The Half Truth Behind Internet Marketing

[Smitty]

Let me start off by saying there is a conspiracy going around and has been around for quite a while on what we call the intronet...

The difference between online marketing and internet marketing.

-Online marketing is the marketing of goods through the internet as a legit job. Most internet marketers think they are online marketers, but they're not. Real marketers sell real goods.

-Internet marketing though is laced with the false ideas of fast online riches. Internet marketing is in most cases borderline immoral. Constructed mostly of lies and the pursuit of unrealistic goals. Internet marketers sell mostly informational products and bullshit of no value.

Are you a real marketer or a liar?

Where does your integrity lie? I personally use to have problems lying to people but now I don't even flinch. Internet marketing has made me a stone cold liar, willing to lie to make a buck off of anyone. I stopped caring about other people a long time ago. If you are not a liar then you will never make it big in internet marketing. It's the truth.

Do you disagree?

[Blackman]

Online and Internet means the same thing. Period.

[Smitty]

Read it BlackMan. If you comprehended it, you would understand that I am saying there is a difference between the different marketing worlds. One mostly hype and the other being the real deal.

[Blackman]

Read it BlackMan. If you comprehended it, you would understand that I am saying there is a difference between the different marketing worlds. One mostly hype and the other being the real deal.

I've read it, but saying that "online" is different from "Internet" is just dumb.

If you are talking about different types of marketing, then there should be different names...

[Peter]

I understand what you are getting at, though I don't entirely agree.

The most valuable and most expensive commodity in the world is information. Massive global corporations (and I work from one of the biggest) sprout up around the creation, sale, and distribution of it. We invest billions of dollars a year in education to cram as much information (notice I didn't say knowledge) into our and our little one's heads all because of that value. Everything you do from your waking moment to the time you go to sleep is dictated by the flow and processing of information. And because of that value, there are markets to support it.

The value of information is strictly in the eye of the consumer and it's up to the companies that sell it, i.e. you and me to guess what the consumers need and where they find value in our products. If they perceive a need for the information we are selling, they may or may not choose to purchase it. For example, take Norb's latest creation. While you may not find the value in information about green tea, there are millions that research green tea on the internet every day.

As in all things, you and your customers will get out what is put into the product. If there truly is value in the product being offered, you will see sales, profit, less returns, and less charge backs. If Norb is running scams, he's not going to last and neither will we. There's no long term success or profit in that.

After everything is said and done, it's up to you to maintain the integrity of your character and your business dealings. You can choose to offer something of value or offer something that is mostly smoke and mirrors. At the end of the day, you have to decide what you can live with and if you can look yourself in the mirror and like the person that is looking back at you.

[MedicAffiliate]

I think what Smitty meant to say is, some people sell real goods of value (ie, ones you can touch, feel, know for sure that you got your money's worth) whereas some others sell ebooks, software, etc that more often than not makes the customer feel like he got scammed into buying a pdf that contains stuff scraped from wiki and the children's britannica. There isn't any term for either of these people so we could use that online/internet thing as a distinguishing factor.

So yeah, the main diff is your "online" marketer cannot make ridiculous claims like "This T.V will get you all the chicks you want!!1one" since it takes an idiot of colossal proportions to fall for that. But when it comes to an ebook, hell, we can make it sound like it's going to cure cancer, make you sexier, let you travel into space, speak the language of animals and men and seduce any woman merely by sneezing. Yes, this is tough especially if you stop to think that someone, somewhere has read your landing page and is so desperate for a solution that they finally buy it out of hope and lord knows whether or not they are going to be satisfied with it. So thank god for CB's refund policy or it means a whole bunch of us can never find sleep otherwise.

The solution?. In your landing page, mention that if your customer for any reason is dissatisfied, they can mail you at some gmail id to ask for a refund. That way, you know you're not a scammer yourself, and have a much better understanding of what makes your target market tick, how you can reach them more easily. If you're frank and sincere, everyone will respect that, but if you exaggerate then you might get a few lucky sales from ignorant people but 70% of your visitors will call bullshit.

[antantnz]

i think everyone makes their own choices ...

e.g. some people are happy promoting gambling products to gamblers ... when I started out in this I said that that was something i would never touch ...

if people want to buy information on how to do something, many of them will go to a book shop or look on amazon for such a guide ... for many products this is just a different delivery mechanism ...

if you think something is scammy, it's your choice to sell it or not ... do what feels comfortable to you

[NCMedia]

Great debate!

And Smitty, if you think you have to play with and test your morals as a marketer - you're absolutely right. However if you think the finance sector (from your other post) is as honest as selling bibles door to door (perhaps the only 'marketing' that wouldn't be considered influence or sin, or perhaps the biggest scam of them all - bibles are still the #1 all time best seller), you are dead wrong, and will b swimming with even bigger sharks than any IM market.

N.