Although items above are clearly no-brainers, recent columns published at Clikz.com (www.clikz.com) offered some interesting thoughts on whether there can ever be an acceptable use for unsolicited email in B2B marketing.

Clikz readers raised some of following issues: If you attend a conference and collect business cards, are you spamming if you use their email address to make contact? Is it spam if a conference organizer emails past attendees to notify them of another upcoming conference? Is it spam if you email your customer list to notify them of a time when service will be unavailable or to notify them of a safety concern, for example? Is it spam if a company with whom you have previously done business contacts you without permission to announce a new service that could interest you?

I suspect that for many of us, issues raised above constitute "gray areas." Some of us will say unsolicited email is never acceptable. Others will say, "Yes, there could be exceptions." On a personal note, I wouldn't object to receiving such emails if I weren't already receiving a couple of hundred of unacceptable-under-any-circumstance spams every day. The sum total just gets to be too much.

Many experienced Internet marketers advise that you use bulk email only if your list has opted in and you are certain that list is "clean". If you decide to deviate from this policy for some reason, consider your options carefully and decide whether risks are justified in your unique situation.

People will spend their last dime to be entertained.

People respond to flattery.

People want to be happy. Period.

People want low prices while still wanting best deal.

People can tell if you don't believe in your product or service.

People respond to enthusiasm.

People will follow commands that make them feel superior.

People buy for emotional reasons and justify their decisions with whatever logic they can find or create, no matter how ridiculous.

People idolize past, complain about present, and fear future.

People will never argue with you if you never make them wrong.

People are deeply affected by what others think.

People always act for positive reasons, even if behavior is negative.

People will read any length of sales copy as long as it is interesting to them.

People become information junkies when they are interested in buying.

People will respond to you if you get out of your ego and into theirs.

People want to be recognized.

People want to be loved.

People are interested in other people.

People are interested in new, off-beat, unusual.

People are always interested in women, babies, and pets.

People love food and will read a recipe stuck in a sales letter.

People universally feel deprived.

People do not care about you or your business until you show them how you can help them.

People will mentally fill in holes to complete a story or sales pitch.

People will deny that advertising works while responding to ads.

People will read an ad if it doesn't look like an ad.

People will believe a news story over an advertisement hands down.

People are collectors of something, whether of books or thimbles or recipes, though they may deny it.

People will continue with a bad habit until it hurts.

People will do whatever you want as long as they don't have a counter-thought to your request. Handle objection and they will comply.

People unconsciously respond to your unconscious intentions.

People feel that something or someone else is in control and desperately seek ways to have power again.

People think about sex far more than they will ever admit.

People will deny that this list is entirely true.

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