Quick. Got a business card – add them to your mailing list

posted in General on by

Should you?

Probably not. During my speaking engagements and while attending conferences, I meet a lot of people to whom I give my business cards. To my surprise, I see that, very soon, I am on one or more of their mailing lists. Most often, their mailings are of no relevance to me. When I try to unsubscribe, those requests won’t go through. All I do next is to add that email address to the rule where I move this mailing to trash.

When you send something that is not relevant to someone, you introduce cost in their life. Sometimes, technology will help the other person deal with this annoyance easily but sometimes it won’t.  It it costs a lot for the other person to deal with your unwanted mailing, it will hurt you more than it will help you.

My $.02

Getting someone’s business card is not same as getting their permission to add them to their mailing list.

PS:
If you have not read Seth‘s classic on this topic – Permission Marketing, please do. If you do any kind of mailing, this is a must read.