Without advertising not much would be sold because you and I would be deprived of the opportunity to compare features and benefits of things we want to buy. Just think of the ads in the newspapers, magazines, and yellow pages we use to make decisions on what to buy and when. Every business advertises! Advertising is everywhere: print, TV, radio, web, email, and WOM (Word of Mouth), and it is all unsolicited!

Our snail-mail boxes (US Post Office) are stuffed six times a week with unsolicited ads. We receive grocery store flyers, shopper magazines, card decks, and offers someone feels you cannot do without. Why not email ads?

Our telephones ring with offers they say we cannot refuse, and removal rules are difficult to implement and probably won’t work across state lines. Every time we drive down the freeway we listen to unsolicited ads on the radio. TV peppers us with ads at full volume. Billboards shout, "Save Here!" Electric, phone, cable, gas, water, and other bills are accompanied by unsolicited ads. Just try to look-up something on the web without a pop-up or pop-under ad. Everywhere you go there's an ad in your face.

ARE EMAIL ADS REALLY DIFFERENT?
Some say, “Well, email is different!” Yes, it is different, and so is the automobile of today different from the automobile of your dad’s day. Things change, and it takes time for we humans to decide whether that change is good or bad for us.

For example, porno and gambling ads are everywhere including via email, and you’ve certainly received an “Adults Only” mailing several times in your lifetime, and I know you have noticed the “Adult Bookstore” on the corner! Currently there are no really great rules regulating these ads, and due to the First Amendment of the Constitution, there probably will never be any regulations with teeth. Email ads are the same as every other ad with the only difference being the method of delivery.

ARE EMAIL ADS LEGAL?
Currently the concept of bulk email advertising is legal. There are attempts to make it illegal in some communities and states, but how are you going to stop someone in China from sending an email ad to you? Scams are not legal, and there are already laws against these, but scam artists have been with us for generations. What makes you think they won’t advertise their scams on the internet? Caveat Emptor (let the buyer beware).

WHY USE EMAIL ADS?
It's a lot less expensive to send out a million ads on email than it is to send ten through the mail. This makes bulk email very attractive. Currently there is no central bureau (with enforcement teeth) where you can have your email address "delisted" from data bases, but it will be coming. Overall, the concept of opt-in (permission to send) won’t work, but opt-out (don’t do it again) will. The small ISP (Internet Service Provider) cannot handle bulk email, but that's something they have to face regardless of what laws are passed. The sheer volume of web business will cause many small providers to go under with or without bulk email being a factor. Many of the very large ISPs do not really care whether you use bulk email or not ... most of them have the bandwidth to take care of it.

DOES EMAIL ADVERTISING WORK?
Yes. If it did not work, it would not be used. You can buy a bulk mail service where they do everything for you or you do it yourself. Just type the words BULK EMAIL into your browser's search engine and dozens of opportunities will appear.

SHOULD I USE EMAIL ADVERTISING?
I see no reason not to do so. If you CLEARLY spell out how to take the recipient's email address off YOUR list you are only inconveniencing the recipient once. Compare that to trying to stop snail-mail or telephone solicitors! Is bulk email here to stay? Yes. Does it work? Yes. Can I get in trouble using it? Until some bureaucrat proposes and the sheeple (sheep-like people who only follow the crowd having no personal thoughts) vote it in, the answer is: "Probably not." You can be inconvenienced and taken off some ISPs machines, and that could be a factor in your decision to use bulk email, but to my knowledge there currently are no firm penalties for using advertising, and that is what bulk email really is.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.