Email Marketing
Although some large companies seem to forget this, like ToysRUs, you are very much negatively impacted by being associated with spam. Most everyone I know hates spam. In fact, Americans hate spam enough to make fighting it a billion dollar industry.
From a 2003 article on fighting spam:
million e-mail addresses for $25 and send e-mail to all 25 million at
practically no cost, it should come as no surprise that spam has become
such a scourge," wrote Basex chief analyst Jonathan Spira in a report
titled Spam E-Mail and Its Impact on IT Spending and Productivity.
Right now I can go to Google and search for an email list and purchase it on the spot using paypal or my Visa. Businesses that spam are seen as sleazy, and you do not ever want to be seen in that light.
Even if 1% of the 500K people you spam place an order, I hope that you understand that the potential cost in PR would never make that up. Consider using other inexpensive ways to get the word out about your business. Tomorrow I’ll list a few very effective methods for promoting your business. Use these instead of spam.