Question on email marketing netiquette - don't want to be labeled a spammer?

My target market are certain businesses who already have their email addresses listed on the internet. If I send a promotional email to them is this considered spam?

Pretty much any unsolicited e-mail you receive that pitches you products, goods, services, etc. for sale can be considered spam. So, just because their email adddress is 'public' (and by the way all email addresses are) any promotional email is actually spam.

Now, having said that, there is legislation that serves to regulate spam:

In 2003, Congress enacted anti-spam legislation that has come to be known as the CAN-SPAM Act, which states that in order for a commercial e-mail message to be considered legal, it must:

* Contain no false or misleading message header information - the "To:", "From:" and "Received:" (message routing) headers must be accurate
* Contain no deceptive or misleading "Subject:" header information
* Provide the recipient with a valid "opt-out" method to request the sender stop sending additional messages
* Identify itself as a commercial message and include the sender's correct, valid postal ("snailmail") address

As long as a message meets the above criteria, a commercial e-mail message generated in the US may meet the definition of "spam" - commercial and unsolicited - yet be perfectly legal. The fact, of course, is that the overwhelming majority of "spam" contains all sorts of bogus headers and misleading information. However, the larger problem is that even if valid, constitutional laws exist, they are to a large extent unenforceable because:

* U.S. law enforcement agencies do not have the time, resources and manpower to pursue what would likely amount to millions of individual complaints
* A major portion of spam sent to U.S. addressees comes from foreign countries which, in most cases, have no anti-spam laws at all, or if they do are likewise unable (or unwilling) to follow up and prosecute.

Hope this helps. (Clear as mud?)