Subscribe to this feedWhen Can I Add Someone to My Email List?

I have a huge network and the privilege of knowing some of the best people that you would ever want to meet. They are great at what they do; they take very good care of their clients. In general, they are just good people.

Yet when it comes to the ethics of email marketing, some of them have fallen prey to the dark side of the force.

How?

1) They buy email lists.

2) They add people to their newsletter list because they received their business card at a networking event.

3) They build their lists through nefarious methods.

I know what they are doing. They are great at what they do and they want the world to know it, therefore the world can do business with them. 

But that's nonsense, and it's contrary to everything these good people would do in the analog world; in the "real" world. 

So when can you add someone to your email list?
Only when someone specifically requests to be added to your list, be it through your website or when they hand you their business card and say "hey, please add me to your email list."

I'll discuss the rest of my best practices for email marketing in a future blog post.

In the interim, ask yourself if you want to damage your carefully crafted reputation by becoming a spammer.