SPAM through instant messaging is now a growing concern. Called spIM(SPAM + IM) it is being used to ‘market’ products and services just like email based SPAM. At the risk of giving away my age, I remember the early days of FAX machines back in the ’80s and how unsolicited messages and advertisements would mysteriously show up. Little did we know then the magnitude this would grow into with the advent of email. One of the questions back then still applies – would you do business with a company that littered and jammed up your in-box (email, IM, snail-mail, fax etc) with ‘junk’ mail?

Do you waste thousands of dollars of your marketing budget on this junk mail? There are alternatives…opt-in email subscription and  RSS syndication subscription are some examples of new ways of getting through to your prospects and customers and avoid ending up in the SPAM trash barrel. These new methods are based on permission marketing. Where your customers encourage and willingly accept your messages. This results in a positive relationship between you and your prospects and increases the chances that they will purchase their goods and services from you.

Would you buy from a company that spIM’d you?

Dean Owen