Situation: The email address of a prospect is obtained through a third party. There has been no direct contact or conversation with this recipient.

Stance: This is firmly in do not email territory. You have no relationship with this person, much less any permission that has been granted. If you mail to this category, be prepared to be called a spammer-- and to have your brand taken down a notch or two, not to mention that you're breaking the law.

Solution: Consider stronger placement of your opt-in email registration form on your website and in your store -- if you are a brick and mortar company -- along with some aggressive Google/Yahoo search campaigns with landing pages that capture email addresses.

Next: Haven't we met before?