Is Ethical Marketing Still Around?

I was recently involved with a group of affiliates who were developing multiple streams of income, and one of the products which we were given to promote was an antivirus product I had never heard of. The promotional page for this product is mostly hype, and includes testing of the product against other AV products. This testing was not independent, and was done by the company selling the product (not a good sign). The affiliate program can be quite lucrative if promoted properly.

One of our members, who is quite knowledgeable in this area, pointed out that this product was substandard, and would probably not perform as it said. This provoked a debate in our forum, and I was surprised that the general consensus seemed to be " Who cares as long as we make money"? One of our leaders said something like "The winner is not the one who promotes the best product, but the one who does the best job of promoting".

Personally I have a problem with promoting anything that I do not believe in. I certainly would not promote that particular software to anyone.

I see this over and over again, particularly with some of the so-called 'gurus' who promote things to their list that turn out to be total crap. I suspect they don't even review or test some of these things.

What do you think? Should we be making money at all costs, or should we strive to promote only those things that have true value? Where do we draw the line?

Call me old school, but no. I still believe that you only promote something you believe in. If the product tanks, or backfires, you and the company will lose rep big time. In that situation I would rather have them work on the product until its as close to perfect as can be, or its no promoting from my side. You are known by the products you represent, and if the products are bad, then it impacts business in the long run. Just my 2 cents.

my personal of view, if you are religious person, for sure you don't want to take advantage from other people weakness or lack of knowledge of certain product that totally misleading the true behind it. God forbid whoever cheat and take advantages of others. Then when it come to long term of your business plan, you will ruin it and nobody gonna buy your product soon when they know what are really you.. what goes around come around.

I agree with my friends here. Promoting anything for money is the short view. Promoting quality is the long view. Many of the 'gurus' depend on a steady stream of newbies to take advantage of.

I always promote stuff ethically and only stand behind products I believe in. My reputation is a lot more important to me than making a fast few bucks.

Like they say, it takes years to build up a good reputation, but only seconds to lose it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bhuff85

I always promote stuff ethically and only stand behind products I believe in. My reputation is a lot more important to me than making a fast few bucks.

Like they say, it takes years to build up a good reputation, but only seconds to lose it.

---

i love your thoughts mate! that's true! don't jeopardize your long term business plan by giving fakes stuff. you must do it properly and ethically, good reputation can bring more customers

Well this is great! Its good to know I'm among friends who approach business in an honest and ethical manner. Its how I have always approached my business.

Internet is a dangerous place.
One screwup and it's over with a business.
Negative reviews, forum posts about how the product sucks, the word being spread "you're a scammer"...

Once you start, be consistant and pratice what you preach.
Make sure you keep your credibility for the future of your online business.

Andre

[/COLOR]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by econtinue

Internet is a dangerous place.

Once you start, be consistant and pratice what you preach.
Make sure you keep your credibility for the future of your online business.

Andre

---

By maintaining credibility, you can maintain your sales also, the more people trust you, the great ROI you will get

You know that the most successful businesses come from the most ethical marketers ?
Honesty is key in a business if you want it to survive longer than 2 or 3 years.
Ethical marketing is real...black hat marketing will get penalized in the end.

And the "punishment" is HARD !
Meaning...game over for your business.

Andre

The IM industry need more ethical marketers, when there are more ethical marketers, there's no chance for people/consumer to purchased piracy/fake/abused product, because the ethical marketers themselves give great service and product

There are many of us out there, we're just overwhelmed by everything else and, of course, the non ethical marketers. Thing is, with companies being more and more money oriented, especially in times when industry giants like Kodak are filing for bankruptcy protection, they need that steady flow of income, no matter what. Maybe its bad decision making that has them deciding to market the product regardless, maybe its the need to make more money to ensure the business stays afloat, the fact remains that, there are always going to be non ethical marketers out there, as long as there is a need for quick results and making money by any means necessary.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenyx

There are many of us out there, we're just overwhelmed by everything else and, of course, the non ethical marketers. Thing is, with companies being more and more money oriented, especially in times when industry giants like Kodak are filing for bankruptcy protection, they need that steady flow of income, no matter what. Maybe its bad decision making that has them deciding to market the product regardless, maybe its the need to make more money to ensure the business stays afloat, the fact remains that, there are always going to be non ethical marketers out there, as long as there is a need for quick results and making money by any means necessary.

---

fact is fact, sometimes to keep business running, business owner secretly use backdoor method in order to push up sales, so as to remain to be the top sales.. for example just look at war betweem samsung and apple, sue each other

100 percent Ethical Marketing was never here. We have a habit of promoting our products or services as the only best thing available..

But yes, there are certain services which are so bad, but are promoted so aggressively, that you do feel that its not fair at all.. Ad that should not happen.. There should be someone to regulate that..

I think (as others have said) that you should believe in your product.

Two thoughts come to mind...

promoting crappy products existed long before the internet, though along with the timing of the internet (and not because of it), there has been an over all decrease in quality. this is sad and one wonders how much longer we can go like this.

The other thing is-- I know of a CPA network that was started sometime ago, and one of the AM's was involved in a shady deal years prior. That little fact came out while this company was starting and as a result many people stayed away from the company.

just two things I wanted to share based on this thread...

I don't know about other members here but I still adopt ethical marketing and always try to promote the ethical way always.