10 Steps to set up a Permission Marketing Campaign

1. Figure out the lifetime value of a new customer.

The Ford Motor Company has calculated that a loyal customer is worth $142,000 over their lifetime.

Domino's Pizza chain estimates that a loyal customer is worth about $5000 over the 10 year life of a franchise.

According to marketing commentators Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg, a loyal customer is worth 5 times more than a new customer but too many companies are preoccupied with customer acquisition strategies rather than rewarding loyal customers.

2. Invent and build a series of communication suites that you can use to turn strangers into friends. This would be a series of emails, letters, scripts, webpages, surverys, trivia, quizzes etc. Easily the best way to do this is through a rewards program.

Essential to each suite are 4 elements:

A/ They take place over time.

B/ They offer the consumer a selfish reason to respond.

C/ The communication should be altered as you move forward.

D/ They should have a final call to action.

3. Change all your advertising to include a call to action. Never run an ad that doesn't give the consumers a chance to respond. Once they respond, initiate one of the communication suites.

4. Measure the result of each suite. Throw out the bottom 60% and replace them with new suites. Continue testing the new approach.

5. Measure how many permissions you receive. Measure how much permission changes buying behaviour. Reward all parties on the permission team for exceeding metrics.

6. Appoint 1 person to guard the permission base. Have that person focusing on increasing the level of permission gained from each individual and reward her for resisting short term profiteering.

7. Work to decrease your cost of frequency by automating responses and moving to email and the internet.

8. Rebuild your website from being a brochure to a focused permission acquisition medium. Your website should have an online loyalty program that collects the name of people who are interested in your range of products and services. Online questionnaires and surverys will give you valuable information while rewarding your prospects for participating and building both permission and loyalty.

9. Regularly audit your permission base to determine how deep your permission is. There is permission and then there is permission. You can scale it from 1 -10 to measure depth.

10. Leverage your permission by offering additional products and services or by co-marketing with partners. Make the respondents familiar with your extended range so that you can open up cross selling opportunities. You will also get more leverage through strategic partnerships with your suppliers who may have products of interest for your permission database.