Why I don’t want to be known as an Internet Marketing Guru
Published June 25th, 2007 in Internet marketing
Today I’d like to talk about what I think is one of the most disgraceful marketing pieces I’ve ever seen…
Many of the ‘famous names’ in the Internet marketing industry promoted this to their lists late last week - and many have since published detailed emails justifying why they’re attending this “charity event”. In Australia this would have caused an outrage.
Just to give you an idea, here’s an extract from the ’sales’ page:
“I mean, you might as well get “LOSER” tattooed across your forehead for missing this one. I don’t care if it’s your daughter’s bat-mitzvah, your son’s graduation, or if your wife is having the mailman’s baby.
“Hell, I don’t care if your mom or dad are in the emergency room on life support. Fu*k them. This event simply cannot be missed.”
That is just a short example of the garbage on the site whichyou’ll find here. I’m not sure about you, but to me, that’s far from acceptable. Is it any wonder why so-called “Internet Marketing” guru’s lack credibility? In my opinion, they’re all guilty by association. Look at the names on the list - some are ones you’ll readily recognise - and ask yourself what credibility do they have now? And to all the men reading this; show this to your wife / girlfriend, and ask her how would she would react if you said you wanted to go to the event they’re promoting? In today’s day and age it is sad to see women treated this way.
A common thred on marketing blogs today shows that many people are offended both by this promtion and by the promoter. Another thread appearing on blogs around the world today suggests that this guy may be in some financial trouble; maybe even bankrupt… I have no supporting evidence but for amusement, do your own searches and see what you find! I’d really appreciate your feedback about this so please take the link, see what I’m talking about and then take a minute to post your comment. I’d also suggest that if you’re a fan of this kind of garbage that you should unsubscribe from my list…
Hi James,
I was amazed at the promotional emails that I got on this.
I have an acronym “AFAB” which means, “Anything For A Buck”!
Of course this is comes as no surprise, many of the so called Internet marketers could care less if what they are recommending is any good.
The bad news is all of the people that are talking about it is feeding right into his hand. It is creating a lot of buzz.
I was very surprised the read a sales letter from a woman that is going and was trying to raise money for a $500 dress that she wants to buy for the occasion.
I also wondered how many men are bringing their wives?
I guess no matter how politically correct we say we are as a society we are still very base in nature.
Sad, very sad, but I’ll bet it sells out.
Hi James,
Oh I am so glad that you have the guts to challenge this level of garbage floating around the internet, passing itself off as worthy of anyone’s attention.
You are so right — and the reasons you list are why I chose to unsubscribe from all the emails I got last week saying pretty much the same thing. I figure if anyone is this desperate to need to resort to “gutter tactics” (which is the nice version of what i called it) then they are not getting my business, now or ever.
I don’t have time for it. But I will MAKE time to expose, debunk, and “suggest” to my growing list of buyers who to avoid. These creeps have put themselves out of business in the legitimate marketing world. And deservedly so.
Let this be a lesson to all of us. Maybe we aren’t “this bad” but unless we choose the high road every time, remember this moment in IM history — and let’s not repeat even a watered-down version of it. We can do better.
And guess what? I think it’s actually easier to play a clean game. . . what do other readers think about that???
Nancy
James…obviously…this promotion is trying to reel in the men as I don’t know a single female who would be interested in attending…networking or otherwise.
It is really sick to see the promotions on this and the tone being “see no evil, hear no evil”. YUK!
I wouldn’t want my reputation connected to such an event and it amazes me how many ARE putting their name to this promotion. Obviously they endorse pornography and because that’s exactly what they say when they associate themselves.
Remember folks, you are who you hang with.
Thank you to Blase, Nancy and Cheryl for their comments. Seems I’m not alone! Pleased to see you, too, are prepared to say what you think.
I met one of the “gurus” on this list recently and he seemed like a nice guy; sad to see him associating with this event.
You know, there’s another aspect of this Internet Marketing business I can’t get my head around and that’s the “testimonial for hire” guys. Every time there’s a new launch, the same faces pop up telling you this is the best thing since sliced bread.
James.
I’m disappointed. I would have thought that someone promoting internet marketing would have thought about the fact that a lot of marketing decision makers are female and then had second thoughts about perusing this line of promotion.
However, it would seem that the lure of the old fashioned sex sells approach was too strong to resist, and more disappointingly, if you assume that this guy is actually at all successful and has half a brain then that means he has thought this through and believes it will be successful.
Extrapolating from this - there are some people out there that actually find this type of promotion appealing, and that disappoints me on a human level.
“I am not sure if I am loosing the plot or this “gentleman” is. I think I would rather invest in a Nigerian Deal as it would hold more credibility.
I sincerely believe if there was a poll taken by the ‘homeless’ people who are to ‘benefit’ from this event they would rather offer the funds up for Psychiatric help for this ‘person’.
On an up note, if ever you feel business is not working out and you feel you may have reached the bottom of despair, just read this diatribe and you will realize you could sink a lot lower.”
Alan.
James
Thank you for having the integrity to stand up and be counted.
I too wrote about this both on my Blog and to my ezine subscribers.
Several well-known Internet Marketers lost a subscriber for life when they sent the Rich Jerk promotion to me this last week. (Including one guy that I have spent over USD$20,000 on in the last few years).
Not only is the whole RJ thing offensive but it is also marketing insanity.
It has exposed a basic flaw in many of the so-called guru’s marketing know-how.
NB It is ‘blatantly stupid’ to alienate 50% of your market - women!
As for the many “Please understand, I’m a serious ‘Family’ man and I don’t agree with the RJ but I’ll be attending for ‘business purposes’ only” emails… What a load of unadultrated codswallop!
Once again, well done for having the guts to take a stand.
Chris Bloor
Hasnt caused any outrage amoung these 7 responders
internet marketing in general is a fools game
and ill bet the vast majority make no money
including the author
This add does seem very offensive. I think they want to attract a young “bold” audience who will do whatever it takes to make money, hence the language. I however think that people who use such a strong language in a desperate attempt to attract customers do not have any other “marketing skills” and probably are not worth much. In Russia we have a saying: “the dog which barks the most never bites”.
James,
Thank you for supporting what so many of us have been saying about this issue. The well-known marketers who have endorsed this party and used these marketing methods hopefully will realize the amount of damage they have caused to this industry.
Our industry has difficulty in establishing credibility as it is among the mainstream business community. This entire fiasco has done damage to everyone who calls themselves an Internet marketer.
I’m concerned about the hypocrisy that some of these endorsees have engaged in, and I’m also concerned about the lack of forethought as to what the ramifications would be. Let’s remember something: there were likely children that received this correspondence, as there are many teens who dabble in our business. Can you imagine being a parent who has to worry about whether their child will receive profanity-laced emails simply for wanting to learn more about Internet Marketing?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember signing up for that when I opted-in! The trust level that many of these marketers spent years to establish is erroding by the minute.
I challenge reasonable marketers, who made an error in judgment, to come forward and admit they may have made a mistake sending people to this salesletter and aligning themselves with this person. Some have already, and it is quite encouraging. But as of today, the silence among the “gurus” is deafening, and we are all aware of it.
Thank you for your post!
Maybe it’s time for the government to step in and clean out this internet swampland full of incestuous cross promoters. There are too many freaks taking advantage of naive people on the internet.
If the internet marketing industry leaders cannot regulate themselves and act arrogantly because they have more money than us, maybe just maybe it’s time for the government to step in and regulate this industry. It’s time to put adults in charge instead of “fake family type men” going thru a middle-age crisis who now want to be and act like Hugh Hefner.
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