Business · Book club
Permission Marketing book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for Permission Marketing by Seth Godin, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
Permission Marketing is Seth Godin's 1999 manifesto arguing that the dominant marketing model — interruption, buying attention, broadcasting to audiences who didn't ask — is fundamentally broken and becoming more broken.
Seth Godin · 1999 · 4h 0m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
Godin wrote this in 1999, before social media, smartphones, and modern email marketing. What aspects of his argument have been vindicated by what has happened since, and what has he gotten wrong?
- 2.
What is the permission asset of a business you admire? How do they maintain and expand it without exploiting it?
- 3.
Godin distinguishes anticipated, personal, and relevant as the three characteristics of permission marketing. Which of these is hardest to achieve at scale, and why?
- 4.
Where in your own life have you granted permission to a business that has violated it? What did they do, and what did you do in response?
- 5.
How does the permission framework apply to social media, where platforms can algorithmically reach people who haven't opted in to your specific messages?
- 6.
What is the difference between a customer who opted in to your email list and one who bought from you once? How should you treat them differently?
- 7.
Godin says the goal is to turn strangers into friends and friends into customers. What does 'friend' mean in a business context, and what are the limits of that metaphor?
- 8.
What would a permission-first marketing budget look like? How would it be allocated differently from a typical interruption-based budget?
- 9.
The attention economy has intensified since 1999. Does the increasing scarcity of attention make Godin's argument more compelling or does it change the nature of the problem?
- 10.
When is interruption marketing still rational? What conditions make buying unwanted attention worthwhile despite the declining effectiveness Godin describes?
- 11.
How does content marketing relate to permission marketing? Is content marketing permission marketing, or is it a form of interruption that earns permission?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for Permission Marketing?
Here are 11 book club questions for Permission Marketing by Seth Godin, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on marketing, customer relationships, strategy.
How long should a book club discussion of Permission Marketing last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in Permission Marketing?
Marketing, Customer relationships, Strategy, Digital marketing, Branding. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like Permission Marketing or questions for other book club picks.
