I received a MySpace message this morning that sent me on a side track. After writing that post, I found myself asking a bigger question.

I am constantly trying to ride the line in my head for my love of marketing and my hate of being marketed to.

So, where do we draw the line? At what point does grey become black?

Currently, If I feel like if I am adding actual value and I feel like there is a good chance that the people I am marketing to will find some real value in the offer we are giving them or the channel in which we are doing it, it’s not spam.

With pull marketing, most of your efforts are demand based - PPC, SEO, Banners and the like. They are all passively offering a thing or an answer based on a particular interest and require action on behalf of the user to go into play.

Knowing when you cross the line in this world is all about expectation. If you tell them they will get A by clicking here, don’t give them B, S or both when they show up to your url.

Push marketing, however, is a different beast all together. You are infiltrating the home, in-box, profile or community of prospective customers. So you still have the A - B thing to deal with but you are also un-invited.

When un-invited, how do you separate your message from spam.

Is it possible? Can you be intelligent enough about who, how and why you direct market to someone that you are not considered spam?

Can you send something meaty in a spammy way that’s not considered spam?

What does socially responsible push marketing look like?

Does it matter?