So it is another Monday and therefore time for yet another moan about email marketing.
Some random affiliate marketer sent me an email which started like this:
“I just watched this video earlier today, and somehow it’s
already leaked out on a bunch of forums and blogs.
“I know he was planning on keeping this a secret… at least
until everyone was ready.
“But, because word it out, it’s important that you know…”
Next came the link he wanted me to click and then the rest of the message:
“Watch this video asap, because they’re pulling it down very
soon.
“Not because they want to, but because they have to…
“Thanks.”
‘So what’s wrong with that email?’ I hear you ask.
Well, for one, I just don’t believe a word of it.
This marketer would have me believe that the only reason he is telling me about the product he is promoting is because “it has already leaked out on a bunch of forums and blogs.”
The story goes that the product creator was planning on keeping a secret.
Who in their right mind creates a product and then decides to keep it a secret?
And why was everyone getting ready? And for what?”
This type of marketing sucks big time.
It is nothing but hot air. It is supposed to create an aura of excitement and mystery about the product but, to me at least, it just sounds desperate and underhand.
The final lines of the email are just as bad as the opening ones.
“Watch this video asap, because they’re pulling it down very
soon.”
Why is the video being pulled down? Surely a marketer would want to keep the video up to promote the product not pull it down?
But I am being told he has to pull it down. Utter nonsense I say.
So I checked out the link being promoted. I bypassed the opt-in form and headed directly to the link at the bottom of the page aimed at new affiliates.
The program owner has included a lot of promotional material for new affiliates including a couple of pre-written emails.
I bet you can already guess how the first one started.
It went like this:
“I just watched this video earlier today, and somehow it’s already leaked out on a bunch of forums and blogs.
“I know he was planning on keeping this a secret… at least until everyone was ready.”
Look familiar?
You bet it does.
Great.
So the whole thing is just a pack of lies from start to finish.
Exactly as I thought.
How wonderful this online marketing industry really is.
Patrick,
That video is part of Russell Brunson’s Dot Com Secrets X, Some people will find that type of I’m gonna let you in on a secret video appealing I myself like you find it fishy. When I was in DCSX I had access to that video to use for promotion but choose not to. DCSX has many fronts all designed to bring people into DCSX and it works for some I however was not successful with it
Twitter: mattkoshko
Hey Diana,
How long did you spend with DCSX?
And in agreement with Patrick and you, the “secret product” concept might pull some people in who are new to that sales copy but for those who are seasoned, there’s nothing attractive about it…unless you’re an affiliate!
Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Diana,
As in some of my previous posts, I make no comment at all about the product in question but just the way it is marketed.
I fully understand how it puts many people off while also sucking some people in.
But the whole premise of the marketing campaign is untrue and it is that which I don’t like.
Patrick.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Yet another irritating email…what is it with marketers and emails?
Twitter: aislesoffiles
Hi Patrick,
Yeah, I hate those emails too. They are so phoney, for all the reasons you stated, yet you continue to see them.
And why? You can attribute some of the fault to the program owner, who would provide such an email in their promotional material in the first place, but it’s the affiliates themselves who are primarily at fault. Instead of taking the time to craft an unique email, written in their own voice, about the product…or even just modifying it in a small way, they take the easy way out and use the material, word-for-word. When a product launch occurs, I receive a ton of emails…and they are all carbon copies of each other!
Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Ellyn,
I agree totally that affiliates should take the time to either come up with their own material or at least change that which is provided to them so that it is unique to them.
P.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Yet another irritating email…what is it with marketers and emails?
Twitter: ITSergioFelix
Hey Patrick,
Well I don’t really want to bash on Internet Marketers like these but apparently they all tend to have an urgency to take great offers of the internet.
The answer for that goes way beyond my comprehension. Scare tactics perhaps? I don’t know.
It’s the same reason why I have never understood the claims on “Only n-copies left, hurry up!” I mean, they do know they are talking about information products right?
They can’t be counted, you just copy and paste and there you have it, a brand new copy ready to dispatch.
I think that Internet Marketing is a very funny (and entertaining) industry… Sometimes it can even get hysterical hilarious.
Sergio
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Sergio,
You are right is that scarcity is a very powerful selling tool as the customer is encouraged to buy so that they don’t miss out on the offer in question.
I know I have covered this ground before (perhaps on your blog) but scarcity is good while false scarcity (claiming there are only ‘x’ copies left when the supply is unlimited) is bad.
Hysterical hilarious? Yes, indeed, it can be so.
P.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Yet another irritating email…what is it with marketers and emails?
Well Patrick I better go pull down my website! I just realized I have had it online way to long…
NOT! I am online to help people. If I pull it down for what ever reason then I am unable to help more people. So in short… a sense of urgency is good but deception simply does not work and people do not want to participate if that is the case!
I am not perfect by any measurement… but I want to be honest and truthful to those I interact with!
Thank you,
Paul
Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Paul,
It is the deception I am objecting to also.
Thanks for the comment.
P.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Yet another irritating email…what is it with marketers and emails?
Nice post and i found the information very useful. Hope you will post more stuff on this topic in the future.
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The sad truth is that some people will believe just about anything. I am afraid as long as there is a market of gullible people we will continue to see such nonsense. Shelayne
To be persuasive, we must be believable,
To be believable, we must be credible,
To be credible, we must be truthful.
Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Shelayne,
Sadly this is true. As long as people want the impossible dream, the magic button and something for nothing there will be others who seek to deliver this to them.
P.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Yet another irritating email…what is it with marketers and emails?
Twitter: andrewstark
April 17, 2012 at 8:31 am
The problem of short term gain by being on the grey side of a black market is not just restricted to the world of Internet Marketing.
Plenty of people are desperate / daft enough to promote something for profit even through they know what they’re doing is not fully legal or perhaps the salespage is a white lie, i.e. limited digital downloads – crazy!
As in most cases when something is too good to be true or so secret it will make you a millionaire overnight then time to engage brain and walk away.
Andrew
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Twitter: chattopatrick
Hi Andrew,
Yes all that you say is true…sadly.
Patrick Griffin thinks you may like this post too..Yet another irritating email…what is it with marketers and emails?
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