I started to get to know, to mess with, to get my hands on e-marketing stuff in 1997 more or less. Back then, everyone was still trying to get around and test things to see what worked and what doesn’t. 

Well, about 1998 to 1999 I was sure that email marketing was my main goal to get things bloom. By that time, there were already a ton of companies specialized in email marketing, but every single one had different business models to gather subscribers… err, some of them, just doesn’t deserve the word subscribers.

I was base in Europe, in Portugal more precisely, and we’re watching the US market very closely because they were like 5 to 6 years in the lead when it comes to the internet business. In that time, everyone was like a self-taught online business marketer. There weren’t school classes or crash courses to attend to. Or you gain experience or learn form people who tried something and see the reaction.

But some things I was sure that should work better than others. Why? Well those things are transversal to any market or medium when you deal with common denominator: Humans. It’s called civilization and ethics. 

Like I said above, we’ve studied several companies and their business models and some of those was very clear that were the right path and others were not. Basically, in email marketing there’s just ONE method that work on long-term: Permission.

If you don’t get people’s permission to send them email messages you’re doing it wrong. This was wrong in 1998 and this is even more wrong in 2011, when in the mean time, we’ve proclaimed the people as the king of the new digital era. Not Businesses.

Someone asked for contacts and companies dealing with the B2B market and this crowded the comment section with a lot of answers that gives you an idea about what people still think about email marketing. Just because someone has their email on a website or forum, that doesn’t gives you the right to gather those email addresses and start sending you SPAM. Let’s not have no doubt about it: SPAM.

Some of these companies are very respectful in the online marketing market and seeing this lines gives me a pretty good idea about the state of the medium right now. We’re still in the dark age of the unknown. Today, we already have school classes about these mediums, MBA’s, the Internet is full of knowledge about best practices and still we see these strategies having traction on some businesses. And one thing is also for sure: If they are out there making these cold calls, someone is answering them and making their day.

That’s our loss. So, my word is: If you don’t already know that this isn’t the way to do email marketing, please educate yourself and don’t accept everything you see on the Internet. Don’t even take my word for it. Check for different sources and please, listen to your own values. Imagine you’re on the other end. What are you going to feel about that product or service that reaches you that way?