Confessions of an Internet Marketing Scammer

March 17, 2011 – 7:19 pm

Recently my friend Paul Counts was duped by a scammer who is targeting Internet marketers.

In case you don’t know Paul, he’s proven himself to be one of the “good guys” in our industry, who upholds integrity and treats his customers right. It seems like it’s often the good people who fall prey to scammers, because they tend to trust people.

There are always plenty of scams happening online, and I’ve been scammed a few times myself. It’s NOT fun, and to be a victim is one of the worst feelings you can experience. Most people can probably relate to this at some point in their life.

What makes this story unique from the millions is that the scammer actually CONFESSED his scam and told Paul some of the details of his scamming methods.

In spite of confessing to one of his victims, I do not believe the scammer has been caught, and I DO believe he’s still perpetuating his scams. I’d like to share the details with you, so that you can be aware of this particular scam, as well as gain insight that may help you avoid other scams in the future.

DETAILS OF THE SCAM

The scammer posted an ad in a popular Internet marketing forum, advertising an “ad swap”. He claimed to have an opt-in list of 35k subscribers, whom he would email for his side of the swap. The other marketer participating in the swap would email his/her list on behalf of the scammer first.

Unfortunately, the scammer did not have a list. He was duping Internet marketers into sending out his promotions, in exchange for nothing.

VARIATION OF THE SCAM:

An ad was posted in the Warrior Forum advertising a “solo ad” to a 50k opt-in list, for $287. Several Internet marketers bought this offer, but received nothing in return.

One victim was Socrates Socratous, a well-known Internet marketer who paid $500 in a deal with the above scammer, and $450 to another (or maybe the same) scammer the same day.

Due to the nature of the scam, I think it is very possible that Paul’s scammer is the same guy.

PAUL’S PLEA TO THE SCAMMER:

After the scammer failed to fulfill his end of the deal, Paul sent him this email:

Hello Andy,

I really wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but the longer it is taking you to respond to me really tells me that you probably didn’t intend to hold up your end of the deal and promote for me. I hope I am wrong here, but your screen shot showed my offer qued up and it should have taken you just a few minutes to check on what happened. Instead it is terribly apparent that you deleted my ad after you sent me the screen shot. Again, correct me if I am wrong here about this situation.

My main point is that we setup a solo ad as something that is mutually beneficial for both of us. I ended up just promoting your squeeze page and building your list with my valued subscribers, and in return I got nothing from you. My goal with ad swaps is to also build up mutually beneficial JV relationships where I promoted your products in the future and such.

I like to work with people and recommend people and offer that I can trust myself. Please forgive me for the harsh tone here, but Andy I am sure you can understand my position here.

I really hope that I am wrong and that we can resolve this issue soon.

Thanks,

Paul

THE SCAMMER’S CONFESSION

Here is his reply to Paul’s email. I have highighted certain portions to draw attention to them…

From: Andrew Tudor
Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Subject: Re: Ad Swap - From Warrior Forum
To: Paul Counts

Hi Paul,

You are entirely correct! The reason I did this is because I don’t possess a list of 35,000 subscribers. I also understand exactly what you are saying about building a mutually beneficial JV relationship and I do apologize if I have caused you any inconvenience, I completely understand your position and you have every right to take a harsh tone, I should say that I am surprised that you consider your tone to be currently harsh because I know that many would be quite pissed off in this situation, I respect your reasonable attitude and yes initially I had no intention to hold my end of the deal, simply because it wasn’t possible for me and if I could have, then of course I would have, hey… at least I am being honest here and not continuing to provide you with BS as I am sure many others would.

You are obviously an intelligent man and everything you said was entirely correct. I have been scamming people on the Warrior Forum with solo ads, which they paid for, in your case I think you have lost less, or at least I really hope so because I understand what you say about trust and providing me with opt-ins, but I am still happy to send your ad out for you as it’s already evident to you that I am trying to build a list here. The guys who have been scammed were sent emails to confirm, however most were actually reasonable and as I made sense of the situation and explained that PayPal disputes would not work and that they could open them and I explained that I would just win and walk away, however I did request that those who wanted another option could avoid this by instead being reasonable with me about it and understanding my situation.

My name is not Andy Tudor, I have actually been in IM a very long time but have only just at this point started trying to aquire a list. Now, I really hate scamming or dishonest business, but recently hit a very hard financial time stuck deep in debt and having my family to provide for which is my 4 year old daughter Jasmine and partner Annie, I have gone down the dishonest route which has not been pleasant, but it provided me with what I required in the current circumstances.

So yeah, the solo ads would have done that alone but I wanted swaps because I wanted to get started with a list and then possibly start working my way up, the problem is with solo ads that many of my customers have complained that they can’t find good solo ads anywhere, so even though I considered this option for starting my list, this put me off.

Now I am not going to lie to you, as talking any more BS won’t get me any further so I might as well be honest here, I have never had to actually reply to any emails regarding swaps yet but I am sure I will have even more soon. The problem here is it’s indeed true that I have been unfair here, and I don’t know exactly what to say because on solo ads if I am to simply leave with a customers money then they have that to lose and by considering the fact they have nothing to lose by hearing me out and waiting for me to build my list so that I can eventually send out their ads is beneficial to them, and I do indeed intend to send out every one of them ads, for the customers that decided to not take what I said into consideration, they opened the disputes and soon after realized that I won them because it was a virtual good, I even explained this to them before but it’s their own fault for not listening on that.

I work through many different identities and own a VERY large amount of websites, this includes forums, membership sites, squeeze pages, product sales pages and quite a bit more. So the point I am trying to make is, that I could just return under a different identity anyway Paul, and I currently have another 58 swaps this week using many different identities. I have revealed my real name to many of the solo ad buyers and shown them my work.

So what exactly do I want? - Ideally, being beneficial to both of us here, I would like to at least offer to send out your ad when I have established an adequate sized list instead of running off with your subscribers, I don’t see the harm in you taking up this offer? - Also, I feel that contacts are far better to have with internet marketing and although I have been slightly influenced by other scammers and my situation, I really dislike working in this dishonest way.

So here you have the full truth, I can’t really explain much further and of course if you find it unacceptable, well that’s up to you really isn’t it? - However, consider my offer because I ask nothing in return, you have provided your side of the deal and when I can, I would feel better if I could return what you have offered rather than running away. Considering, either way will not really bother me too much, I think you are a good person and you certainly don’t deserve this, I am sorry.

I have many skills that lead to me becoming involved in internet marketing, I also am quite knowledgable on the subject and offer any advice. I understand my wrong-doing here, but theres no need to treat me like I don’t understand exactly what I am doing, this is all well planned and I know exactly what I am doing here, So now in regards to my last statement marked in “bold” font: What exactly do you want? - By all means let me know, as I wish to provide whatever I can on my end and remember Paul that this doesn’t mean you should go thinking you are better than myself for example, sure you carry out business in a more honest way but what I mean is, before you go refusing my offer and complaining, the solution here is to simply be reasonable with me because maybe I have something of benefit to you - I hope so anyway.

Best,
Andy

After Paul replied to the above email (the reply is not included here, as I don’t feel it’s necessary), “Andy” the scammer decided to add to his confession in another email to Paul, which is excerpted below…

Hi Paul,

I do have a list, it’s just not 35,000 subscribers at all, I have done lot’s of work in photoshop, website design and sony vegas, basically for the AWeber screenshot I simply used firebug in Firefox to modify the code and took the screenshot, of course if I wanted to I could have managed with photoshop fine but it just pointlessly takes that little bit longer and of course when I modify code, I don’t usually have to worry about anything being out of place even by 1 pixel, unless I make a mistake but that’s never happend so far. It’s like the ClickBank login videos that you see, some may appear very realistic but it’s a simple job of matching the frames between 2 different clips, I do understand that theres a safe-swaps site if you want to find swaps more safely but I had even questioned that immediately to the fact I could program a bot to enter email addresses into a form and then verfiy that I have a large list, I have never done so because I see it as a waste of time and I would be paying increased AWeber charges for fake/bot generated email addresses…

(Andy)

(UPDATE: Added 03/18/11, 1:35PM)
After posting this to my blog, I received another of Andy’s confessionals, which was received by Internet marketer Socrates Socratous. Socrates was scammed by Andy Tudor, and by Dave Rivera (aka Monta on the Warrior Forum), who may or may not be the same person.

Socrates submitted PayPal disputes, which were ruled in favor of the scammers by PayPal (due to the digital goods loophole). After Andy won the dispute, he sent this email to Socrates:

Well, it appears I have won that dispute… so I have changed my mind. The NO REFUNDZ policy now applies.

I look forward working with you again in the future, I will spend the more wisely, don’t worry!

I am going to enjoy a nice cigar, which might seem a waste of money but it’s just to celebrate your failure, the sweet and smokey taste of success..

It’s only $450 man, it’s not much at all, but I guess with all the others out there that I clearly SCAMMED, it all adds up at the end of each and every day!

You are indeed the idiot that fell into the scamtrap. How’s that for disrespect? - You think your money was enough? No, please… it’s the pure enjoyment of scamming you that makes it worthwhile.

I suggest you get onto your credit card company Socrates, it’s obviously a bad sign if you had to use a CREDIT card to purchase a solo ad, what’s wrong? Out of money? I hope you starve.

Best Regards,
Andy

Subsequently, Socrates did file a complaint with his credit card company, and DID receive his money back through a chargeback.
(End of updated section)

CONCLUSION

I could give a lot of my own commentary here about…

…how the scammer justifies his actions by his circumstances, and his “good conscience”…

…how he arrogantly talks of winning Paypal disputes, and has the guts to blame his victims for not listening to him…

…how he is STILL trying to scam Paul and CONTROL the situation in his emails, and even goes so far as to compare himself to Paul…

…the fact that he “feels bad” about it, yet has another 58 VICTIMS lined up already in the next week under his various scammer aliases…

But I’ll leave the bulk of the commentary to you. Please post your comments below.

And most importantly, beware of scammers like “Andy”. As the scammer himself confessed: Anything on your computer screen could be fake. Just because something looks real, that doesn’t mean it’s real.

At the same time, not everything is fake. There are plenty of legitimate opportunities, and there’s plenty of money to be made online. So take this knowledge and apply it to your personal “filter”, as you determine what’s real and what’s not.

Have a great day!

(UPDATE: Added 03/21/11, 2:40PM)

Just a quick update to let everyone know that Mike Filsaime has contacted his rep at PayPal to notify them about the scammer, and PayPal has confirmed that their risk department is taking care of the scammer’s accounts. Thanks Mike. The guys at AWeber have also been notified, and I was told that their security department is handling it as well.

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LESSON #80: Video Marketing

February 13, 2011 – 9:52 pm

In the previous lesson we discussed Article Marketing, which can be a powerful long-term web traffic strategy.

Today we’re going to learn about another potent strategy that has been proven to work in virtually every niche.

(Watch this video…)

Main points:

Benefits of this video marketing strategy:

1) Ranking the actual videos for your keywords
2) Direct click-through traffic from the links
3) Off Page SEO from the back links
4) Builds your authority/credibility as an expert in your niche

YouTube is still the most important video site.

- Ranked #3 in the world on Alexa.
- Still growing like crazy.
- Google loves YouTube because they own it!
- (See video above for demo of how to upload to YouTube)

Steps for video marketing:

STEP #1: Do your keyword research

- Like we did in lesson #76
- Go broad and use the long tail strategy.
- Make videos for your most important keywords first, then gradually move broader.

Additional/supplemental strategy: Trending topics.

- For trending topics, the key is to be first.
- Make it fast, upload it fast, and promote it fast.

STEP #2: Make your video

- Talked about some low cost methods in lesson #41
- Quick and easy live action video using Flip camera (or similar)
- Or use a webcam
- You don’t have to be good looking or great speaker. Authenticity is key.
- If you don’t want to be on camera, do a screen capture video. I use Camtasia.
- Tutorial for making free screen capture videos: Screen Capture Videos for Free
- Another possibility is making a slideshow video using a tool like Animoto or Traffic Geyser’s slide show maker.
- DON’T use copyrighted music, other than royalty-free.
- DON’T do a long intro on your videos.
- Tip: Use your articles and turn them into videos (or outsource for as cheap as $5/video)
- The production/video quality doesn’t need to be great; just good enough.
- If you can submit in HD, do it.
- Commonly accepted file formats include AVI, MP4, MOV, WMV
- Keep it short (1-2 minutes in most cases)
- Give a short pitch at the end to send traffic to your site (Squeeze page)
- Make 10-20 short videos in one sitting

STEP #3: Submit your video

- Tip: Rename your video files before uploading them. Rename to the keywords.
- Front-load your keyword in the title
- Compelling titles get more clicks
- Write a good description. Again front-load keywords, but do not be spammy.
- Put the URL first, using the full “http://”
- Ideally send to a squeeze page.
- IF you’re a “social” marketer, link to several of your social profiles from the description.
- Use applicable tags (keywords).
- Choose an appropriate category.
- Set your video to “Public”.
- Choose a thumbnail that will elicit the most clicks.

Some additional sites to consider submitting your video to (beyond YouTube):

5min.com (How-to videos)
Blip.tv (No ads allowed)
BoFunk.com
DailyMotion.com
eCorpTV.com (for business)
Esnips.com
Flickr.com
Graspr.com (How-to videos)
HowCast.com (How-to videos)
iViewTube.com
Kewego.com
LiveVideo.com
MegaVideo.com
Vids.Myspace.com
Photobucket.com
Sevenload.com
Spike.com
Ugoto.com
Veoh.com
VideoJug.com (How-to videos)
Viddler.com (Paid account required for commercial vids)
VidiLife.com

You could submit to all the sites manually, OR outsource it (build your own team), OR use an automatic submission tool.

Recommended tool: Click Here for Traffic Geyser
(I’ve recommended it ever since I first reviewed it in 2006!)

- See video for Traffic Geyser sneak peak.
- Alternatives to Traffic Geyser include TubeMogul (Great tool, but their free membership is for NON-commercial use only). Other stand-alone video submitters are often not kept up-to-date.

STEP #4: Promote your video

- Bookmark your video on social bookmarking sites. (Use Traffic Geyser tool)
- Embed your YouTube video on your social pages (like FaceBook, MySpace, Ning, etc)
- Share your video on video aggregator sites (Flixya.com, Myvidster.com, etc.), and specialty sites (Instructables.com, Wonderhowto.com, etc.)

Promote your video within YouTube:
- Be social (it’s a social site)
- Add your video as a video RESPONSE to a high-traffic video in your niche.
- Give comments, ask for comments.
- Subscribe to the YouTube channels of people in your niche, and ask them to subscribe to yours.
- Go through competitor’s subscriber lists and “Add as Friend” all their subscribers. Invite them to your channel.
- Many video marketers use “grey hat” tools such as TubeToolbox or TubeFool.

Create a good profile page for your YouTube channel:
- A good name that makes sense.
- Use a good profile picture.
- Autoplay the video.
- Feature your 6 best videos.
- Ask people to subscribe.
- Link to your site. (Squeeze page recommended)
- Again, IF you’re a “social” marketer, link to all your social profiles.
- Hide subscriber totals, etc. until you have decent #’s.
- Show activity.

Potential benefit of being successful on YouTube:
- Get AdSense added to your account.
- Become a YouTube partner. (top content providers on YouTube can make good money)

A quick warning!

- Beware there is a lot of sleaze on many of the video sites, and aggregators.
- Beware the potential for wasting a lot of time on video sites.
- If you’re the type of person who easily gets off task, this could be destructive to your business.
- Traffic Geyser can help keep you OFF the video sites and focused on marketing

Action steps:

1) Decide if you want to pursue video marketing.

2) If yes, follow these steps:

-Keyword research
-Make your video
-Submit your video
-Promote your video
-REPEAT (consistency is key to long term success)

We’ll be delving deeper into social media in the next lesson.

As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below

Have a great day!

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Update and some pictures

January 26, 2011 – 4:34 pm

No lesson today. I just want to give a quick update on a few things, and show off some pics from my recent trip.

First I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the fundraiser/promotion that I ran while on vacation.

We raised 100% of our goal to provide a new water well for an orphanage in Uganda. Actually we exceeded the goal, so I am also sending them an additional donation. Through online fundraisers like this one, we have now given over $65,000 to various causes.

In case you’re interested, the orphanage is Eagles Wings Children’s Village and their US-based affiliate to which I am making the donation is Real Partners Uganda.

I also just got home from a “2nd honeymoon” with my beautiful wife of 11+ years. We’re expecting our 5th child later this year, so we wanted needed to get away for some alone time without the kids before the next one arrives.

It was our first time visiting Long Island in the Bahamas, and I do recommend it for anyone who wants a place with very few tourists and miles of secluded beaches. I also recommend Chez Pierre, which is a very affordable, rustic accommodation run by a French chef who served up awesome food all week. And while he does have Wi-Fi, I did not check my email or get online at all

View from our deck…

White sand, beautiful flats perfect for wading and fishing…

Saw plenty of cool stingrays…

My beautiful wife, going to have our 5th kid soon!

I caught at least 15 different species of fish…

Lastly, I want to invite you to join me in Orlando next month at JV Alert Live.

Compared to other Internet marketing seminars that I’ve been to, JV Alert Live has the most friendly down-to-earth people, and the best opportunities for networking.

In addition to meeting other marketers of all levels–including ones that are in a similar place as you–you’ll get to meet, network with, and pick the brains of dozens of top Internet marketers such as these ones who are signed up to be there…

Gary Ambrose, Jason Anderson, Michael Angier, Alan Bechtold, Nashlah and Shahar Boyayan, Hollis Carter, Joe Clayton, Lee Collins, Paul Counts, Willie Crawford, Glenn Dietzel, Ron Dilbert, Andy Duncan, Brian T. Edmondson, Ray Edwards, Mike Evans, Carl Galletti, Edie Galley, Michael Glaspie, Ross Goldberg, John Halpin, Mark Hendricks, Shel Horowitz, Michael Humphreys, Bob Jenkins, Audrey Kerwood, Sohail Khan, Tony Ladig, Walt Laurel, Simon Leung, Skye Mangrum, Jane Mark & Phil Basten, PJ McClure, Deb Micek, Daven Michaels, Melanie Milletics, Vin Montello, Joey Montez, Chris Moos, Chuck Mullaney, Cori Padgett, Scott Paton, David Perdew, Daniel Perry, Susan Preston, David Preston, Laura Roman Lopez, Roger (Wajed) Salam, Marlon Sanders, Thom Scott, Brad Semp, Felicia Slattery, Joey Smith, Frank Sousa, Erik Stafford, Howard Tiano, Jeff Wellman, Mike Wesely, Jess Kennedy Williams, and Bob Yeager, just to name a few!

Click here for more information about JV Alert Live…

It’s across the street from Disney World, so it’s a good opportunity to combine it with a vacation. I’ll be bringing my family.

I hope to see you there! It’s been three years since I’ve attended an Internet marketing seminar, so who knows when the next time will be.

As always, you are welcome to leave your comments below.

Have a great day!

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LESSON #79: Article Marketing

January 13, 2011 – 4:55 pm

In the previous lesson we discussed Off Page SEO, and covered many ways of obtaining links to your website.

Today we’re going to learn about a link-building strategy that involves other benefits too.

(Watch this video…)

Main points:

Article marketing is an “oldie” but goodie.

My definition of Article Marketing: You write articles (or outsource them), and submit them to one or more article directories. Those directories publish your article on their website, along with an author bio section that links back to your website. Additionally, those articles may then be syndicated on other people’s websites.

Some reasons I think it’s a good strategy for newbies:

- It’s white hat (unless you do it the grey-hat way).
- It’s easy and low cost to get started.
- Even if you fail from an SEO standpoint, you’ll still have something to show for it.

The BUM Method?

- It’s cool, but NOT what I’m talking about.
- Fails to reap all the benefits of article marketing.

Benefits of article marketing:

1) Off Page SEO from the back links
2) Direct click-through traffic from the links
3) Builds your authority/credibility as an expert in your niche

How to do article marketing:

1) Write an article (or outsource it).

- Needs to be original. No PLR or public domain. Re-written or spun content works in some cases, but not recommended for EzineArticles.

- Needs to be 500 words. Between 400-1000 is OK, but shoot for 500.

- Don’t promote anything in it!

- Editorial guidelines: http://ezinearticles.com/editorial-guidelines.html

- Write about the things that your market wants to read about. (NOT about your product)

- Use your keyword research from Lesson #77. DO go broad, and use the long tail.

- Use your keyword at the beginning of article title. Write catchy titles to entice clicks.

- Use one of your keywords as the anchor text for a link to your site IN the article.

- Write an author bio, with a call to action to entice clicks to your website.

- Alternate anchor text between the URL, site name, and keywords.

- If your #1 goal is SEO, link to your home page or strategic page that you’re trying to boost. Otherwise, consider linking to a squeeze page. Remember I spent 12 lessons talking about list building.

2) Submit your article.

- Most important directory is EzineArticles.com

- Some article marketers do very well exclusively with EzineArticles.

- Others like to distribute to as many article directories as possible.

Strategy to consider:

- Submit at least half of your articles exclusively to EzineArticles.
-Take your remaining articles, and submit them to several other article directories, such as…

articledashboard.com
goarticles.com
articlesbase.com (uses no-follow attribute)
articlesnatch.com (uses no-follow attribute)
articlealley.com (uses no-follow attribute)
knol.google.com (uses no-follow attribute sometimes)
ezinemark.com
articlecity.com
articleclick.com
ideamarketers.com
isnare.com (Article distribution service)

Article networks (Gray hat IMO):

MyArticleNetwork from Matt Callen
SEOLinkVine from Brad and Matt Callen

3) Promote your articles to give yourself an edge

- Do some off-page SEO
- Bookmark it on social bookmarking sites like delicious.com
- Digg it on Digg.com
- Tweet it on twitter.com
- Use it in the URL of blog comments
- If you’re going to use any automated/spammy tools, this is the place to do it.
- Or hire some cheap oursourcers to do the work, and multiply the effect.

4) “Rinse and repeat”

The biggest reason why most people don’t see results from article marketing is probably because they fail to stick with it. Consistency is key.

The most successful article marketers who get steady traffic are the ones who are submitting 100 or more articles per month.

Article marketing lends itself well to outsourcing because there are an overabundance of freelance article writers who can provide satisfactory results for small prices.

Some places to find article writers…

Freelancer sites:
vWorker
Odesk

Classifieds:
craigslist

Article specialty sites:
Need-an-article.com
articlez.com

Hire your own team (probably the best long-term solution):
Replace Myself

Remember to…

-Ask for samples first.
-Check for plagiarism. (www.google.com, www.copyscape.com, www.scanmyessay.com)

Action steps:

1) Decide if you want to pursue article marketing.

2) If yes, commit to doing it diligently for 6 months+.

3) Write, submit, and promote your articles. (Or outsource it).

We’ll be looking at Video Marketing in the next lesson.

As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below

Have a great day!

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Authenticity and the Future of Marketing

January 8, 2011 – 6:31 pm

01/08/2011

Since it’s the beginning of a new year, a lot of people are giving predictions and forecasts about what’s going to happen next.

My brother-in-law Micah (whom many of you know from Push Button Marketer, and from my helpdesk) showed me a video recently that I’d like to share with you. It was filmed almost a year ago at the 2010 D.I.C.E. Summit, which is basically a conference for video game developers.

Before you watch the video, I want to mention a couple things…

From my website analytics, I happen to know that the readers of Eric’s Tips tend to skew older than 45 years old, and in fact many of my readers are over 65. I guess my “old fashioned” family values, and methodical teaching style appeals more to that generation than it does to today’s youth, and that’s OK.

That having been said, I think the following video will give you some great insight into the psychology of today’s market and marketers. If you’re someone who is out-of-touch with the video game generation, it contains some especially important concepts for you to grasp.

If you’re building a business in today’s market environment, these are things to consider. Here is Jesse Schell, who is a video game developer and professor at Carnegie Mellon University:

Here are a few thoughts and points I’d like to highlight…

He said “Lead generation is more valuable than direct payments”. This reinforces what myself and other Internet marketing teachers have been saying for years… the money is in the list. The reason lead generation is so profitable is because marketers are willing to pay for those leads.

I liked what he said about feeling obligated to spend money on something BECAUSE you spent a lot of time on it already. The “elastic velvet rope”, as he calls it. Huge marketing lesson there.

I also appreciated what he said about Webkinz and other kids toys. My wife and I saw this one coming a couple years back, when our kids received some Webkinz as a gift, and subsequently got involved in the correlating virtual world.

Schell does a good job explaining some of the psychology behind it, and how it’s used to make money. But one thing he did not mention is how our kids are being CONDITIONED to buy online. Within weeks, I could see how all of these “points” and virtual dollars were affecting how my kids viewed money. Pretty soon, $400 was no big deal. It was just a number to be spent at the Webkinz store on some virtual furniture for the virtual avatar of their stuffed animal.

My favorite part of the talk was the part about “reality” and “authenticity”. This is an area that I began to see years ago, and put it to use in my own business. For the past five years or so, my self-appointed title under my picture on this website was “real life internet marketer”. This was an effort to set myself apart from all the “fakes” who were teaching IM without first being successful at it, and who were hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet. And it served me well.

As Mr. Schell demonstrates, using “real” and “authentic” is currently a hot trend in marketing, and is working well. But a few months ago, I changed my tagline, because I’m anticipating what I believe will be the next trend of authenticity, although it may take years to get here.

In my opinion, as the “authenticity” trend becomes oversaturated by marketers in all industries, eventually it will not be enough to say you’re real. Instead, you’ll have to BE real. So instead of saying I’m a “real” marketer, I’m just going to say what I am, and let you be the judge of whether I’m real.

Perhaps that’s idealistic of me to think that way, but I think it coincides with the sentiment of today’s youth. They’ve been burned a million times by those in their parent’s generation who say one thing and do something else. They want someone to speak and live the truth.

Now, here’s a little tangent, in which I may or may not contradict myself, depending on how you see it…

I am NOT saying that I think good will soon triumph over evil in the marketing world. To the contrary, human nature will continue to prevail, and unethical marketers will prosper (from a business standpoint).

When I posted recently about me-too marketers, the feedback in the comments was overwhelmingly negative regarding the marketing practices I was analyzing. There were calls for boycotts. Yet those marketing practices are showing no signs of slowing down right now.

So I do not predict that the pendulum will swing to the side of “ethical” marketers. For now, it may swing toward the side of those who SAY they are real and ethical. Unfortunately, many of those are the least ethical of all.

But while unethical marketing will prosper until the end of time, it appears that the path has been paved for truly authentic marketers to prosper too. If you’ve got what’s “real”, the market will be looking for you.

He talked about technological convergence, and suggested that technological DIVERGENCE is more the norm. I’m not sure about this one. He pokes fun at the iPad, but I think he was proven at least partially wrong on that point due to the iPad’s ensuing success.

I don’t agree with the picture he paints of a world where everything involves earning points. I’m sure we’ll see some of it, as his contemporary examples seem to indicate more to come. But in my opinion, while technology and advertising WILL be integrated into everything we touch, not all of it will be a game. Of course I could be wrong. After all, the future world will not be built by us. It’ll be built by the video game generation

As always, you are welcome to post your comments below.

Have a great day!

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