Update August 6: I got Sylvie on the phone last night for a Webside Chat about her controversial report. Check out the podcast here.
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Sylvie Fortin has begun what will be one of the most important reports, or manifestos, ever for the internet marketing industry. She’s only written about a few internet marketing “sins” so far, but I was glued to every word.
I Have Sinned!
I was also very uncomfortable as she nailed a couple of sins we are committing ourselves. I don’t care if people know that. (Did you honestly think I was perfect?) I will correct those sins and I will gladly pass on the word about this important report despite having to admit, like many, many others, that I have sinned.
Sylvie, wife of Michel Fortin, is putting herself out there in the most important way a marketer can. Standing up to the “way business is done” in internet marketing is not the kind of thing that gets you invited to the popular kids’ parties! She’s already started taking heat, but it’s nothing in comparison to the amount of fan mail she’s getting.
And I think that’s the whole point of “Internet Marketing Sins.” Doing what’s right instead of what’s trendy, cool, or even completely unethical just because “everyone’s doing it.”
Everyone has been involved in forum and blog threads (or at least read some) where everyone else is complaining about the latest launch. I have seen some pretty eloquent ideas and passionate arguments against the “rape and pillage” launches, false scarcity, downright illegal activity, and other ploys marketers use to ramp up sales, no matter what the consequences.
But no one. Absolutely no one has ever written about the sins marketers commit like Sylvie has. We all tend to rant on a blog post or in a forum and get it out of our system. Sylvie, on the other hand, finally sat down to really do something about unethical, and ultimately, unprofitable practices marketers are using to sell good or bad products.
Before You Make Some Big Mistakes, Read This…
Do not envy the marketer who just made millions on a rape and pillage launch. 1) You don’t know they actually made millions. 2) They may have done it by committing one or more of the sins in Sylvie’s report. If you aspire to be one of those guys, read this report before you take another step down the rabbit hole.
You Can Be Profitable and Good at the Same Time
You can still make millions, and Sylvie immediately offers better advice at the end of her description of each internet marketing sin. She will show you how you should be thinking about building a real business online and the things you should avoid.
Everything she points out in this report I absolutely agree with. Even if I need to change some things about our own marketing.
I only wish I didn’t have to wait for her to release the rest of the report! It’s really that good.
Download Internet Marketing Sins by Sylvie Fortin
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Is it a sin to promote Sylvie’s affiliate program without mentioning you’re using a tracking link in your post?
Adrian Bye’s last blog post..Laura Fitton from Pistachio Consulting
Absolutely not. The report isn’t anti-marketing. I use tracking links for everything. Every good marketer does or should. Mentioning it is redundant, since it’s right there for anyone who cares to notice.
If you think that this report is a call for marketers to “go away” and stop providing the money to run this wonderful thing we call the internet, along with all the jobs it has created, then you haven’t read the report.
What I DIDN’T do speaks the loudest: I didn’t overstate the importance of the report to make a buck. I didn’t tack on ridiculous, meaningless bonuses for reading the report. I didn’t lie about the contents of it or claim it will make anyone a million bucks overnight.
I also didn’t pander to my audience by saying “Hey everyone, look! I’m just linking to this report with a raw link! See? That proves I am an authentic, born-again altruist.”
People come to me to learn how to do business on the web. By example I show them how to do it well. Being an affiliate has nothing to do with my honest reaction to a report.
The regulator of everything here is reputation. If I started affiliate whoring and promoting every single thing people came to me to promote, my reputation and my little empire would be in the toilet.
People don’t have to worry about motive when they have a long list of previous recommendations that served them well which shows I care about what I promote. Or rather, I care about my reputation as the sole reason for my ability to provide for my family, partners, and dozen employees.
No, a tracking link is not a sin. Nor is an affiliate program.
I read the first part of Sylvie’s report and it was outstanding.
Anyone who has bought any marketing material or been involved in marketing on the internet will be able to totally relate to where she’s coming from. I know I can.
BTW, I know Michel’s a guest poster here at FTR – you keep pretty good company.
And I loved your response above regarding tracking links.
Mark McCullagh’s last blog post..Internet Marketing Scams: How NOT To Make Money on the Internet
Jack, I love how you answered Adrian’s “question”.
I am 100% against shilling just to make a buck. I am 100% FOR genuine product recommendations where the promoter has actually reviewed the product and genuinely believe it has value. I am 100% in support of said reviewer sharing in the commissions for the sale. It is a reward for a recommendation. It is not a bribe!
I am sick of people treating affiliate marketing like the vendor is somehow BRIBING people to promote their crap. The reasons for this belief has everything to do with Hammerhead Marketing, as outlined in IM Sins.
This is exactly why I’m putting my reputation on the line and writing this report. It’s high time people stop beating around the bush, asking “questions” in a way that seem like accusations, whining about the problems…and someone needed to stand up and actually provide actionable solutions to the problems.
Arrgghh!
(Sylvie runs off to continue ranting in the report, thus maintaining Jack’s stellar blog in the pristine condition it was in before she showed up)
Thanks Mark! I like keeping the Fortins around. They are good for business! They’re even better drinking buddies at the few conferences I go to anymore.
Sylvie – tell Michel that I let you rant on my blog so he has to approve my comments once in awhile. He’s such a diplomat!
Why does Sylvie make the decisions on what is right and what is not for internet marketing?
Sorry, but I just don’t agree with this. Ethics are an individual choice and people have to make their own decisions within rules of the law. In some communities (such as this one) posting an affiliate link without disclosing the relationship is completely acceptable.
In other communities any kind of compensated relationship without full disclosure is completely unacceptable (eg payperpost, or for newspapers such as for reporters of the Wall Street Journal).
I asked the question intentionally to highlight this specific point because I think it is an important one. Thanks for reading.
Adrian Bye’s last blog post..Laura Fitton from Pistachio Consulting
@ Adrian
You said…”Why does Sylvie make the decisions on what is right and what is not for internet marketing?”
You make a great point, Adrian. Is this about my personal opinions or is it about our market? Let me pull a direct quote from Part 2 of IM Sins, which is being written as we speak.
“If this was just about my personal feelings, I would have scribbled in my diary and been done with it. A diary entry would have been cathartic for me, and me alone.”
“I had a suspicion that if this report was released in pieces, there would be a flood of feedback that would come in about the report. But the feedback itself was not for the purposes of stroking my own little ego. There was a very specific purpose for encouraging all of you to send in your feedback. ”
“The real reason was to prove to the worst sinners that what I am saying is not just my own opinions, and that this report represents the deep-rooted feelings that are happening right now in the internet marketing community.”
“So, are you ready for the proof you asked for? Just click here, so your own customers and fellow marketers can speak for themselves.”
http://www.internetmarketingsins.com/feedback.htm
But what I must stress about all of this is that the solutions themselves (as outlined in the report) were not invented by me and me alone. These solutions have proven to work beautifully to increase revenue for those who choose to use them in their marketing efforts.
But in the end, Adrian, you are correct. Ethics is a personal choice that we each have to determine for ourselves. Handling your business the way you want to is a very personal decision. You absolutely can disagree with what I’m saying and do things your own way. That’s the wonderful beauty that is Freedom of Choice.
Only you, and your customers, can decide if your way works for both of you.
And some marketers will definitely disagree with every point I make in the report. Some don’t feel that any of these tactics are wrong in any way.
Some will not change until their customers stop voting with their dollars.
@Adrian Bye:
Adrian, I don’t agree with your premise, either. “Ethics are an individual choice?” No they’re not. You stated it yourself. A community decides what’s ethical or not. And your example proves this. What may be acceptable in one community is not in another.
And you said, “People have to make their own decisions within rules of the law.” New laws get implemented exactly because too many marketers push the envelope “within the rules of the law.” Many of them breach the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law, and so laws are amended or added to specify — because so many people will abuse with semantics.
My wife did not make the decisions on what is right and what is not for internet marketing, as you said. She is merely stating what’s been on so many people’s minds for so long. She’s ranting on the obvious and most blatant errors that are tarnishing our industry as a whole.
But she’s not just expressing an opinion. She’s also offering advice and to help those who may contemplate pushing the envelope too far.
You’re expressing your opinion, and I respect that. And my wife is expressing hers. So why is it so hard for you to respect hers?
I say this because you turned a question about what Jack did (which is an important question) into a conversation about — and an implied slight against — my wife. Not sure why, but I have a feeling there’s something deeper, here.
Michel Fortin’s last blog post..Not-So-Shocking Responses to Shocking Report
Heads up! Part #2 is finally released. And this time, the gloves are coming off…
http://www.internetmarketingsins.com/
Jack, I love how you answered Adrian's “question”.
I am 100% against shilling just to make a buck. I am 100% FOR genuine product recommendations where the promoter has actually reviewed the product and genuinely believe it has value. I am 100% in support of said reviewer sharing in the commissions for the sale. It is a reward for a recommendation. It is not a bribe!
I am sick of people treating affiliate marketing like the vendor is somehow BRIBING people to promote their crap. The reasons for this belief has everything to do with Hammerhead Marketing, as outlined in IM Sins.
This is exactly why I'm putting my reputation on the line and writing this report. It's high time people stop beating around the bush, asking “questions” in a way that seem like accusations, whining about the problems…and someone needed to stand up and actually provide actionable solutions to the problems.
Arrgghh!
(Sylvie runs off to continue ranting in the report, thus maintaining Jack's stellar blog in the pristine condition it was in before she showed up)