Am I Spamming?

You could buy leads that consist of people already interested in what you have to sell. It's alot easier than scanning the yellow pages.

In my eye, if you are sending unsolicited emails/faxes to businesses or people, then you are spamming.

I think you would have a much better response anyway if you went door to door if the businesses are local.

Kelvin

BlueClCl...

Nobody is going to get angry at you for making them an offer. If you repeatedly make offers after they said no, then you would be spamming.

Spamming is when you send messages in Bulk. So NO, it is not spamming and don't listen to anybody who tells you so.

thanks for the replys by the way

Visit them in person. If they know you're willing to make the effort to visit them, that should make a difference. Providing you're not representing a much bigger company.

I'd skip the emails. Most cities have some kind of "city Directory", you know--a reverse phone directory kind of thing. R. Polk is a huge company that publishes these all over the country. You can get names on Cheshire (machine fixable paper labels) or peel and stick labels and put them on postcards. Get a 3rd Class bulk miling permit and imprint at the post office. You postage costs will be slashed and people will keep and share a postcard much longer than an e-mail.

Most newspapers will also pay people to stuff fliers in Sunday papers for a reasonalble cost and you can have only certain areas covered, such as areas rich in office buildings, etc.

I respect everyone's opinion But too many in business have the wrong understanding when it comes to doing business by email!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spam

Make sure you read and fully understand the difference between the two. As long as you personalize each email in detail and are professional in your email communications it can work and it does. Just be smart about how you do things, no matter the format of your communications. Picking up and using the telephone once in awhile definitely helps build relationships so blending different ideas together works well.

All kinds of businesses use email communications for joint ventures, networking, bartering, discussing products and services etc. etc. It's all in how you communicate. Helping businesses with useful information is just one method that definitely works...

A good read that may help some...
Effective E-mail: How to Communicate Better Online

Dave

If I was you I would email them send them a letter in the mail and call them and then visit them If you don't get rejected or you don't get through on the phone.

As long as you're offering them something that will help their business and you hit them from all angles with all the strategies I described I think you could do very well;-)

Good Luck

Just a small point - if it is spam by email - it is also spam by snail mail.

A personal email addressed to an individual in a company can not be considered spam - it is simply cold canvassing.

I think its not spam untill u send more than 1 mail.

If you send an unsolicited commercial email, then yes, you are spamming. As well as online marketing, try offline strategies such as direct mail. You could also network your local business groups.

As far as I know:

1. If you send any business related email to anyone with out his or her permission it is considered as a spam.

As you can see from the various responses above, the definition of what constitutes SPAM is both a legal and a personal issue. You can search for the legal definitions in your area and attempt to comply with these if you wish.

As far as building your business in the off-line arena using email is concerned, you need to address the personal issues regarding what your recipients consider to be SPAM.

In order to not waste your potential client's time, you need to establish in some way what their needs are. There are plenty of threads and products on this forum that discuss the various ways to build an off-line business. But, unless you put your offer in front of someone who needs your service or product, you will be wasting your time going through any list of contact details to build a list of potential clients.

If I have a pressing problem that I need resolved and you send me an email that shows me how you can help me, then no way am I going to consider that SPAM.

So what do you need to do in order to find your target market? The answer is quite simple and depends on what amount of time and money you have to throw at the problem. If you have time and little money then do the work yourself. If you have limited time but enough money, then outsource the work.

The work you need to do is to contact each company you think needs your product or service and establish who the right person is to talk to. Create a telephone script and talk to as many businesses as you can in your target market. If you absolutely hate the phone then pay someone to do this for you. I have paid telemarketers and sales staff to do this based on results. "x" for a lead who is interested or "y%" for business generated.

There are many different ways to generate business; the one I have used successfully is as follows:

1. I selected the small business market who either had no website or had a poorly developed one.

2. I identified these businesses by perusing the "knock and drop" advertising that appeared in our mailbox as well as the free local newspapers.

3. I created a local business directory website using free software and then approached the local businesses both by telephone and in person and offered them a listing on the local business directory.

4. The discussion was lead in the direction of how they could generate more sales or turnover through the medium of their website.

5. The resulting discussion, which could take up to 2 hours, lead me to a full time income within one week of following this approach. If you find that the person you are talking to on the phone is interested in what you have to say then make an appointment to chat in person. I found that a personal visit was hundreds of times more affective in getting business than trying to close on the phone.

6. You can offer advertising on your directory, featured ads, website design, website upgrades, blog development, auto-responder implementation, SEO, SEM, eCommerce implementation, copy-writing, brochure design, business card design, logo design, general marketing consulting, video creation and upload to YouTube, TubeMogul etc.

If you don't have the skills required to do the work then outsource and charge a mark-up.

I hope that this helps you get your off-line business off the ground. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

Tough one... I mean I get personal emails
from other website owners all the time...usually
they just want to tell me about them or ask a
question and they tell me about their website etc.
but I wouldn't call that spam.

Maybe if it's really a personal email, not a bulk email
you send to everyone, then you might be able to get
away with it.

Or how about calling the person first and ask if you
can send them an email? Not for everyone, but just
an idea.

Stuart

B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) email legislation differs in the UK/EU, CAN-SPAM is a US law and only covers reciept or transmission within the US. Current UK/EU legislation allows marketing emails from the UK/EU to UK/EU businesses unless a recipient specifically requests that they do not wish to receive more emails. If you send more emails after they've requested not to receive any more, there could be a £5,000 fine per offence.

Current legislation relating to B2B and B2C email marketing

In the UK, B2C email marketing is covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) 2003 and The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). Registration with the Information Commissioner's Office as a 'Data Controller' is mandatory for UK businesses as soon as they hold details that could identify a living person. Failure to register if you hold personal information is a serious fine.

If you want to telephone a UK business for marketing purposes, then you'd have to check if they were registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). If you want to send a marketing fax to a UK business, then they might have registered with the Fax Preference Service (FPS). The fines for ignoring either of these registrations is again £5,000 per offence.

One company that monitors the TPS and FPS, then provides data cleansed targetted lists of businesses that you can market to in the UK is Selectabase: Data Lists Business Consumer, Direct Marketing Sales Packages, Data List Checking Cleaning Tools, but there are many more data providers like that.

The UK Government's 'Business Link' websites legal guidance on B2C email marketing:
Legal issues | Business Link

The UK Government's 'Information Commissioner's Office' (ICO) website also gives good information on B2C marketing:
Unsolicited marketing, legal obligations - Online privacy - ICO

Note at the bottom of that last page the words "There is currently no specific legislation to cover email sent to business addresses."

In my opinion you are not spamming anyone. You are basiclly offering your services. Yellow pages can earn you millions if you play with them in the right way...