This is a true story about a musical friend, an internet marketing guru, me, a major holiday, a talking monkey named Charlie, a Christmas music CD, and some kids in Liberia, West Africa. OK — I'll admit there is no talking monkey in the story, but it is still worth reading. It's a bit of a long post — I hope you'll stick with me to the end.
Lions and Tigers And Scumbags, Oh My!
One of the things that really bugs me about the internet marketing industry (if you want to call it an industry) is the total sleaze factor that I see from so many internet marketers. There are so many people out there making unrealistic claims, trading on people’s fear and taking advantage of people’s hopes and dreams.
It just drives me absolutely crazy to see all the sleazebags that are promoting junk products in the internet marketing space.
Now, having said that, there are some internet marketers that base their entire business on a platform of ethics and helping other people . A short list of those includes people like John Leger, Nicole Dean, Lynn Terry, Andrew Hansen and Josh Spaulding. There are many more out there like them (sorry if I left you off), but you have to know where to look.
My most recent favorite good guy is Pat Flynn, by the way.
Case In Point: Nicole Dean
No, Nicole is not a sleaze ball. She's not quite sane either (but that is a topic for another post).
As it turns out, a post of Nicole's from the other day is actually what motivated this post. A couple of weeks ago Nicole published an Expert Brief (Is Marketing Good or Evil) and asked people how they used internet marketing to help other people. I loved this post, because actually this is the magical secret of internet business.
Everybody is always asking, “What’s the secret? What’s the magical product I can buy to drive traffic? What’s the special product I can promote to really make a killing in the marketplace? What’s the magical niche that I can choose and make a killing in two weeks?” The answer is there aren’t any magic bullets except to make sure that you’re always helping people in your business.
Zig Ziglar said it best,
“You can get everything you want in life by giving other people what they want.”
This is true in internet business. If you focus your business on helping your customers get what they need without worrying too much about the money, the money will come. This has been proven time and time again.
But, in Nicole’s case she was asking a different question. She was asking,
“What do your internet marketing skills allow you to do outside of your business to help people?”
Problem: My Answer Was Totally Lame
The problem with my answer was that it was totally lame. I mean, my internet business is built around helping people, but Nicole was asking a different question. Essentially, she was asking what I was doing outside of my business to help people.
My answer: Not all that much.
Then, as if by magic, an opportunity fell out of the sky.
A friend of mine needed help with a charity project. My buddy Phillip is an incredibly talented musician who made a Christmas CD about two years ago. He needed some help with some “internet stuff” related to his project.
Now I would have helped him anyway, but with Nicole's post fresh in my mind I was highly motivated to make some quick progress. I embarked the a project as a favor.
Turns out my friend is doing some great work with a missionary school in Liberia, West Africa.
The Christmas CD that he made is absolutely fantastic and the great thing is that 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the CD go to support a missionary school in Liberia, West Africa.
Phillip started supporting the school after a trip there in 2007 and he’s been sending them money ever since. It turns out that you can pay for one year’s education for a child in Liberia with a mere 100 dollars. That means for every six Christmas CDs that Phillip sells he is able to put a child through school for a year.
Internet Marketing Help Wanted
Now, this is an amazing thing and Phillip has sold a lot of CDs, but he’s mostly sold them to family, friends, and acquaintances. In fact, he had about 300 CDs sitting in a box in his office.
Of course, knowing some internet marketing I was able to offer to help Phillip by creating a website to showcase his CD, sell it online, and take money via Paypal. We launched the website this week and we’re hoping to simply make it easier for people who know me or know Phillip to purchase the CD and help these deserving children in Liberia.
This is just one example of how internet marketers can work to change their reputation by adding value to the internet, by helping people in their community, and by doing the right things to create an industry image that’s worth having.
I’m particularly sensitive to this topic of professional image because I come from a very respectable background in engineering and have worked for 20 years at a company that is known for it's ethics. We just don’t have image problems. So, the image problems that are present in the internet marketing space really bugs me.
Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now and encourage you to go over to Phillip’s new website and check out his Christmas CD, it’s absolutely fantastic. It makes an excellent gift.
Buy all of the copies you want and all the proceeds will go to help a child in Africa who could really use your help.
And — My challenge to you comes from my friend Nicole. Do something this month to make the internet a better place.
Thanks!
P.S. — No, I don't make any money if you buy the CD. Sheesh. All the money goes to the kids.
Mark,
Thank you for this post, it has helped me. I have been struggling to try to get into Internet Marketing, but haven’t been successful yet. I have been caught in this hype on the latest products but no success. I don’t think there is a easy way.
Thanks again for all your post. They are a great help.
Linda
You are quite welcome.
Simple recipe for you:
Pick a way to make money on line (for example, affiliate marketing). Find someone you trust that is actually making money on line that way and teaching what they do. Do what they do and ignore everyone else.
Mark,
This was a good one and struck a little chord with me. Who do you think are the scumbags? Internet Marketers that are using skills to sell products or is this more about internet marketers that are using skills to sell internet marketing courses/products that dont deliver?
Glad you liked the post.
Naming names is not really my style (unless I need to do it to help someone). I’m more of a private email guy when it comes to dealing with that sort of thing.
Oh! Yea…that didn’t come out well. Sorry. I didn’t want you to name any one. I meant just in general. I sort of ‘backed’ into some internet marketing with out really intending too and then only later stumbled onto the term ‘internet marketing’ and have been struggling with some of the ‘scuminess’ that I see too.
Ah — I see what you were getting at. Sorry.
Scumbag: Someone who intentionally delivers a product or service that is worth far less than the price charged. Usually involves deceptive marketing that preys on peoples fears and dreams.
How is that?
Mason we all as marketer try to lend an hand as needed, but sometime we fall short..I will be checking out those marketer you listed above..I always love to meet new people..
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
Thanks, TC. They are all great folks.
Great post Mark. Absolutely spot on, and I am glad to hear clarion voice sin the midst of the rabble of empty promises shouting every day telling unsuspecting visitors to buy the latest, greatest secret system to make an overnight million.
Thanks David. I really appreciate the feedback. Whenever I do a post like this, I often get some unsubscribes from people complaining about how they are not getting value from my posts. Very interesting, this blogging thing….LOL
So, your comments are very much appreciated.
My goodness Mark that’s a rare sight – I.M. as a force for good. But there have always been ethical I.M ers it’s just that they seem not to make the same degree of noise as the scumbags!
And I have a background of science education and I was and still am totally baffled by the sleeze factor.
BTW some extra names for the ethical list – Tiffany Dow, Terry Dean, Shane Melaugh. Tons of others…
I need to spend some time checking out Tiffany Dow — I keep hearing that name…
I know what you mean about these fly by night products. I have purchased a few and I am still trying to get it wright. It does seem like every day someone has created a new bigger and better something.
No doubt about that.
It’s is really important to know what you are trying to accomplish, and then ask if the new shiny thing will get you closer or further away from your goals.
No one has named Mark Mason yet as a standup guy! haha – stating the obvious. Pet peeves 1) High profile folks that market the obvious at $97. My theory is wait 90 days and you can find it for free; 2)IM’rs that state they made “$$___per day or hour or year” when they’re actually taking a very small snapshot of time and extrapolating that out to something impressive sounding. I believe that’s illegal now in investing and should be for IMing as well, not that there is any actual law for this fine industry. The old saying goes “if John Doe is making $1,000 an hour doing that – why is he selling me his system for $47?”
One more — “this used to work (last month),but it doesn’t work anymore. You need my new mega-course because it’s what works now”. Listening to a podcast that just used those exact words. 🙁
LOL — well, sometimes stuff that used to work doesn’t work anymore because it was crap in the first place….
Mark,
The list of ethical marketers you mentioned are the cream of the crop IMHO. I consider it a humble honor that you continue to produce regular content that shows a genuine concern to make the online marketing space a better place.
Thanks for all you do.
Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy.
To allude further to what Daniel says (first comment) – I see a large community of Internet marketers that base their income on Ad Swapping.
As a result email opens have dropped and people are using trickery and BS claims to get people to open their emails.
The other thing that gets me are the amount of sub standard Clickbank products with sales pages that tell you everything you want to hear but doesn’t tell you how or what the product does- then turns out to be something thats a fusion of 2 products already on the market.
I could go on ranting but I won’t
Regards
Pete
Thanks for stopping by Mark!
I really appreciate it, and I agree with what you told me, that the message the blog isn’t really clear and I will work on it!
Thanks again! Will stay tunned!