decide on stuff and run your business?
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