Today, Netflix announced that DVDs and streaming videos will stay under one brand: Netflix.

There will be no Qwikster.

Customers spoke. Netflix listened.

Good for them.

Here’s the email they sent:

I think Netflix made the right decision.

Do you?

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. In case you missed it, here’s the first post I wrote covering this issue: How Netflix Could Have Made Bad News BetterSimilar Posts:

• How Netflix Could Have Made Bad News Better
• Preemptive Apology: How Netflix Earns My Respect, and My Business
• Has Netflix Gotten Bored of Its Own Advertising?
• Should a Direct Marketing Magazine Have Boring Headlines?
• Quantum Improvements

In July 2011, Netflix stepped into a hornet’s nest when they sent out a short matter-of-fact email announcing the equivalent of a 60% price increase with almost zero explanation.

Netflix Price Increase Email

In case it is difficult to read the image, here is the text from the email I received on July 12, 2011:

Dear Ryan,

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $9.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs will be split into 2 distinct plans:

     Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
     Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs, 1 out at-a-time (no streaming) for $7.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $15.98 a month ($7.99 + $7.99). You don’t need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

You can easily change or cancel your unlimited streaming plan, unlimited DVD plan, or both, by going to the Plan Change page in Your Account.

We realize you have many choices for home entertainment, and we thank you for your business. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to call us at 1-888-357-1516.

–The Netflix Team

“Okay, But WHY?”

Even the most inexperienced direct marketer knows that you must always give a reason why, especially when you’re raising prices and especially when you’re raising prices in a consumer market.

And yet Netflix overlooked this critical detail.

As you can imagine, the backlash has been vociferous.

Tens of thousands of angry Netflix subscribers published their reactions on their blogs and Facebook pages. More than 12,000 people left comments on the Netflix blog alone.

Obviously, the price increase was not well-received. In the two months following the price increase, Netflix lost a million subscribers.

After 69 days of hemorrhaging customers, Netflix finally issued a public apology on September 19, 2011. But it wasn’t much of an apology. Rather, it was another major announcement posing as an apology.

Major Announcement Disguised as an Apology

“I messed up. I owe you an explanation,” began CEO Reed Hastings’ email.

Yet the apology came across as a cover for more bad news.

Netflix would be separating its DVD and streaming services into two completely different business entities. The streaming business would retain the Netflix name; the “new” DVD business would be called Qwikster.

Worse still…

Hastings’s apology for not communicating with users about the price changes has made his customers even more upset, since he isn’t apologizing for changing prices but simply for not telling users about it more clearly. That set off a lot of backlash from consumers who felt it was a disingenuous apology.

Netflix customers are now complaining that splitting the streaming and DVD businesses into separate entities will make it more inconvenient for them because…

Now You Have to Manage Two Queues Instead of One

Instead of one centralized queue for all movies you want to watch, Netflix customers will now have two separate subscriptions, billed by two separate companies, with two separate movie queues on two separate web sites. Movie ratings and reviews posted to one site won’t be posted to the other.

In other words, the creation of Qwikster alongside of Netflix creates a lot of extra work for customers who would like to continue receiving DVDs by mail plus the ability to stream movies through the Internet.

Even though the announcement is only hours old as I write this, the Netflix blog has already received more than 13,000 comments — more comments than the previous price increase announcement received in two months.

It’s no surprise, really.

First, Netflix effectively increased their prices by 60%. Then they added insult to injury by creating more work for their customers by forcing them to manage two separate movie queues on two separate web sites.

More expensive and less convenient.

Not exactly a good recipe for winning over your customers.

How Netflix Could Have Done It Better

Now, I don’t run a publicly traded company, so I realize it’s a bit presumptuous for me to give Netflix business advice. Nonetheless, I feel they could have handled the present situation much better than they have.

Here are three specific ways Netflix could have done it better:

1. Provide customers specific reasons for the price increase.
2. Keep both DVDs-by-mail and streaming video under the Netflix brand.
3. Continue offering customers a discount for subscribing to both services.

Let’s look at each of these in greater depth.

1. Provide Specific Reasons for the Price Increase

A 60% price increase is not insignificant even for a service that originally cost only $9.99 a month.

If ever there was a time to hire a professional copywriter, it was in a situation such as the current one. If I had been in charge, I would’ve written something like this…

Dear Bob,

First, thank you for being a Netflix subscriber. We’re in business to serve you in the best way we possibly can, and we thank you for your business.

Secondly, we have a very important announcement. We’ve been doing everything in our power to avoid a price increase these last few years. And yet we now find ourselves pressured into increasing our subscription fees.

With that in mind, the cost for unlimited DVDs by mail will now be $7.99 a month. And the cost for unlimited video streaming will also be $7.99 a month.

You can save $3 a month by bundling the services. The cost for both unlimited DVDs and streaming will be $12.99 a month.

We realize this is a significant price increase. Why so much? And why now? Here’s what’s been happening behind the scenes…

As you may know, the Post Office is not doing well these days. They’re losing billions every year and may soon go bankrupt. Because of this, they’ve been increasing the cost of postage. We now pay X% more to send a DVD through the mail than we did just X years ago.

After reviewing our books, we realized we have no choice but to increase the price of our plans to cover the costs of increased postage.

At the same time, we’re facing pressure from cable companies, movie studios, and other content providers. Many of our original licensing contracts have expired or will expire in the next 12 months. We are re-negotiating these contracts so that we can continue to provide you with the widest selection of streaming content possible.

Here’s the problem. Since we signed our original licensing agreements, we’ve grown a lot. Cable companies and movie studios are not willing to renew our contracts under the original terms. They want more money.

For example, we were recently negotiating with Starz. We offered them $300 million to continue licensing their content. This is ten times as much as we paid them X years ago. They still said no.

Liberty Media, a company that owns a major cable network, is trying to strong-arm us into raising prices much higher than the $7.99/mo. subscription fee we’ve settled on. It is a clear case of greed on the part of cable networks and movie studios, and we’re doing our best to keep costs as low as possible.

Clearly, streaming is the future of the movie and TV business. At the same time, the cost of licensing those movies and TV shows is going up. This is why we’ve found ourselves in the uncomfortable position of raising the price of our streaming plans at the same time we are raising the price of our DVD plans.

It is not ideal, and it’s not something we wanted to do. But circumstances have forced it upon us.

Please know this: The change in prices is going to allow us to bring you the best selection of streaming content we’ve offered to date. You won’t see our streaming movie library double overnight, but you should see hundreds of new titles starting in September and October of this year.

Again, we appreciate your business and your loyalty and will continue to fight to keep costs as low as possible while offering the biggest selection we can.

Sincerely,

Your friends at Netflix

I believe a detailed approach like the one I’ve written above could have minimized the backlash and possibly generated some good will at the same time.

2. Keep Both Services Under the Netflix Brand

Clearly, keeping both the streaming and DVD-by-mail services under the Netflix brand makes it much easier for subscribers to manage their movie queues.

It also makes Netflix a stronger brand.

While some people are predicting the end of the DVD by mail business, I predict it will stick around a lot longer than people think. That’s because I think it will take many years before any company will have the ability to stream a movie with the same resolution as a Blu-Ray disc.

I recently upgraded my Netflix plan for this very reason. I wanted to be able to get Blu-Ray discs.

Frankly, I’d rather see a good movie on Blu-Ray. Better picture, better sound. I only use Netflix streaming when I’m less concerned about sound and picture quality. So I use it primarily for TV shows (like The Office) and cartoons for my kids.

3. Continue Offering a Discount for Bundled Service

Now that Netflix is introducing Qwikster, it will be difficult for them to offer any kind of discount for subscribing to both services. But it seems like common sense to reward people who are spending more money with you.

Not only that, offering a discount for bundling both services together would have softened the impact of the price increase and given back some control to Netflix customers. I don’t think the backlash would have been quite as severe if they had continued to offer this “volume discount.”

So, What Do YOU Think?

How do you feel about Netflix right now?

Do you think they’ve handled the price increase and apology well? Or do you think they could’ve done it better?

What would you have done if you had been in their shoes?

Please leave a comment below.

-Ryan M. Healy

Selected Sources:

• The Qwikster and the Dead
• Netflix splits DVD and streaming service
• Why Netflix is splitting itself in two
• What Netflix did right, and what it did wrong
• Did Starz Turn Down $300 Million a Year From Netflix to Make the Cable Guys Happy?

Similar Posts:

• Netflix Kills Qwikster
• Preemptive Apology: How Netflix Earns My Respect, and My Business
• 31 Ways to Grow a Business
• Basics of Business Growth
• Form(at) Determines Value

How the heck does Ben Settle write such witty and entertaining emails every single day?

That’s what I’d ask Ben if I had the chance.

Oh, wait.

I do have the chance.

And so do you. ;-)

For just 2 more days, ask Ben anything you want about copywriting.

And he’ll answer your question!

Want to know his dirty little email secret? Then ask him!

Or even ask him…

• When is it good to lead a sales letter with a story?

• How do you know when you’ve written enough bullets?

• What’s your favorite method for polishing up a sales letter so it sings?

• Are there any words you avoid when writing copy? Or any words you intentionally use? Why?

• Do you adapt your writing voice to the market… or do you just write for markets where your voice is a natural fit? Why?

I could come up with questions all day long.

But it’d be WAY more fun if you helped me out with a few questions of your own.

So: Submit your questions for Ben in the comments section here….

http://www.ryanhealy.com/get-your-copywriting-questions-answered/

Thanks,

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. This is not an opportunity to get a critique of your sales page, so please avoid asking for feedback on copy you’ve written.Similar Posts:

• Most Popular Content on Copywriting Code
• Ben Settle’s Weird Copywriting Tips – Part 4
• Writing Warm-Ups: How to Turn on Your “Writing Mind”
• Does Your Writing Matter?
• The Hardest Part about Copywriting

As you probably know, you can often increase sales by attaching your promotion to something your target market is already thinking about.

Holidays… current events… even celebrities are all fair game for getting your prospects’ attention and getting them to buy.

That’s why I was pleased to see this creative promotion in my email inbox today.

Impulse Theater (formerly Comedy Works) is the longest running show in Denver. My wife and I go there a few times a year.

Anyway, I love how they took a common government tax form — the 1040 EZ — and turned it into a promotion. Brilliant! This is much more creative (in my opinion) than those “I’ve got a big tax bill” sales.

While it is likely true that Mr. Marketer has a big tax bill, it is an overused appeal that has lost some of its pizzazz.

Impulse Theater, on the other hand, takes an old theme — Tax Day! — and comes up with a creative promotion that cuts through the clutter.

Nice work.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Big Government Targets Freelancers
• I Demand a New Tax to Fund My Marketing!
• The Battle Between Strategy and Tactics
• Ed’s Got My Back
• Creating a Common Enemy

I have an iPhone.

Only my immediate family members and closest friends know the number.

I often leave my iPhone in the car when I’m out.

I rarely ever use it to access my email; rarer still that I use it to access the Internet.

In fact, my brothers tease me because of how little I use my iPhone.

You may think I’m a little crazy for my behavior. But after you read this, it will all make sense:

• Being Unreachable and Totally Accessible

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Are You Accidentally Missing Out?
• Stuck on a Sales Letter? Then Do This…
• Finding the Right Emotional Trigger
• Unexamined Opinions
• Naming Names vs. Calling Names

Since my last post about getting free traffic from Twitter, I’ve gotten a couple emails from concerned readers who believe I’m encouraging Twitter spam.

It’s a fair argument, so I thought I’d address it head on. Here’s the first email I received.

Hi Ryan,

Are these random @ messages sent to non-followers with a sales page at the end? Because if that’s what you are promoting, you’re likely to have people reporting you for spam left and right.

Twitter users are into social media – SOCIAL. Spamming links is not social. It is anti-social.

Know what I mean?

The second email I received was from Joel Comm, a well-known Internet marketer and the author of Twitter Power:

Hey Ryan,

I’m really surprised to see you promoting Twitter Diving.

It’s total and complete Twitter spamming. You have to set up multiple Twitter accounts, and Markus even says on his forum that Twitter is shutting down accounts that are using this tool. You would never risk your own account as it would get shut down.

I’m trying to figure out your motivation…

Eager to hear your reply. :-)

Joel

So the big question is, am I encouraging Twitter spam?

This is a question I asked myself. In fact, I was an original beta tester for Twitter Diving. Naturally, I was concerned about the whole spam issue. So I created a throwaway account to test the service and satisfy my concerns.

After testing Twitter Diving myself, I personally feel my recommendation is not encouraging spam. Here’s why I say that…

Let’s say you’re on Twitter and you come across a tweet about “quinoa.” You’ve recently written an article about quinoa, so you reply back and say something like, “Hey, I see you’ve got an interest in quinoa. You might like this article: [link]”

Is this spam?

No.

You’re providing useful and relevant information based on what a person is publicly talking about.

Twitter Diving lets you send personalized @replies to multiple people at once. This is why I view it as a productivity tool. Instead of replying to 10 people by hand, you can reply to those same 10 people all at the same time.

I have already sent lots of @replies by hand, many with links to articles that aren’t selling anything. I’ve received many @replies like this as well. I don’t view it as spam and I don’t think others view it that way either.

To me, it’s similar to somebody on Google searching for something specific and you say, “Hey, here’s what you’re looking for.” Except on Twitter, people are publicly talking about certain subjects and you can jump in and add to that conversation: “Oh, you’re talking about quinoa? Here’s an article you might like…”

Since I began using the tool, I’ve gotten extremely high click-thru rates, usually between 30-50% and sometimes higher. I’ve had some people retweet my @replies. And I’ve also had people reply back to thank me for the information I sent.

If I was spamming people, would they be clicking on my links, retweeting them, and personally thanking me? Probably not.

Obviously, Twitter Diving is like sending email; it can be abused. Somebody could blast out a bunch of irrelevant tweets all pointing to sales pages — but that would defeat the purpose of personalized @replies.

Not to mention, it would quickly backfire. (This is why Twitter Diving has a few safeguards built in to stop anybody who tries to use the tool for spamming purposes.)

Certainly, some will still see Twitter Diving in black and white terms and say that all automated tweets are spam.

Of course, if this is their position, then that means that many popular Twitter clients (like HootSuite) are tools for spamming Twitter. It also means all scheduled tweets are spam, all tweets auto-published via an RSS feed are spam, etc.

In the end, I guess it depends on a person’s definition of spam. Sending out unsolicited sales pitches is spam. Sending out on-topic @replies that aren’t trying to sell anything seems to make good sense to me. It’s something I’ve done by hand and will continue to do.

The only difference is that now I’m experimenting with Twitter Diving to be more productive.

This is all just my opinion, of course. I’m certainly open to hearing other arguments. I’ve been wrong before about a lot of different things in my life and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be wrong again!

What’s your perspective? Is sending personalized @replies with Twitter Diving spam? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks!

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Free Targeted Traffic with New Twitter Tool
• How to Connect on Twitter
• Is It Spam or Is It Something Else?
• Sabotage! When Social Proof Backfires
• Why I Allow Only 14 Days for Comments

I love Google. I really do. They’re true Internet pioneers.

But lately, I’m becoming a bit disillusioned with Google. They’re becoming more difficult to work with, more heavy-handed in their application of rules, less responsive to customer feedback.

Case in point:

Recently Google banned my ads promoting a long-form sales letter on this blog that has a lead capture form at the bottom even though I have a full nav bar, legal disclaimers, and more than 250 articles on my site!

What really irritated me is that they had never sent me any prior warnings — and yet sent me an email that implied they had repeatedly warned me and I was unresponsive. Uh, no. The “final warning” was the first one I had received.

Here is the email they sent me.

Subject:

Final Warning: Your Google AdWords account has multiple violations

Body:

Dear advertiser,

We are writing to let you know that your Google AdWords account is at risk of being suspended due to multiple violations related to our Advertising Policies, including the Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines. Below is a list of example display URLs of the sites in violation of these policies. Please check the existing ads in your account to ensure that they comply with these policies. Please be aware that this is your final warning, and any additional violations of our Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines will lead to immediate account suspension.

As part of our commitment to making the AdWords experience safe and effective for our users and our advertisers, we routinely review the landing pages that our advertisers promote through our search and content networks. If we find that an advertiser has submitted poor quality landing pages that do not comply with our Advertising Policies, including the Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines, we reserve the right to take account-level action.

Landing pages advertised via AdWords must have relevant, original content, and must be transparent about the nature of the business being promoted. Further, advertisers are prohibited from promoting certain types of sites, which include, but are not limited to:

* Data collection sites that imply delivery of free items, etc., in order to collect private information
* Arbitrage sites without relevant and original content that are designed for the purpose of showing ads
* Affiliate sites without relevant and original content that are designed to drive traffic to another site with a different domain
* “Get-rich quick” sites that make unrealistic promises
* Sites that are deceptive
* Sites that distribute malware or spyware
* Extremely misleading/unverifiable or inaccurate claims

Please note that this action is related to sites that have recently been advertised through your account. In a review of your account history, we found that your account had submitted multiple sites that merited poor landing page quality evaluations. Advertisers that have a history of promoting poor quality landing pages are subject to account-level disabling.

So: Based on Google’s advertising guidelines, I can only assume that my landing pages have been classified as “data collection sites.” Therefore, I can’t advertise on Google.

But here’s the deal.

If I can’t capture some kind of information by offering something for free or selling something outright, then how in the world am I supposed to justify the advertising expense?

It seems Google is trying to permanently cement their position as “The One Who Rules the Internet” by favoring advertisers who run branding ads and “slapping” anybody who uses direct response techniques.

Is this a result of Google knowing too much… of their ability to see how well our sales pages are performing?

I can tell you one thing: They didn’t ban my ads and my site because I wasn’t generating leads. They banned it because I was generating leads.

My theory is that Google wants to make their advertisers totally dependent on them for traffic by prohibiting data collection. That way an advertiser will have to keep paying Google over and over and over again — and will never have an asset (e.g. an email list) they can use to create profits.

With that in mind, check out the discussion that has literally erupted over on Armand Morin’s blog. On Friday, September 3, he wrote an article called Major Google Issue… Affects Us All.

Apparently, Google is now banning advertisers who use what they call “bridge pages.”

Example: Armand’s ad directs people to SecretPPC.com. He then has his shopping cart hosted on GeneratorSoftware.com. Because the cart is not hosted on the same domain as the sales page, Google is defining SecretPPC.com as a “bridge page” between Google and the shopping cart — and banning the ad.

As I’m sure you’d agree, this logic is ridiculous. Lots of online sellers host their carts on a separate domain to avoid paying for multiple SSL certificates.

Furthermore, does this mean every product seller who uses Clickbank to process payments can no longer advertise on Google? What about PayPal?

More importantly, what about Google Checkout???

If Google is indeed banning “bridge pages,” then the implications will reverberate around the Internet for months, maybe years.

I can only speculate what Google’s motive is for all these heavy-handed rules.

But whatever it is, I believe Google’s brazenness will eventually backfire. They’re going to force advertisers to flee to a better medium. And when that happens, maybe Google will finally wake up to how unfriendly they’re becoming to the very businesses that support them.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. For even more insight into Google’s new Adwords rules, check out this post (and follow the links for detailed info on Google’s Quality Score guidelines): Google’s Final SlapSimilar Posts:

• Free AdWords Grader
• Are You Lifting Your Kilt for Google?
• Why My Google AdWords Account Was Suspended & What I’m Doing About It
• Mobile Pay Per Click: Start Here!
• The Fluidity of Google Search Results

Gmail recently introduced a powerful new feature called Priority Inbox.

The whole goal of Priority Inbox is to help you see your urgent and important emails first — so they don’t get buried in an avalanche of less important offers, newsletters, and subscriptions.

I’ve just activated Priority Inbox in my own Gmail account and I already love it. It’s a big improvement over the “single inbox” concept. Here’s a screen shot of what my inbox looks like now (last names are blacked out to protect privacy).

And here’s a quick little video (only 1:54) that shows you how activating Priority Inbox can help solve email clutter.

If you’re a heavy Gmail user and get a lot of email (like me), then Priority Inbox may help you quite a bit.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• Offers Trump Copy – Here’s an Example…
• Creative Promotion: Tax Relief Weekend
• They Sent This Email Not Once, But Twice…
• Your Diminishing Privacy
• Naming Names vs. Calling Names

As a list owner, I feel a certain responsibility to you, my dear reader. Therefore, it’s my goal to provide you with rich content mixed with occasional offers for products and services that may benefit you.

Obviously, if I endorse somebody else’s product or service as an affiliate, then that means I’ve either purchased the product myself (or at least gotten a review copy) and found it exceptional enough to endorse.

And, in fact, many of the products I endorse on my blog and via email are products I’ve purchased and continue to use to this day.

Now, what if I formed a mastermind group with my competitors and we all got together and decided that we would promote each other’s products every time, without fail, no matter what?

Don’t you think that would diminish the value of the endorsement?

Of course it would.

Why Endorsements Work

A genuine endorsement is the use of your reputation to build trust for a product, service, or person who might not have been trusted as quickly otherwise.

For instance, you don’t know Adam. But you’ve known Brian for many years and you’d trust him with your life. Brian says, “You’ve got to listen to Adam. He’s brilliant.”

Now Adam has risen in stature and importance because of Brian’s endorsement.

But if you discovered Adam was paying Brian for the endorsement, it wouldn’t mean as much. And if Brian had agreed to endorse Adam no matter what — even if he began doing unethical or illegal things — then that would REALLY be suspect.

Now let’s look at a real-world example…

Exposing the Syndicate

Let’s say twelve Internet marketing guys get together. They all agree to promote each other’s products no matter what.

Furthermore, they all agree to promote just one guy’s product each month during the next 12 months. They all promote Product #1 in Month #1, Product #2 in Month #2, and so forth. This way each guy has the full endorsement of the rest of the group during his particular promotion.

If I was a part of this group, that would mean I’d have to promote 11 products as an affiliate, one product per month, based on a predetermined schedule. In exchange, the other 11 guys would then promote MY product during one of the 12 months when it was my turn to be promoted.

The catch? I absolutely MUST promote all 11 products… without regard for the quality of the products or the integrity of the creators of those products. In other words, my endorsement is guaranteed and cannot be negotiated or revoked.

Sound a bit fishy?

That’s because it is.

Here’s the pattern that emerges as illustrated by Alexa traffic rankings (hat tip to Salty Droid for coming up with this idea)…

The Proper Role of a Teacher, Blogger, or Publisher

Part of the role of a teacher, blogger, or publisher is to provide information that helps your readers reach their goals while filtering out irrelevant offers and reducing the signal-to-noise ratio.

Obviously, if a teacher has agreed in advance to wholesale endorse and promote products that don’t even exist yet, then you can be sure he’s not doing a good job of fulfilling his role.

The truth is, there are many reasons to NOT promote another person’s product or service.

• Product/service not up to your standards.
• Product has not been created yet and cannot be evaluated.
• Reputation of product creator is questionable and/or dubious.
• And the biggest reason of all…
  The product/service is not a good fit for your list!

Remember: If you publish information or are responsible for providing guidance to a list of subscribers, then you need to always have their best interests in mind. You need to be thinking about how to best help them… and protect them.

But if you are part of an organized group of competitors who’ve pledged to promote each other, you simply can’t do what’s best for your readers.

What happens if I (as a member of the group) don’t feel like one of the products is worth promoting? Or what if one of the members of the group gets involved in some shady business dealings? What then?

The answer is… I can’t really do anything unless I want to risk losing my position in the group — and missing out on the windfall I’d receive from the promotion and endorsement of the group.

The Syndicate Is Real

It probably comes as no surprise to you that within the Internet marketing community, such a group exists. They call themselves “The Syndicate.” And industry insider Ray Edwards says they actively plot and scheme how to take your money.

There is a very real conspiracy to extract as much money from you as possible.

Right now, as I write this, there is a group of “gurus” sitting in a circle in some hotel suite.

Each one of them is talking about their own version of Method X, and how he plans to sell it to the masses.

And they are all agreeing to promote one another’s Method X.

…and that’s why you keep getting email after email from the same group of people promoting one another.

Kinda creepy, isn’t it?

But this is what happens behind closed doors.

Backlash from the Product Launch Machine

If you’ve been trying to make money on the Internet for any length of time, you’ve probably gotten sucked into the orchestrated promotional efforts of the product launch machine.

At first, it feels exciting to be a part of these virtual events. But it doesn’t take long for the launch buzz to begin to feel like a drain on your attention, your focus, and your wallet.

In some cases, this feeling leads to public outcry. For instance, after the StomperNet launch, Rick Butts advised his list to unsubscribe from anybody who promoted StomperNet.

And when Michel Fortin announced that he was unsubscribing from lists by the hundreds and purging his way to email freedom, there was a chorus of support and agreement.

Let me be clear: I’m not against selling, advertising, affiliate marketing, or even product launches. I think they are legitimate ways to sell under the right circumstances.

But I am against phony endorsements, disingenuous recommendations to buy, and syndicates designed to defraud.

-Ryan M. Healy

P.S. What’s your take on all this? Leave a comment and let me know.Similar Posts:

• Product Creation Work Group
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In the middle of a big project right now, hence my lack of blogging lately.

But I thought I’d share one little tip with you that I’ve recently discovered.

If you’re working with a client or partner on a project, and you want to strengthen a subject line or email or headline or whatever — Skype can be a great way to do it.

Just hop on the instant chat and bat around your ideas.

For me, I’ve found it really enjoyable — contagious even — to collaborate in this way. You generate a bunch of ideas in a short amount of time, eventually zeroing in on the best one.

Next time you’re trying to hammer out some copy with a partner or client, log on to Skype (or any instant chat program) and see what happens.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

• The Bridge-Building Business
• Copywriting Critiques: New Special Offer
• 4 Red Flags to Spot Bad Clients
• Turning Research into Sales Copy
• Writing Warm-Ups: How to Turn on Your “Writing Mind”