Anyone using email that I did not request and offering me anything for free or for sale is, in my book, a spammer regardless or the quantity sent of the method used
So what is the difference, for you then, between someone calling you on the phone, sending a flyer or emailing you?
Spam for me, has always been email of little or no interest to me. <span style='color:red;text-decoration:blink' title='Alert a moderator!'>grilled spam</span>, etc. What I am offering, is a specialized service for a vertical market which has been well researched. I guess that is the distinction I make.
While I agree that email is a bad platform to sell something on initially it is also just an alternative medium, which happens to be cost effective.
Direct selling is the most effective, which is why I am considering that approach, as opposed to mass advertising -- which many people are equally zealous about stopping (adblockers, etc).
This is where my own moral dilema comes in. My clients need to find out about me, otherwise I'll never sell anything. Regardless of what medium or technique I use, there will undoughtedly be people who hate it.
I can't stand phone calls -- especially when I'm busy. Flyers are often trashed and thus paper wasted. At least with email, it's optional. I can read it and discard it immediately or archive for later purposes. It's unobtrusive and yet fairly personal -- or it can be.
As long as I only send a single email and not bombard people with one after the other -- morally I'm doing just fine.
I tend to think of spam as viral email that just continues to flood my inbox with no purpose. I'm not going to buy <span style='color:red;text-decoration:blink' title='Alert a moderator!'>grilled spam</span>, on the other hand, if I received an email from a company that offered superior hosting, I would then likely archive the email and research it later.
Personally, I guess, I just prefer email. It's not intimidating and you don't feel the pressure of a pushy salesman -- or you shouldn't anyways. Flyers are random. I don't eat at Burger King very often, so the coupons I receve weekly are mostly wasted.
Google Ads is great but -- it's not as effective. I need to reach a very particular vertical market. Direct selling is the only real option.
Interesting problem -- this grey area. Kind of goes hand in hand with selling I guess.
