“If I couldn’t interrupt you, how would I reach you?”

This is virtually the first line in the new book by Dave Evans, “Social Media Marketing: an Hour a Day.” It’s in the About the Author section, before the table of contents. Most people won’t read this part of the book. But this is a very powerful question, one that every business — small and large — should be asking.

Here’s why: the traditional marketing and advertising system is broken. The traditional system is about buying advertising and interrupting people with your message. This system worked for a time. Yet, with the proliferation of products and media, we are now constantly bombarded with interruptions. Because there are so many messages, these interruptions have become background noise and is fairly easy to ignore. We now have caller-ID, TIVO, satellite radio, do-not-call lists, and more, all which allow us to choose the messages we want to hear.

And this is why social media, networking, and email marketing are so powerful. These media are based on the concept of permission marketing. When done correctly, you will receive permission to send messages to people who are interested in your ideas.

However, just because you get permission doesn’t mean you have a license to send any message. It must be an appropriate message, ideally something that is of value to your audience and to you. The way to achieve this is to be different. Or, as Seth Godin might say, be remarkable.

Here’s an example of what NOT to do: I receive an email newsletter from an independent restaurant near me that’s actually pretty good. I enjoy their food. But their emails are horrific. The content is obviously syndicated — mass-produced for restaurants — and every time I get one of their emails I cringe. It has (bad) jokes and information that I just don’t find interesting at all. And I’m not the only one who thinks this. It’s a running joke among my friends who are also on their list.

While I originally asked to receive their emails — thus giving them permission to market to me — they didn’t follow through with appropriate messaging. This good restaurant has lost me, a good customer. I haven’t gone there in probably two years. Not because of bad food or bad service, but because they abused their privileged to market to me. It’s left a bad taste in my mouth, literally and figuratively.

Here’s an example of what you SHOULD do: identify what makes your organization unique and then ask, “Who cares?” If  it really matters, tell people. Create your identity around it. Start a blog and write about it. Talk about it when you meet people, work it into your elevator pitch, put it on your business cards, and on your web site. If it really matters, people will notice. It will connect your organization with the people who like what makes you different. It will not be an interruption. It will be interesting. People will see it and they will tell others. Soon, you will have an email list full of people, subscribers to your blog, followers on Twitter — all of them eager to hear your message.

The restaurant I mentioned didn’t do this. Despite their good food, they are no longer different. They are just another restaurant. Actually, they are worse, because not that many restaurants know my email address and interrupt me. The owners of the restaurant probably don’t want to put the time into creating unique content or identifying an idea or differentiator that sufficiently answers the “who cares” question. And it shows.