Know the biggest problem we face as internet marketers?
LIARS.
A Darwinian economy creates ruthless temptation to lie, exaggerate, distort, and mislead. And the PPC auction puts that on steroids.
Every time you look at the results of a split test you’re faced with a moral dilemma. Because the majority of the time, strengthening your claim beyond what you can actually deliver raises your click through and conversion. And sadly, outright lying raises it stratospherically.
Of course, the smart marketer knows that lying creates only trial, not repeat. (It can also lead to being married to a big smelly guy named Bubba, and spending a lot of time lifting weights in the yard)
So what’s an ethical marketer to do?
I’ve known Chuck Batson for years, have had dinner with him, and in my judgment he’s one of the most ethical marketers around. Chuck operates in a market you’d think is more traditionally known for honesty and compassion… the vegetarian/vegan/raw-food world. (Which means, you know… he refuses to eat fried kittens and stuff, no matter how good they taste)
But he’s up against LIARS too.
Thankfully, he used my old How To Double Your Business course (predecessor to the hyper-responsive club) and found an honest way into the market, but he’s only making a few bucks and because he works full time as a programmer, he can’t seem to find the time to expand.
I really like Chuck, respect his values, and appreciate what a dedicated customer he’s been for almost 4 years.
Listen carefully and you’ll learn a few things about dealing with the Liars in your market too!
Dr. G 
PS – Chuck asked a few very valuable questions towards the end about the difference between free and paid content. It’s definitely worth listening to the answer if you’re following my model.
Glenn Club | Coaching | A to Z Product for Newbies | Advanced Adwords Seminar
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Great recording !
It’s unfortunate that today the liars seem to have more credit than the ethical marketers. I even read an article stating that if you are an ethical marketer you’re dead !!!
I, for example, have a hard time convincing my readers that they can really download the subscriber’s corner products for free ! I understand. How many marketers really mean free when they say it ?
However I really think that customers will finally, with some education from our part, know how to to differenciate liars from others over time and your recording is definitively helping them do it.
You said at the end of that recording that you trust your ability to build relationships, your ability to bond. I imagine that you are or have always been that way, but did you find that you were validated and/or built up by working with Terry Dean?
I feel that to this date (and I have been studying direct marketing in general for at least 10 years) Terry Dean and you have built the most trust in me in towards each of you, in the shortest amount of time.
So thank you for being trustworthy.
By the way, I know Perry Marshall has already blogged about the Big Google Shake-up over some niche market affiliate businesses or business models…Do you address this in your Hyper-Responsive Marketing material? That is the thing that is keeping me from buying it right now. I don’t want to get sincere but wrong information (wrong meaning written before the situation changed)… I hired a prominent SEO specialist 6 years ago when I was just getting into online marketing and paid him a handsome sum. I did everything he said to a “T” and it bombed. I discussed it with him and he said” Google changed their algorithm” the end. No offer to help me out, he spent his time and I couldn’t demand he do more work…but it left me very sensitive to information timing. Great information yesterday may not be great information today… I hope that makes sense.
Hi Kevin… yes, my relationship with Terry Dean has definitely built my confidence to be authentic over the years, thanks for noticing
Regarding your Quality Score concerns, I’ve always focussed on principles rather than techniques, so my work tends to be evergreen. When it’s not, I upgrade and/or replace it. (In fact, this was part of the reason I developed the club in the first place, because surveys had become difficult in Google due to quality score issues and I needed to update the techniques)
Notwithstanding the above, I tend not to focus too much on the very traditional affiliate model. Lots of affiliates use my systems, but it’s to build a list, nurture it with value, and then send that list to the affiliate offers. Of course, you CAN use it to understand the market and write better ads which go direct to merchant, or just through a blog without any necessary list building, but honestly I think that’s building on sand, not on stone.
For what it’s worth
PS – Everyone, you can reach Chuck at RawFoodDietNow.com I’d love to see him get some help on this project (good cause)
What a great MP3! I’ll have to listen to it a few more times I think to get everything out of it. I was very interested to hear you mention pulse360 and other non-Google traffic sources. Life after Google eh?
Thanks to all three of you for taking the time and making it available.
PS: I contacted Chuck to see if I he still needed any Adwords help.
PPS: Kevin, I went through Glenn’s predecessor course in the “Double Your Business” course. I also joined his monthly membership course. It’s the only course I pay for, and I believe that Glenn has focused on principles rather than techniques as he states above.