Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): Internet Marketing is NOT my focus right now. I have another project that I’m deeply involved in that has my focus. But regardless of where I’m focused, I actually enjoy Internet Marketing and running a home-based business and will eventually return to it with the intent of creating an income stream that’s big enough to “fish” in!
Am I keyword stuffing in this post? Using both “Internet Marketing” and “Home Based Business” in the same breath? Yup. GUILTY! — But I want the odds of this post getting “found” to be increased because I’m going to be sharing some stuff that simply isn’t talked about all that much — at least not in the light that I’m going to shine on it… and I’d love to start a conversation about it because I sense that many other home based business people want what I want (keep reading to see what that is, please). And while I deeply appreciate the search engines and the traffic — and customers — they bring my way, I don’t write for them — I write for people.
Moving on…
I’ve studied copywriting; in fact, with a lot of hard work, I’m 100% confident that I could make a very good living as a copywriter. I know many of the techniques, tactics, and “tricks” used in copywriting and product launches. I’ve used a few of them myself in the past.
But as I find myself focusing more on living my life and doing things the way that I think Jesus would do them, I simply don’t think that many of those “tricks” are really all that ethical (one of my life goals, to which I’ve recently re-committed myself, is to live my life the way I think Jesus wants me to live it so that others will want to learn what Jesus is really about. Religion tends to really screw up that message!). Combine that with the disdain that many “normal / average” people have for a lot of Internet Marketers (think “scammer” and you won’t be far off; there’s a reason for the FTC’s recent enactment of new, tougher rules for us marketers) and you have an issue that needs to be worked out, namely:
Are using what I call (fondly!) “Cheap Marketing Tricks” really the best way to do business?
I had started to make a list of some of those “tricks” but I don’t think it’s really necessary. As I have mentioned in the past, there are legitimate reasons for offering “launch” discounts (i.e. if you aren’t yet promoting your product via affiliates then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t deduct those affiliate commissions from the price of the product) and perhaps even reasons for limiting the number of copies of a product sold (support is one good reason) or for cutting off sales after a certain point (time to move on to another project). But how many times have we seen these things abused simply in the name of getting people to buy NOW?
That’s when I call them “cheap marketing tricks”.
Yes, do everything you can to persuade your prospect. Show him how you can deliver overwhelming value if he’ll just pull out his credit card and purchase your masterpiece. But to lead them to the point of the sale, only to use a “cheap marketing trick” to scare or coerce the prospect into buying now? THAT’S where I no longer feel comfortable unless there is a legitimate, TRUE reason for doing so.
So I’m at an impasse right now (and thankfully my current project affords me the luxury to be at one!). Can you be an Internet Marketer and only use those “cheap marketing tricks” when there’s a legitimate reason — which means that they are neither “cheap” or “tricks”, but merely legitimate “marketing”? I would love to find out, and if my current project bears the fruit that I think it will, then I’ll be in a position to experiment with it.
Will I lose sales? More than likely — which brings up another point. Is it always necessary to convert another 0.1% of visitors to your sales letter if it means doing something that doesn’t have a legitimate reason? “Only 100 77 copies left — order now or risk getting left out!” — How many times have you and I seen that on a sales letter? But if it works, why not do it? I can think of a great reason not to…
Maybe you don’t do this, but I like to go back to those same sales letters a few weeks — and even months — later, to see if it still says “77 copies left”. Far too often, it does… But in my book, that makes the marketer a “liar” (unless there have been zero sales of the product). Perhaps that’s a harsh word, but why try to sugar-coat it? If you keep that “77 copies left” on your sales page after even one person purchases, then it’s lying, plain and simple.
I’ve finally decided that I’d rather lose sales than compromise my personal integrity. Perhaps nobody will ever know, but I will — and so will God. There will be consequences for lying on a sales page. I’d rather not face them. I’d rather face decreased sales.
My goal? To publish reasonably priced, high quality, and authoritative information products that will make a huge difference in the lives of the people that choose to own it. I’m more about “helping people” than “making money” (thankfully “making money” is not a problem for me, thanks to the professional skills that I possess — for which I am eternally grateful). I also believe, as Zig Ziglar says, that you can get what you want when you help enough other people get what they want, and if I spend the rest of the time allotted to me on this planet trying to prove him wrong, I think it will have been time well spent (or “invested” is a better word).
So once I get things going well with my current project, I just might try to be a “marketer” that isn’t preceded by “cheap” and followed by “tricks”. I have no idea if it will work — but something inside me (the same “something” that I’ve learned to rely on for success in life; I also call it “God’s Guidance”) tells me that it will work. I even think that I’ll end up making more money in the long run than I would with “cheap tricks” because I’ll build relationships with my customers, which will lead to what every marketer and sales person wants: customer loyalty. But loyalty will never come until I can prove consistently that my customers can rely on me to take care of them first.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Would you take a moment to leave a comment and let me hear yours? 
