Is Big Food as Evil as Big Tobacco?

Stunning observations. Here's where marketing can become evil indeed...

Last month, the Milbank Quarterly published a paper (pdf) with the provocative-if-unwieldy title "The Perils of Ignoring History: Big Tobacco Played Dirty and Millions Died. How Similar Is Big Food?"

"Eerily similar, according to one of the authors, Kelly Brownell, a psychologist and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

The highlights: Both industries dismiss legitimate scientific studies as "junk science" if those studies conclude anything remotely negative about their products; both put scientists on their payrolls to make it appear that there is a lack of scientific consensus about the bad health effects of their products; both market products that are supposedly "safer"; both have knowingly marketed unhealthy products to children; and both devote vast resources to lobbying..." More here.

Argggh.

I wonder if this sort of plague on our lives is just inevitable, given our current values.

After all, it is not big industry or a company that does these things...it is people there who make decisions to deny or just hide negative stuff from us (the public). When it affects so many millions of people, we notice. And get mad.

But it starts with each one of us. Although that's too small a scale for the media to get up in arms, the people affected know it.

Haven't we all, as individuals, kept information from people at some point?

We all tell others that an opportunity we are selling is easy, that anyone can do it. Yet we do NOT tell up front how many people (most who start) don't make it.

It's easy to gloss over that.

Same when people in the big food and tobacco industry deny or don't tell what looks bad. After all, everyone who smoked didn't die of cancer did they? Everyone who eats junk food isn't obese or sickly, are they?

Worse, it's not just marketers who get away with this...they couldn't pull it off if they didn't have a cooperating public.

Isn't it people who continue to buy junk food or maintain habits we all know aren't healthy?

It's as if we, the consumers, want to be deceived - lulled into believing it's ok to eat sugary starchy stuff because it's easier to keep those habits than to change them once and for all.

Sellers wouldn't be making all the junk food (or cigarettes) if no one bought it. Would they?

What is continuity, anyway?

There's lots of chatter these days about making regular monthly income with "continuity" programs and websites - forced continuity and unforced continuity.

In the network marketing world, it's known as auto ship orders that you get paid on each month.

In the Internet Marketing world, continuity means monthly membership fees you get paid on for providing some service or monthly informational-type product people want from you.

Here's the thing: Both in the Internet Marketing business, AND in the NM business we, the sellers, all want others to make the monthly commitment immediately.

But we, the buyers, want to try the thing first, with NO strings, thanks.

Which seller would you prefer to buy from:

"Try it, see if you love it. If you love it like I do, then you can become a preferred customer and get it each month automatically for a little less, even. Does that work for you?"
OR
"The product is the greatest. Why don't you commit to have it shipped each month, like I do? They charge you each month automatically. OK?"

Most people run from another monthly commitment, especially if they don't know for sure if it will really benefit them. Your pushing it usually makes them run away more. After all, it's not what YOU think that matters, it's what THEY think. And they haven't experienced the benefits yet.

A customer has to perceive genuine value to go on the hook each month in these challenging economic times. (I don't mean a network marketer who needs to do a monthly minimum purchase to qualify to get paid.)

So giving them a chance to experience the wonder of your service or product first, (by letting them buy just a month's supply of the vitamins, or try a one month subscription to the online service), will earn you goodwill and good word of mouth.

Should I buy the Niche Socializer?

I haven't bought this program, but have gotten lots of emails from my guru emailers telling me to buy it. Should you buy it?

Quick notes...

I checked out the sales letter here (naked link - not an affiliate link).

Based on that sales page, you'll get software to set up a membership type site on your own server. Like a mini-Facebook. Then they say, you can charge members monthly fees if you want, or place classifieds, etc. and market to the members pretty much at will. The main pitch here is to people who know Facebook has 200 million+ members. But you as a marketer cannot easily advertise to them. Facebook doesn't allow that. Mean old Facebook. So here - get your own social networking site!

One promoter even says this is the way to "give Facebook the finger" and start your own Facebook

The sellers, experienced and rabid marketers (good guys) say:

"We Raked In $52,937 In 30 Days From Social Networking With A Push-Button Simple Tool That Turns Any Niche Into A Profit-Pulling Six Figure Income."

Here's my take (based on the sales letter - I do not have the program).

1. These two guys have been working hard in Internet Marketing and have sold a lot of 'how-to-make-money-online programs in the past few years. That's good and bad.
Good - they can give you good tools. Bad - they can get results way faster than someone without their experience. So the fact that they took in $52k in 30 days doesn't mean that you will. Compare your experience first. Then you'll have a better sense of how long it might take you to earn these kinds of returns.

2. Facebook is popular in part because people can go and socialize without being bombarded with ads. Interest groups get together online to discuss ideas, issues, and common concerns. They don't come to be sold. Do you go to Facebook or MySpace to be sold? Or to buy stuff? Would they come to your social network site to do that?

3. Say you have your new social niche site set up. Where will the users come from? Create compelling content about your niche, says the sales letter. This is not a fast process. Great if you love writing, though. If you are into an interest group yourself, like bird cages, this will be great fun. If you don't have a strongly developed interest you can write about (or make videos about, or audios) you'll have to find one. That will take time so plan for it.

4. You'll need to market your niche site to bring traffic. Traffic generation (good traffic, not freebie seekers) is one of the main challenges anyone doing online marketing faces. Not easy. Not fast, not cheap. How does one get hungry buyers to their site? Isn't that the question every marketer online asks? The site by itself won't do it...sigh. No matter how great you think it is. Gotta learn traffic generation.

5. If you (or a partner) have an area of interest, love it madly, and want to build an online group around it, this could be the perfect program for you to get. Because you can draw on your existing clients or others in your niche who want a place to below (say - moms starting a second career from home).

True, everyone would like to market to all the hundred million Facebook members. But ask yourself, did Facebook get those members because they were selling stuff to them?

That's not to say people don't buy stuff there, but that's not the first reason people go to Facebook. They go to set up THEIR profiles, and start THEIR friends lists, share THEIR music and books and stories. It's about THEM, not you. And it's not about buying stuff there. Even though they might. It's not what drives them to initially visit the site.

But yes, you can sell to a niche for sure. Once you're established as a leader in the niche, someone people follow because they're of like mind. I sell to my readers because they're of like mind with me about how to do sales. However, new folks don't buy right away. I have readers who didn't buy for 2 years after they got on my subscriber list. People who are new to me come to the blog first and learn what I do and teach, and see if there is a match. That takes time. Sometimes years.

My point is that if you set up a niche interest site to benefit others of like mind, and then pitch them too soon on products you want to sell, well many will leave.

Very tricky.

But if you are part of a niche you love madly, and if you see yourself as a leader of a group, even ten people, this could be a wonderful program for you. Because you can bring them together and start your club. You will enjoy the process. Over time, they'll start to click on ads and buy stuff that helps further their interests, just like we all do.

Was this helpful?

FTC: include bad testimonials?

Interesting tidbit from Perry Marshall...

What if the FTC starts requiring bad testimonials along with gushy good ones?

Of course, we'd have to distinguish sour grapes and do nothing-type bad stories from those who bought the stuff, did the program, and still ended up in the hole financially and mentally.

What's your take? Would you want to see the bad with the good? Should sellers of make-money programs (or any promisey-product) be made to put bad testimonials in if they show the good one?

Click to take the six question survey here and see what others are saying.

Should you buy guru Ryan Deiss's Program?

"Here's how you dominate a niche...
even if you're not an expert..."

Have you gotten the emails on this? The quote is the main pitch for this week's launch of Ryan Deiss's money-making business program. Should you buy it or pass?

From the pitch page here:

"How I Own Multiple Online Businesses In Multiple Markets...

• WITHOUT ever being the expert
• WITHOUT being the "idea guy"
  
• WITHOUT creating any content...period!

If you think you need to be an expert or have one of those "Million Dollar Ideas" before you can start an online business...

...THINK AGAIN!"

Link to the free report and video here.

Can you really dominate a niche and not be an expert? Sounds like the pitch is designed to persuade dummies, lazy types or total newbies, right? Someone who thinks they don't know a lot. And want to make money anyway.

In a way though, you CAN dominate a niche and not be an expert.

But it's not easy or fast, or for lazy types. Guru Ryan Deiss's business model here is that of a publisher. Think Doubleday or Houghton Mifflin, who publish books and CDs created by niche experts. Only this is online. With websites (or digital audios or books) instead of physical books or CDs.

He'll show you how to become the publisher of niche experts - online.

Sounds cool, yes?

WARNING. You do not become an online (or offline) publisher overnight. So you better love it so you stay the course to master it.

To make Ryan's business model work for yourself, you have to learn a few things:

1. How to become an online publisher. Someone needs to create compelling websites that offer the niche product being sold. Either you do that or you buy a Landing Page program or hire someone to do that.

2. You need to select niches that have a "hungry" market that is NOT being fed enough by other product and program creators. "Hungry niches" are one part of the great unknown. Another is how to get these hungry buyers to discover AND buy from you (your niche expert). Keyword research alone requires careful and prolonged experimentation and testing. Establishing endorsement relationships is also a slow process.

3. You need to find experts (could be great fun) who want to be published by you, online. Especially undiscovered talent. Just like a regular publisher does. Of course you can also find more established authors or artists. However, because they are established, they'll be looking for similarly established "publishers". So if you go there, you'll need to be ready to demonstrate you are ready for the big time with you existing publishing websites.

4. Regardless of which niche and experts you choose, it's not guaranteed to bring in more money than it cost to set it up. Not for a while, anyway. Most offline publishers lose money on 80% of their publications. They make it up on a few big hits. Just like movie studios. While investment in a website isn't as expensive as buying printing presses, you will be spending many hours on it if you want to make something people notice online.

As with any business, you'll need to love some part of it, you'll need some luck AND oodles of patience.

Should you buy Ryan's publishing program?

This program is for someone who wants to be an online publisher of other experts. It's not fast money. And not an easy career path. But then, no business model works without the slow, dull heave of your effort. And your investment of more money and lots of tlc.

If you have always loved the idea of being a publisher - of the expertise of others - where you share the income your venture with your niche-expert partner, then this is the program for you. Ryan has mastered this profession online. There is no better program and person to guide you than Ryan D, who has done it and continues to do it himself.

If not, pass.

P.S. If you find these "Guru Money-Making Program of the Week" reviews helpful, I'll continue to do them as I have time. Let me know.

What the gurus tell you AFTER you've invested in their program...

Experiences from an active internet marketer who's learning new ways of marketing online.

I've been on some 30-40 "Internet Marketing guru" mailing lists this past year, and I cannot imagine how an inexperienced but ready entrepreneur could decide which program to buy. Or, how they would know which ones to stick with (versus get a refund). Here are just a few reasons:

Each one says their program is the way to earn major income online.

Each one shows income from third parties that the seller says he/she's earned. (I will assume those are genuine numbers, not made up fluff.)

Each one says it is easy, anyone who can point and click can do it. (Hmm, sounds a lot like some MLM recruiters, huh?)

But after you plunks down your $1200 or $1997 or $497, two things emerge from nearly everyone of these successful Internet Marketers. They tell us, now, that:

1. The program you have just bought is NOT A FAST TRIP to the kind of income the seller makes now. HE has done this eight to faint for 5 or 12 years. There is MUCH for you to learn. (Yes, NOW they tell you.)

This is not a get-rich-quick thing. Bottom line: plan some major time. 6 months to two years, at least. And that's if you're spending 30 hours/week or more. Plan for success way farther down the line if you are part time.

And that is the FIRST thing they say (after you've committed mentally and wallet-ly.)

2. Then they tell you that there are many steps in the dance. Most are fairly easy to do, but there are many many many of them. AND some where you cannot control the outcome. But which need to be completed in order to make that income that drew you in.

Two recent examples.

Just in the last 30 days, I bought two of the most promoted, successful and hyped "pay per click" type Internet marketing products. A primary business model of these programs is:

Advertise products or promotions using Google Adwords, (the ads you see on the top and right side of Google search results when you search for something) and earn more on the sales of the products or product trials than you pay for the Adwords.

Most people lose their shirts because of ONE reason: they pay WAY more for their Adwords clicks (to Google) than they earn on the sales made when the clickers buy something or provide info that their Adwords ad is offering.

Acknowledging this, the gents then tell you that the key is finding the right market niches. A "right" niche is a market segment (like video games nuts or psychic seekers) with active buyers, whose needs are NOT yet being met - not enough, anyway.

This is of course the great unknown. Because even though you can use many tools to find popular types of products (e.g. digital cameras), you'll be paying $5+/per click for such popular keywords using Adwords. And after finding that out, you discover that people who type in general phrases like digital cameras are not really the ready buyers anyway, they're "just looking." And there goes your $5/click to lookers who are not ready to buy the product you happen to be selling on your carefully written and expensively designed Landing Page (the link you have in your Adwords ad.)

Boo.

Then, they tell you that for some kinds of PPC (Pay Per Click) and CPA (Click Per Action) marketing you need to get into the affiliate networks. And they give you a nice list.

Then you go to apply. And discover they want a LOT of information you weren't ready to give - like numbers of unique visitors to your site; your email list size, etc.

AFTER you submit the info, then they tell you that they've got an "unusually high number of applications now" and will get back to you if you qualify to get into their affiliate network. (I did get in because I've been online for 12+ years and someone can Google me and come up with 44,000 results, all about me or my stuff. But what if a person is just getting started?)

If you're new and don't have a well visited website or sizable and responsive email list, you will not be allowed into these networks.

So now what? And why didn't anyone tell us this before?

To be continued...

P.S. Does this mean these programs are scams? No...but there's a trick to buying the right one for you...coming up next. See "Should I buy the Niche Socializer?" here and "Should you buy guru Ryan Deiss's Program?" here.