4 Opt-In Strategies For Fighting Spam

“The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. Third rule of Fight Club: Someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.” Fight Club, 1999

You’re probably wondering, what in the world does this have to do with email deliverability? Good question. In email reputation, I notice people will say nearly anything else to justify purchasing lists as having nothing to do with spam and spamming:

“It’s not spam, our product is really great.”

“We’re not spammers, we just send to purchased lists.”

“The list provider assures us this list is opted in.”

That makes me think there must be some ‘Fight Club’ rules for spammy marketing. The first rule of sending spam is you do not talk about being a spammer. The second rule is, you do not talk about being a spammer. Third rule: If your Email Service Provider catches you, the spamming is over.

I’m not denying, by any means, that Fight Club was an excellent book (and movie!), but is it really what you want your marketing strategy to be? The ideology of “be a spammer, but don’t call it spamming, and stop only when you get caught” seems a little silly when you could be putting that same time and energy into engaging with prospects who care about your emails. Instead of buying a list and contributing to the endemic spam problem as a secret member of the spamming Fight Clubs, why not collect prospects in a productive, organic way? Use some tried-and-true opt in strategies, like….

1. Trade Shows

What better place to get prospect data than actually talking to that prospect face to face? It’s clear they’re interested in your product if they’ve handed you their business card or signed up at your booth. The added benefit of trade show sign-ups is that you actually spoke face to face with the person and can say something like “It was awesome meeting you at XYZ Trade Show!” in your email, which adds a great personal touch.

2. Optimize your website

Don’t let your website be the last chance people have to check out all the cool content you have to offer. Put signup forms on your blog, your whitepapers, and whatever pages you notice people are coming to most, so prospects have a chance to sign up directly from your website as easily as possible.

3. Do cool things in your space

Hosting events is a great way to get in touch with potential product buyers. At Salesforce Pardot, we do a great user group events and participate in the big Salesforce World Tour events that help us grow our marketing in an interactive way. Think about what interesting or unique events you could host to help increase your visibility and get more signups to your marketing emails!

4. Don’t underestimate the power of social media

Generally, I will say I’m not terrifically fond of Twitter, unless your account happens to be WeRateDogs. However, it can be an extraordinarily useful tool for letting your followers know about new blog posts to your site or a cool new whitepaper you want to show off. Make sure you use your social media accounts thoughtfully, both to drive people to your site and to publicly interact with your prospects!

What strategies did I leave out? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @Holobachgirl!