Emailing Privately Off-Venue

Part of using technology to its full potential is marketing wherever you can.  This includes discussion boards, mailing lists and groups where your target market hangs out or others in your industry network.  What then is the etiquette for contacting folks directly by going off-list, off the discussion boards you see them on, off the group you are a member of?

Several readers have contacted me about the fact they consider any contact off-venue communications to be spam and an invasion of their privacy.  This simply is not the case if you are participating in business related forums or email conversations.  With that exposure may come some spam, but one should make such a broad sweeping determination.  Of course if someone contacts you to sell you something you didn’t ask for that’s spam no matter what the situation.

If you are on a business discussion list or group, it goes without saying you are there to get exposure.  Don’t be surprised when other members contact you privately with questions about your posts, business or a specific conversation you were involved in.  I have folks I don’t know who see me on boards or lists contact me off-venue all the time.  Some have become clients, while others I have mentored and others I have formed partnerships with.

When a conversation goes off-topic, it is common practice to take the conversation off-list.  Nor is it spam if someone is replying directly to your post and the topic at hand and desires a private conversation with you.  If an issue or topic is exclusive to one member and not of interest to the group, the proper thing to do is to contact the person off-list so the list/board/group can remain on topic and of value to all members.

Here comes the twist where many do in fact end up breaching the privacy of another member.  If you get into off-venue conversations with other members,  that does not give you tacit approval to bring the conversation or their private reply to you back publicly to the group or list.  What is off-list stays off-list unless all parties agree to bringing the conversation back to the group.

If you feel all off-venue communications from other business related participants is spam, you may be on these lists for all the wrong reason.  Be open to those who contact you to continue conversations or ask your advice.  Opportunities and new partnerships await you.

Some More Info for You:

1. Emailing Others With Your Assumptions
2. 3 Tips to Manage Group E-mail Conversations
3. Adding to Your Mailing List: Ask BEFORE You Add!
4. Don’t Be a Social Media Spammer!