How far has online marketing fallen?

I received yet another sales pitch email from a very well-known marketer the other day and this one got me curious so I clicked over to the sales page and what a surprise to see that the first testimonial was from "John C" and John lives in my tiny town of Lakeville.

Intrigued, I called a friend in South Carolina and asked her to bring up the same link -- "John C" with the same exact testimonial also lives in the small town of Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

Seems John gets around...now just think, if you're an affiliate or partner promoting this service, what does it do to YOUR reputation to be promoting products with false testimonials?

Then there's the case of the marketer who claims authenticity and integrity up one wall and down the other and was only going to release "100" of a certain product during a specific launch.

After selling over 150, she thought it would be wrong not to let those who so wanted and needed the product to have it.

While I absolutely agree that it's great to provide a product to those who want and need it, then, if not sooner, would have been time to tell her readers that she's releasing another 100, 200, whatever number she felt was appropriate due to popular demand rather than keep saying "only 100 are available and there's X left"

It's certainly okay to change your mind.  It's not okay to lie.

Sneaky marketing tricks like these, and many others like them, suck plain and simple. 

And a 3rd example which, while certainly not sneaky, just doesn't feel good for some reason: The marketer who only sends ezines/newsletters out and only shares free information when promoting events. 

Those ezines are frequent and usually full of good info since they want you to fall in love with them and sign up for their latest event/program/doohickey. 

Enjoy and use the info! Signup for the program/event if it's the right thing for you.  Just remember the pattern of sharing quality information that this person has shown you before they were promoting something.

When you come across cases like this, and you will, I strongly encourage you to share your feelings with the affiliate, business owner, or appropriate contact person and let them know that it's NOT okay and then, depending on circumstances, consider unsubscribing from the list and ridding yourself of the negative energy associated with such misleading schemes.

Note: Affiliates and joint venture partners...always remember to do your due diligence before agreeing to promote to your list -- you don't want to unknowingly participate in false marketing.

And one more note...while there are certainly business owners out there who are doing all of the above, and more, there are plenty of business owners who truly are authentic and full of integrity and want to make a positive dfference in the world. :-)

Comments

[Nancy Marmolejo]

Sandy, this is so good (again!). I think this whole affiliate thing needs to be revisited completely because of exactly what you're covering here.

[LouiseBJ]

Thanks for airing this rather 'bad smelling' online marketing laundry Sandra! I totally agree with your post and wonder at just how gullible the culprits think we are?

While I don't think the problem will go away any time soon, hopefully the drop off in subscribers and followers will give these guys the message!

[Online backup]

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