As more people hop on the internet marketing band wagon, consumers have become more wary of online scams. Most online scams run along the single most prevalent human problem, making money. The online world has for long been the home of hyped up marketing campaigns promising quick turnarounds. Humanity are largely believing and many scams have duped thousands of innocents who walked in believing that their break had come.
The Problem With Marketing Lingua Although marketing as we currently know it seeks to develop an emotional buy in the reader, there is an inherent weakness in all marketing campaigns whether legitimate or fraudulent — language is limited. There is little other way to tell someone ‘this product will change your life’ than to tell them ‘this product will change your life’. The problem with language being predominantly the same is no one can legislate against the language used in marketing a product to designate legal and fraudulent.
All successful campaigns without exception will appeal mostly to human emotion. The idea is to have people respond to the suggestion that the product or service will enhance thier life experience in some way. Since there is no particular language identifiable as the preserve of the honest and the other the preserve of the dishonest, online marketers are sometimes hard-pressed to find a way to separate their wares from fraudulent hype.
The Challenge of the Internet Marketer
As times progress, unfortunately, many online consumers find that the exciting solutions offered by the products they purchase do not live up to their promises. There are two sides to that coin. On the one hand, people do genuinely buy products that would work, if the there was full disclosure of the efficacy, or lack of it of the product. Consumers often pick products expecting them to do what they ought to do for themselves. This is common in self-help books as an example.
Too many people buy self-help books expecting some miracle potion to come out of the pages and change their world. The all important rider is silent — you will have to do a whole lot of work yourself for the lessons in this book to have any meaning in your life. There are thousands sucked in by marketing hype and end up disillusioned.
On the other hand, there are a significant number of fraudulent businesses, set up with the sole intention to defraud, using the exact same language a legitimate business would. It then begs the question, what really is a scam? Is it a legitimate business telling a half-truth just to get those sales going? Or, is it a business set up with the intention to defraud?
Can the Internet Marketer Help Draw the Line? The real elephant in the room is to the internet marketer. Is there are way for a legitimate business to make any money with all those riders and disclaimers in their sales content? Maybe the time has come for there to be a more vigilant thought process when developing products and services for online sale. Is it possible to educate the reader to the degree that they make intelligent purchases with full understanding of their role in ensuring the efficacy of the product?
It probably is the place where blogs and well-planned websites will come to the rescue. If one can use their blog or website as an educative site, then the commercial online world will tend towards the place where there is a distinct difference between a fraudulent product and a genuine product. The real will come with clear parameters within which success is guaranteed. It is rare that a con-man/woman will take time to educate their victim.
Topic: Why Online Marketing Scams and Legitimate Businesses Have Little Difference (Read 2668 times)
