The Difference Between Email Marketing And Email Spam
Both email marketing and email spam are basically advertisements or messages that people would like to convey with others. Both are common on the internet and are often received by users with an email address. However, what draws the line between the two?
Unsolicited commercial email vs. Permission based marketing
Basically, spam, also known as unsolicited commercial email is an email that gets delivered to users' email inboxes on a large scale without these users' permission. They are targeted to anyone regardless of their interests in the email contents. Generally what happens is that email addresses are harvested via forums and other Internet means. These email addresses are compiled into a email list and sold off to companies and businesses which will send out adverts to them.
Generally spammers will not allow users to unsubscribe. Spamming is a bad Internet marketing practice because it infringes on personal space and privacy. Email marketing or permission based marketing however is different. This is the capturing or creation of email lists with the users' consent, as they believe that in return you would provide valuable information.
Once again the fine line here is that even if they give you their email address you should try to avoid spamming-only sending sales letters and advertisements. Proper email marketing is providing the audience with relevant and valuable information along with the products and services you have to offer (relating to each other).
For any business it is important to use proper internet etiquette to avoid gaining a bad reputation especially if you decide to embark on email newsletter marketing campaign.
