Welcome to America, the land where marketing was invented and perfected. I applaud those who successfully deploy marketing methods and have flourishing businesses. But many buyers fall for certain ads without doing their due diligence. Following is the typical format of an online marketing campaign. If executed well, it could be very rewarding and very profitable for the owner. The onus is on the potential purchaser to make sure not to give in to emotions with a knee-jerk reaction or immediate belief.
I am a career coach specializing in helping clients with job interview preparation, and I follow online marketing offers in my field with an open mind and for the sake of guiding clients about whether such general coaching programs might be advisable for them versus a more-custom-tailored one.
The step-by-step online marketing system is carried out by marketers who:
- Create an attractive-looking Web site—including pictures of young and good-looking people—and who post testimonials on the home page for credibility.
- Provide a brief text based on logic but appealing to readers’ emotions.
- Pretend to give away something of value via a video or downloadable relevant material.
- Provide a video whose duration is not disclosed, because if it’s too long, people will not commit to watching.
- Declare three common and obvious problems that people have, and make it dramatic.
- Say they have the solution and can help.
- Indicate that they can offer the solution only for a limited time, and so buyers need to hurry up and make a decision.
- Now go one by one through the three problems mentioned earlier, and emphasize the potential negative outcomes if not dealt with.
- Make it sound simple and give [away] an example.
- Include a stern warning by referring to their competitors and how expensive and their products are and how poor the quality and stressing that what the competitors are offering does not work.
- Go back to the three problems but now discuss them one by one, highlighting how easy and beneficial their program is.
- Go into details about what the purchaser will get, and they make it look simple yet comprehensive.
- Now make the “call for action” by laying out the cost of the program if purchased individually and mentioning that if purchased now, it is just a fraction of the total cost.
- Offer various ways and methods to purchase via credit card.
- Make it look good, and throw in a few bonuses.
- Reference the very large number of people who bought the product and are thrilled with it.
- Show several specific testimonials of happy customers.
- Provide a limited, money-back guarantee.
- Repeat one more time everything the purchaser gets.
- Don’t stop now but also offer the “special”—“only for those who buy today”!—and throw in additional articles and bonuses.
- Point out the consequences of doing nothing by appealing to the emotions of buyers not ready to commit.
In conclusion, you have to decide whether such a product or service is for you. Based on how it’s presented, it sure looks simple and fast, and it solves a problem inexpensively. But are you ready to pull out your credit card?
