Hands-down, the best sort of permission to obtain for your email marketing campaign is "explicit" permission.

When you have explicit permission, your recipient has specifically confirmed with you that he or she would like to receive your email marketing messages.

There is a form of permission in the world of email marketing known as "implied permission." You are not required by law to reach out to each customer or business associate, and to ask explicitely if it is all right for you to send him or her your email newsletter. Your existing relationship with a contact "implies" permission to include him or her in a mass email.

Implied permission, however, can be tricky. How do you know when it is OK to send your newsletter to someone without first asking for explicit permission?

If you are committed to the idea of permission-based email marketing, and if you are diligent about implementing it, you can benefit from focused, targeted, and effective marketing campaigns to your prospects and customers in Kansas City.

To be serious about getting permission, however, you must know what it means to have "no permission."

As I have stressed numerous times in this blog series, the number one reason to avoid spamming your customers in a town like Kansas City is that you can lose business. Your recipients probably know you, and they are likely to hold it against you if you disrespect them via email.

Since the the federal CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assualt of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act went into effect in 2004, there are also potential legal consequences.

So, getting some spam complaints is inevitable--even in a nice, friendly town like Kansas City--but how do you minimize them? How do you keep computer users happy with the emails you send?

There are several steps you can take to avoid having your recipients tag you as a spammer, just because they don't want to receive your email newsletter any more.