Credibility In Internet Marketing
I always amazes me the things that people put in ads to try to convince us to buy their products. The real question is this: is the information in the ad credible? I was re-exposed to a program I had looked at a few months ago again this evening and I noticed something that I had completely missed before. I recently warned the readers of my newsletter about screen shots of “payment proof” as they are SO easy to fake.
In this particular ad about a traffic generation program; the advertiser was bragging about making “over a million dollars a year online”. There is a screen shot included on this page that has all the other data blurred but the money totals that show $1,203,475.00 to ‘prove’ the claim. This is to prove his credibility that he knows how to make a lot of money.
Now in the next paragraph he says “I spend over $150,000.00 a month on advertising.” This tells us he spends a lot of money to make the big money, no shock there. You have to spend money to make money, right? This is to further his credibility as he isn’t telling you that he did this without spending any money.
The thing is though, if you do the simple math – how stupid does he take us for? How credible is he?
Doing the simple math, $150,000 per month X 12 = $1,800,000.00 is spent on advertising.
He spends $1,800,000.00 dollars a year to make $1,203,475.00. HUH?!?! OOPS! Shot himself in the foot there!
Let me get this straight; a man who spends $1.8 million to make $1.2 million wants me to sign up for his great program? Yep, he does. Let me see, when I woke up this morning I thought, “Hey let me get in a program working with a guy who LOSES almost $600,000.00 a year….Yeah, that’s the ticket! I can learn a lot from him about having a PROFITABLE business!”
This is just ONE example. You can find this type of thing in SO many ads for programs – if you look for them. In his effort to prove his credibility in being able to show you he knows what he is doing; he failed for me. If the ad gives any figures, do the math and see if it is credible. If the figures in the ad do not add up, do you actually trust them to deliver what they promise?
Definitely something to think about when reading the new ad for the ‘Next Big Thing’, huh?
