“Stop sending me these SPAM messages! You are nothing but a scammer!!!”
If you do any email marketing YOU have had this message sitting in your inbox. Probably more times than you can count.
For some reason, there is a certain segment of the population that thinks if you are selling anything…and I mean anything…that you are trying to scam people with your marketing.
You could be Nicolas Tesla reincarnated coming to sell them a perpetual energy machine for $1. But if you DARE even talk about this world changing machine in an email, or in an advertisement, then so help you. Because you MUST be a scammer!
I often wonder WHAT these accusers do for a living where nothing they do ever has to be sold?
In any case, I got this email recently myself.
We’ve got a bit of a tradition, my office manager and I, when we get one of these responses to one of our emails.
We like to analyze it, laugh at it, then Facebook stalk the person behind the accusation to get further insight into WHY someone could possibly be so upset and attempt to insult us all for the measly ‘crime’ of having received an email.
It was after our most recent brutal takedown that I decided to create a definitive list, once and for all.
So, if you want to know how to scam people with your marketing, THIS is my method:
#1- Spend Thousands of Hours Becoming an Expert
When a keyboard warrior (hereafter referred to as a KW) decides to take me down by calling me a scammer I always remember one thought:
“How DARE I even attempt to sell my expertise when all that I’ve invested is only thousands and thousands of hours to mastering my craft.”
At the root of MY scam for my dog training company is over 20 years of training dogs. The KW picks up on this. He knows that I shouldn’t be selling my expertise until I’ve been an expert for at least 30.
The same is true for you.
You may think you’re an expert. You may think what you have inside your head, or your product, or your service can TRULY improve the lives of other people.
But take it from the KW. You need to keep your mouth SHUT about the things that have taken you countless hours to learn and master. Only speak about them when you’ve first been spoken to.
Got it?
#2- Find Out the Biggest Need of Your Audience
In your efforts to scam people with your marketing, once you’ve taken the countless hours to become an expert, you now must figure out the biggest needs and problems of the people you hope to serve.
It’s the hallmark of scamming.
The KW is going to tell you that you only want to learn about his problem so that you can scam him by hitting his hot buttons.
I can tell you that’s the truth for me.
Here’s some things that I do in my efforts to figure out someone’s needs so I can scam them:
A- I got myself a Survey Monkey account. And with frequency I survey people on my list to figure out what moves them. What inspires them. What makes them afraid.
You know what’s worse about me? When people tell me what they need through these surveys I figure out a product or service to provide it.
Muahahahahaha!
B- I attend conferences with colleagues and potential clients in order to stay on the cutting edge of what is going on with the people we sell to.
That’s how committed I am to my scam.
I’m willing to invest thousands of dollars, fly around the country, spend time in boring conference rooms, all to do market research.
C- In my down time I read trade publications, current events, and other reports to figure out the issues and problems that affect my market.
I was always told by my detractors that scamming is the easy way to make money.
Somehow I don’t ever seem to have much time off as I’m told I should. Even when I’m not working I seem to be working on this step.
Oh, well.
#3- Figure Out How to Get in Front of My Audience
This one is a DEFINITE hot button for the KW.
Scroll down your Facebook newsfeed.
Find one of those ads with “Sponsored Post” underneath it.
What are the chances that an astute KW has left a comment stating, for all to see, “This must be a scam!!!”
Blast! They’re so good at figuring us out.
So here I am, I’ve spent all this time developing my craft. Then I spent even more time figuring out the problems I can best solve with this craft.
Scamming is much harder than I thought. But, on with the rest. Scamming isn’t going to get itself done.
NOW I’ve got to figure out how to communicate to my market that I can solve their problem.
Herein lies a scammers dilemma.
Obviously we’re here to make money and screw people over.
But now WE’RE the ones actually spending money.
Not just only on the Facebook ads. But in the thousands of dollars of training to learn how to do Facebook ads.
And the thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours learning google ad words. And the enormous amount of time and money it took to learn how to do Public Relations. And the monthly bill I’ve got for SEO.
Phew! This scam is getting complicated. And expensive!
Part of me has thought that scamming should bring in a lot more money with a lot less effort, but such is life.
Not only do I have to learn how to use these platforms for getting in front of people, but I’ve got to learn things like copywriting.
You see, in order to complete my scam I’ve got to figure out how to communicate the benefits of working with me. And it’s not as easy as you’d think.
There are hours and hours of work in learning how people think and how our words can move them to solve their problems with our products and services.
Scamming is tiring!
#4- Help Them and…Collect Money!
Here’s where the scam gets tricky. And I mean really tricky.
Because if word gets out that you aren’t actually helping people solve their problems you soon won’t be able to run your scam!
So here’s the twist in your scam.
You actually have to help these people.
All that work to learn your craft…
All that work to figure out what your prospects’ problems are…
All that work to get in front of them…
And now the cruel twist of fate is that the work continues! Now you have to solve those problems you learned about and spent so much time preparing to solve.
But, if you’ve done it right, that’s where the money comes!
Your scam was so good that it actually helped someone solve their problem and they paid you for it. If you’re a great scammer you’ll even get those people to tell their friends how good you are and you’ll be able to scam them.
If you’re a master, you’ll be able to duplicate this scam over and over until you’ve been doing it for decades, solving countless problems, and scamming a ton of money from victims who are so fleeced that they want their loved ones to be victimized as well.
And no one will be the wiser….
Except for that Keyword Warrior who, one day, happens upon one of your emails or advertisements and uses his life experience and sheer force of wit to immediately decipher that you’ve been scamming all this time.
This is a guest post by Ty Brown. Ty tripled his business in two and a half years using stories and persuasive copywriting. Now he speaks, writes, coaches, and consults with other businesses on how to do the same. Find him at Ty the Speaker.