[aantix]

While I agree that it probably does enable a certain portion of spammers, cold outreach is a necessary component to growing a company. There is nothing more effective than a well directed email stating that 1) you can solve one of their problems and 2) are you willing to purchase it today?

Skip your blog posts. Skip your viral marketing videos. Skip your media blitz. Find your customers. Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them.

What would be the alternative?

[salemh]

When I signed up for my local AMA (American Marketing Association) they sold my data out to a number of lists. I haven't had such a terrible instance of absolute blasting of spam with no regard to audience out of two SFO "lead gen" startups that resulted in several complaints to their CMO's to get me off their lists.

The absolute wrong way to gain customers is to blast lists out to purchased people in a "hammer" fashion vs targeted / personalized informational content pieces.

Your idea on:

Find their emails (yes, using services like LeadGenius) and just simply ask them.

Is fantastic, but this service is being used for lead validation/spam.

If people want actual email addresses, they can typically online google search, or use data.com (formerly JigSaw).

Most larger companies don't do demand generation well, and I think many people on here don't see an issue of batch/blasting for "lead gen".

I'm in Marketing Automation for a living and deal with CANSPAM/compliance quite a bit day to day.

[downandout]

I agree that one man's spam can be another man's valuable service offering. But generally sending unsolicited email to people at work is considered spam.

The alternatives are numerous. Adwords, Facebook advertising, LinkedIn ads, running ad campaigns on targeted websites, etc. I saw one a story about one guy that was acutally able to specifically target a single person at a specific company he wanted using LinkedIn ads [1].

[1] http://thehustle.co/the-linkedin-hack-that-made-me-120000

[the_watcher]

All those ad channels are substantially more expensive in almost all SaaS cases. Sending an unsolicited email is not spam. Sending mass numbers of automated unsolicited emails is spam. LeadGenius and the like simply provide email addresses.

I run large scale advertising campaigns. I wish that it was cheaper than hiring an SDR to cold email. It simply isn't. In the very early days, advertising is so expensive that it makes almost no sense to prefer it over cold emails. Cold emailing simply works, as much as it might irritate you

[jwatte]

I get dozens of unsolicited sales emails every day. Just answering "thanks but no thanks, and please take me of your mailing and prospect lists" takes time out of my day. It had a real cost.

I have to answer, because the sales people will keep mailing every week otherwise, and marking as spam reduces the quality of the spam filter rules.

I'm the kind of person who will use inbound information if I'm actually looking to solve a problem, and I will resent your wasting my time if you go outbound at me. You literally end up on a "prefer not to do business with" list, hurting yourself.

Meanwhile, enough people apparently can't research their own problems enough, that cold marketing works. I just can't really understand why that is.

[chinathrow]

"There is nothing more effective than a well directed email stating that 1) you can solve one of their problems and 2) are you willing to purchase it today?"

That is considered illegal spam in lots of european countries unless you have a pre-existing relation ship with the recipients. YMMV.

[Silhouette]

Unfortunately, many of those laws only apply in B2C contexts, not B2B.

That doesn't make the time dealing with it any less of a waste or make spamming any more ethical or socially acceptable just because it's a professional contact, of course.

[snowwrestler]

People give higher credence to information that they find themselves, than information that is pushed to them by an obviously interested party. This is the heart of why inbound marketing works and is a good idea.

The alternative to finding potential customers is to find where they hang out, then go there and inform them that you exist. If they really want/need your service, they will come to you. Once they do, that's when you get that contact info and politely but persistently pound it.

[someone7x]

I consider spam to be a on a spectrum of invasive advertising. Direct mail and telemarketers are other obvious examples.

A more extreme example: if a hustler approaches me on the street and tries to con me, is that still "cold outreach"?

To me if it's on that spectrum it's all sleazy, only to varying degrees. At least with blog posts and viral videos it's always my choice to engage with them.

[aantix]

If someone notices that you walk on the insides of your feet and see that you're in pain and they say "Hey, I own an orthopedic shoe store, you should stop in and we can alleviate some of your foot pain", is that sleazy?

I think it's beyond helpful; it's doing a great service. Thoughtful, highly targeted cold outreach is just that.