Mooch Marketing

Ken's Blog

The "dark side" of Direct Marketing is fully online, more effective than ever.  So far, so boring -- we all know that.

Even when SiteSell first started in the late 90s, we were in the midst of direct marketers. A clique of talented but unethical marketers worked together, cross-selling each others' "Internet Marketing Secrets" for ridiculous prices.

We stayed clear of that cabal, and built a business based upon underpromising and OVERdelivering.  We're still around, growing steadily.  But you don't see the "old outfits" anymore.  I guess they've made their money and moved on.  So...

LESSON #1  Only the scammers get rich.  Their customers?  They are missing thousands of dollars.

We are now seeing a second major round of the dark side, a new wave of hucksters selling nebulous products and services for ridiculously high prices.  And sure enough, gullible people continue to fall for irresistible copy that manages to convince them that, somehow, this one time, this proposition is different.  The killer doubt...

LESSON #2  "Geez, what if?" That question lures folks into the same bad decisions over and over again.  Some of them have been burnt before and will be burnt again.

The sad part is that they are good people, motivated to get ahead.  But they get so excited (because they WANT to believe) that they fail to consider that no serious business person would really sell a goose that lays a golden egg.

One of the top masters showed me the inside of how this game works and it's brutally relentless. Let me open your eyes a touch...

The customers are called "mooches."

A "mooch list" is invaluable. Those who have fallen for the sucker traps before and spent big dollars?  Their names are worth big money. It's so easy to pluck dollars from gullible, innocent people -- it should be a crime.

And so the cross-sell, up-sell, whatever-sell, goes on. Understand this...

LESSON #3  It is not about delivering value.  It's about extracting money from your wallet.

Re-read the above.  People like this really exist.  Our basic good faith in people makes us all "marks."  But people, whose sole goal is to separate you from your money in return for as little as possible, really do exist.  The good news?

LESSON #4  The hallmarks of a scam are obvious.  Just take one big step back and LOOK.  Don't just "read and get sucked in" -- take a hard LOOK at the big picture...

• A "tsunami" of promotion found you.
• Relentless hard copy at the site.
• Tons of free reports worth a gazillion dollars but "today only."
• Excitement wells up in you, but take a second look.  Is it reasonable?
• Boil all the words down to what you actually GET, and it's often nothing more than, say, a set of templates, or some coaching.
• And yet, the hype makes it all feel that "I MUST have this.  The secrets to the business universe are here."

At this point, if reason is not exercised, the next step is 100% predictable.  It's like watching a movie that is so trite you just know how it all ends.  Badly.  Always.

And once these folks have your name, the targeting never stops.

LESSON #5  The bottom line lesson? Think!  Don't be a mooch.

At SiteSell, we buy some of the loudest (SBI! owners ask about them in the SBI! Forums), most convincing stuff flying around, in the name of research (thank goodness it's tax-deductible).  They are always disappointing, ranging from outright fraud at worst, to gross exaggeration at best...

No great secret unveils itself, I'm sorry to say.

No real value is delivered, let alone anything approaching the price paid.

There are times when I'm tempted to expand our research and put out "The Mooch Report" and dismantle this junk.  We should "name names," I suppose.  But on the Net, they'd just move on, change aliases, and start all over.

It's so easy for them.  They have "The List."  And they have one incredible talent -- the ability to take money from the gullible.

If you've been fooled, or if you have ever been mightily tempted, I hope this article has shed some light on the darker side of the "Internet Marketing" racket.

Don't be a mooch.

All the best,

P.S.  The "real" secret is actually revealed in DAY 10 of the Action Guide.  Feel free to send me $800 per month for it. I only have "3 seats left, so hurry!"

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Comments

[TJ Chambers]

Excellent Post. Everyone needs to read this article. I use to be on email lists of these types of people. I wanted to jump and hurry to buy their product, like Mike Dillard.

I just sat back and waited. Guess what? Every month they came out with a product with exactly the same type of marketing. Hurry and buy it, only so much left. Or Hurry and buy it before the price goes up! Limited time at $150. tomorrow the price doubles!

After a few months of getting these emails, I got sick of what I was seeing. I'm glad that I didn't buy their product and I could easily see the marketing scheme.

From what I heard, when you buy their products, they are incomplete. You have to go and buy something else to get the full effect of what they are offering.

[Don shepherd]

An excellent post that I wish I had read ten years ago. I was a mooch, but that's really a nice word for sucker. I spent thousands trying to buy my way to wealth with "insider secrets". Each purchase left me more angry and frustrated than the one before. I looked at SBI several years ago but thought it was too expensive. after buying more $47.00 e-books than i care to think about, I gave up. I'm now frustrated with trying to get through day two of the action guide, but i'm not angry. In fact,
i'm excited to know I finally got it right with a legitimate proven product.

[Dave Bannister]

This post really woke me up! I have bought SEO secrets and all kinds of internet marketing secrets. It just doesn't compare to SBI. I have always kept an open mind about opportunities and by reading the forums have realized that SBI will give results.

I have only written four pages for my website and have a tough time writing, but
It will only get better.

I really believe that you can fly with SBI!

[Robert]

If something sounds too good to be true...
When I came across SiteSell's free masters courses, I downloaded them all and read each with a wary eye. I did that for a year before ever sending a penny back in Ken Evoy's direction. I have never regretted that decision. Best advise... If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is... but if you read carefully, you'll find gems like SiteSell.

[Kenneth Wallin]

I have not bought much of the "Internet Marketing" stuff (just the once). However, Ken's right, they have my name now and I get the bum's rush from about four of them regularly. Does not matter that I have not fallen again, they keep coming, and coming, and coming. I just delete them now. Thinking about marking them spam on Yahoo now, might work. Bottom line, don't let them in, it is not worth the money (regardless of amount), or time spent on it. I am on day 3 now with SBI! and I will get there ... one step at a time.

[Gerhi Janse van Vuuren]

Selling "Insider Secrets" works on one of our most basic social needs - to belong somewhere. The irony of it is that if you are not one of the marketers (belong on the inside) you are one of the market (belong on the outside).
No matter how many insider secrets you buy, as long as you fall for the hype and buy, you are an outsider.
The second irony is that there are no secrets. Everything that can be said about any business success (including the internet) has been said. The only secret, or rather mystery, would be that people choose not to get it.
Good post, I'm unsubscribing from a couple more mooch mails (if I can).

[Paul]

Right on the mark (pardon the pun).

"Snake Oil" salesmen have been around for a long time and some even brag about ripping mooches off, but it's no laughing matter.

I'm a poker player and in the poker world un-aware players are known as "fish". In fact, if you look around the poker table and you can't spot a fish, you might be the fish.

Lesson #4 is right on and a keeper.

After reading your post, if you can't spot a "moocher", than you might be the "moochie".

Great post Ken!

Paul Ellis

[Adele Sweeney]

I try have a rule ... sleep on it. If something grabs me and I WANT IT ... sleep on it, or at least walk away and *think* about it. Usually, after a break from the hype I come to my senses :)

Also, I took great pleasure in cleaning up my Inbox by unsubscribing as each email came in - I have greatly reduced the 'noise' and am cracking on with my sites.

Seems the main Internet Marketing Clique is running scared because lots of people are sick to death of mega-launches and lists are dropping.

Praise be to the Tortoise ;)

[John L. Dilbeck]

Ken, this is an excellent post and I am happy to see you talk about the dark side of Internet marketing.

As part of my exploring Internet marketing, I have subscribed to lots of these mailing lists and I am constantly bombarded with offers for "today only."

More and more websites are offering OTO's (one time offers). Some are good values, but most seem to offer more worthless collections of ebooks I'll never download or read and software I know I'll never use.

I am so tired of the fire sale offers, the over-hyped massive launches, and just about anything that offers to let me in on "The Secret" if I'll only give them my credit card number.

In a sea of Internet marketing hype, I find you to be the calm, common-sense voice of how we can build real online businesses.

I hope people will find this post and read it before falling for another over-hyped promotion.

All the best,

JD

[Arjen Nijeboer]

Right on. As the owner of hobby sites since 1999 I've been on their spam lists for years. These people write on their websites: "Free report! Only 200 copies... eh, 127 copies left!" Yeah right, they're running out of electronic files! This one sentence already indicates:
- that they are liars
- that they prey on the weak
- that they are ready to use any trick to make the sell.

I wonder what it must be like to make your money that way. How do they maintain self-respect?? Personally I would rather work as a cleaner or something.

[Kevin]

I agree with everything in this post. Myself, I fell into the trap of these people a few times, but I learned. And now I warn my potential clients about them. Whatever sounds too easy, you have to be careful about and so step back, as you said, to take a hard and close look.