Responsible spam? Frank Catalano thinks it’s possible, but not so his editors,
who asked that a chapter on the subject be removed from the manuscript for
“Marketing Online for Dummies” published by IDG Books Worldwide.
However, ClickZ picked it up, presenting a piece that
presents a more “humane” way to spam, if you will, for those who simply MUST
use what is possibly the least effective Internet marketing tactic.
Unsolicited commercial e-mail is nothing more than an electronic marketing
message, Catalano writes. “We’ve come to terms with marketing messages in
every other
medium–including the World Wide Web–even if it means tuning them out.
Could it be that what really gets the emotional, anti-spam hackles up is
genuinely fraudulent spam?”
He goes on to propose a kinder, gentler way to spam, urging e-mail marketers
to “Call a spam a spam. Senders must make it clear that the message is
commercial in nature, starting the subject line with “UCE:” (for Unsolicited
Commercial E-mail) or “Ad:” (for Advertisement), followed by the true subject.
Other recommendations: Keep it really short; don’t forge the return address;
don’t advertise anything offensive or illegal; don’t steal the services of others; and honor all remove requests. Full text of the article is available here.
Catalano is a Seattle-based analyst and strategist for computer industry companies, as principal of Catalano Consulting. He can be reached at catalano@catalanoconsulting.com