Marketing in it’s purest form is not about selling, it is simply a form of communication and as such is a neutral concept that can be used for good or for evil.

I’ve had newsletter subscribers tell me that even though they are not in business or marketing, they read my newsletters cover to cover and always find something that helps them. From the librarian who wants kids to know about the many fun, educational programs they can become involved in, to the kindergarten teacher who needs parents on board with her classroom policies, they find ideas on improving communication and getting better buy-in whatever their valuable, beneficial message.

Have you used a “marketing” tool or idea in a non-marketing context? I’d love to know about your experience. Leave a comment.

Possibly. But I don’t think so.

Shortly after my arrival at the Vancouver Blogger Meetup at Ceilis Pub on Tuesday evening, I encountered a perplexed Pete Quily (AKA ADD Coach). I should note for the record that Pete and I have great respect for one another. We share similar interests in current events, politics, business and social media. We’ve known each other for years. I think he’s smart as hell, and he’s earned a very loyal following both in the social media realm and among his very satisfied clientele for his Adult ADD Coach consulting business.

I shall paraphrase Pete’s complaint: “Dude, you spammed me! You of all people — a guy who understands social media and how it’s supposed to be used responsibly — you spammed me. I never asked to receive your email newsletter. I’m a little disappointed.”

I have to say, I felt bad. I tried to rationalize my action. I tried to explain it in a way that might mitigate the damage done. I think it just made me look weak. In the end, all I could do was apologize and promise that it wouldn’t happen again (Pete has been taken off my email newsletter list as of 10 minutes ago– though if he requests it, I’d be honored to add him back in).

That said, am I really guilty as charged? Let’s look at the definition of spam:

Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.

Well, no one asked me to send them a WRITEIMAGE newsletter. So, according to this definition, my newsletter was at least somewhat spammy or spam-like.

Still, no one asks me to send 99 per cent of the emails I send. If spam was simply any unsolicited email, I’d be offending people every time I sent out a message asking a friend out for coffee, touched base with a client or put out a holiday greeting. So let’s look at the other conditions.

“Of a commercial nature”?

Yup. I’m thankful that I’ve already received some offers of referrals as a result of my newsletter and at least one response that looks like it may shortly lead to some new business. Heck, that’s a big part of the reason I sent out my newsletter in the first place. I want more clients and I’m not bashful about it. But does this mean I’m treading in dangerous spam-filled waters?

“Sent indiscriminately”. Here’s where I think I may get off on a technicality.

Here’s the thing. I sent my newsletter out to about 550 people. Did I discriminate in regard to who received the message? Absolutely.

My original list of email recipients numbered about 1,200. These included friends, relatives, business colleagues, clients and a fair number of people whose connection to me remains a mystery to this day.

If I had sent out my newsletter to that entire list, there’s no doubt it would have been spam. Even with my “Unsubscribe” instructions at the bottom of the email, I would have been a card-carrying member of the Spammerati.

But I didn’t send it out to the entire list. I decided that there were a few different types of recipients who might really appreciate my newsletter. These were, in no particular order:

* Prospective clients who might read my tips and understand what I could be doing for them.

* Current clients who might read my copywriting tips to get a better understanding of what I do for them.

* Business colleagues and others who want to learn how to improve their writing skills, web content and business collateral. If they eventually decide they don’t want to do this themselves and want to out-task, I’m around. If not, at least I’ll get some karmic value from giving back to the world in my own way.

* Colleagues, friends and family members who might want to see what I was up to professionally and might actually have a referral or two for me. Even here in Canada, human beings have tribal and nepotistic leanings. Like most people in business, I hoped to take full advantage of that.

Keeping in mind my target audience, I decided to eliminate the following groups from my email contact list:

* People who I don’t actually know. It’s amazing how many people in your email contacts list will match this description after building it up for over 10 years. Shamefully, this includes some people who are connected to me on my various social networking platforms (although I suspect virtually anyone with a Twitter account with over 150 followers will be able to relate).

* People who don’t like me or think I’m an idiot. Incredible though it may seem, there are such people out there. Not a huge number, mind you; but enough that I don’t need to be giving them a reason to prank-call me or break my legs.

* Colleagues, friends or family members who don’t give a rat’s ass what’s going on with me professionally. Hey, fair enough. I can relate. I don’t need to know how my second cousin Anton’s real estate career in Arizona is going, either.

* Anyone connected with Satan, Hitler or that freckle-faced kid who used to beat me up at recess.

I spent several hours going down my email list address by address to cull out the emails I didn’t want and I was left with about 550 people. That was still a fairly large list, but I thought I’d done a pretty admirable job of cutting out those who probably wouldn’t want to read anything I was sending out.

Despite my best efforts, within several minutes of sending out my newsletter, I had my first “Unsubscribe” request. It’s been a few days and to date, I’ve got exactly nine of them (including Pete’s, though he didn’t send me his request by email).

Out of 550 people, I’d say that’s not bad. The vast majority of my list either liked what they read or at least didn’t hate it enough to request to stop receiving my stuff.

And according to my website traffic, several hundred recipients were interested enough to click on the links I provided in the email. Quite a few of those clicked on my services pages, my case studies and other parts of my website. And as I mentioned before, I’ve gotten several real business opportunities out of it. So, it seems as though the newsletter worked largely as intended.

I think I was quite discriminating about who received my email newsletter. I don’t think I spammed anyone, at least not according to a fairly strict definition of spam.

I certainly was proven incorrect in my belief about who wanted to read my newsletter by the nine recipients who chose to “Unsubscribe”. And I’m upset that my good friend Pete is a bit annoyed at me right now (even though I’m sure that he’ll forgive me for my transgression). I hope that he accepts my apology and understands my intentions were honorable.

But again, these mistakes were not intentional. Assuming I don’t get a whole whack of “Unsubscribe” requests over the next few days, I think I can say my email list was as accurate as I could make it. I’m not a spammer.

What do you think? Did I do the right thing? Am I innocent as a result of a technicality? Or am I going to that plane of Hell reserved for email spammers and people who like to fart in crowded elevators? Leave a comment and let me know.

“I’d like the eggs, bacon, spam and sausage without the spam!”