There are two things that everyone should know by now about dishonest marketing:
- It makes customers angry.
- It makes your brand look bad.
In spite of those two facts, a surprising number of legitimate companies walk the narrow line between what is and isn’t considered acceptable in the industry. Because of that, many who are somewhat new to the marketing game might not realize shady marketing tactics are…. well… shady.
These practices spread, gaining legitimacy, because of who uses them (and even teaches them).
I’ve seen too many business owners ask the same question: “Why would I invest more in long-term goals if my competitors seem to be doing very well by employing easily scaled marketing?”
And that’s another problem to face: Short-term and shady marketing may work. It may even give a business a boost. The problem is it’s too risky.
How do we combat it and keep our industry clean and honest? We can start by recognizing signs of shady tactics when we see them.
Here are five examples of shady competitor tactics to look out for and how to fight back by running a clean campaign with a smart marketing strategy that actually makes money.
Shady Marketing Tactic #1: “Rewriting” Content
This is shockingly prevalent in the marketing world. It goes like this: a marketer or content manager contacts a freelancer, usually on a bid site, for a gig. They want someone who can provide regular content on an ongoing basis, usually a set number per week. They provide the titles and resources for research. Pretty standard, right?
Except when the contract starts, the writer isn’t given resource links or original research. The instruction? To “rewrite” these links so they’re within a certain percentage of original on Copyscape. That means the articles can’t be cited for copyright but will contain the same message, tone, and information as the original — which aren’t owned by the brand who hired the freelancer.
Anyone who has found an article on someone else’s site that sounds suspiciously like one they wrote can relate to this.
This is a common scaled approach to creating content for the site as cheaply and quickly as possible.
Just a few risks:
It isn’t unusual to find multiple articles that speak about the same topic or that suggest the same tools, because certain topics and tools trend based on the current interests or needs of a target audience. But actually taking a person’s work and rewriting it with the specific aim of flying under the radar and capitalizing on their success is wrong.
What makes this risky?
- A brand can be called out by the author of the rewritten content.
- Google may spot lack of originality (they’re good at that) and devalue pages with low-quality content.
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A better alternative:
Create less content but capitalize on original angles and research. This way you won’t spend more on writing but you’ll publish consistently high-quality content on your corporate blog.
Solid content attracts links and builds brand awareness, so you’ll also see much better organic growth over time from this tactic.
Shady Marketing Tactic #2: Making It Hard to Unsubscribe
This is a big one if you want to annoy your customers. Often the people who use this tactic are the same who will send a flood of marketing emails to subscribers, necessitating the unsubscribing in the first place.
Unsubscribing should be easy, quick, and effortless. Your users shouldn’t have to go searching an email for the buttons, hidden in tiny text at the bottom among other, hard-to-read text. They should especially never have to go to your website and do it manually from the settings.
A major risk:
- Your marketing emails will be reported as spam.
- More and more spam filters will start trapping them.
A better alternative:
Make sure you test your emails before sending them. And better yet, start nurturing a community instead of just using marketing automation:
- Set up a private community to engage your subscribers.
- Use your email list to create a Facebook Audience and reach your subscribers on Facebook.
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Shady Marketing Tactic #3: Buying Social Media Followers
One of the most controversial tactics around, this is nevertheless one of the most popular. Buying social media followers is a practice that many major companies and brands, especially celebrities, have resorted to.
Not only is this a dishonest tactic, it artificially inflates the average number of followers on accounts and so changes the definition of what it means to be popular on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Seeing that a brand profile has 100,000 or 1,000,000 means nothing anymore because there is no telling how many of those are legitimate profiles.
Just a few risks:
- Your social media accounts are at risk of (shadow) ban.
- As a result, you’ll lose your voice and risk a reputation management crisis (when your customers notice your official account is banned and will call you out for that).
A better alternative:
Focus on real, authentic interactions with your social media followers. Work to build a real, loyal group of people who appreciate your profile and how you engage. Speak one on one with those who come to your page, offer valuable social content and make it the kind of page that people will want to keep up with.
After all, numbers don’t matter much (except for building a business owner’s ego). What does count is engagement. Shout Agency’s Michael Jenkins has a solid article on what to monitor and how to measure your marketing success.
Shady Marketing Tactic #4: Paid “Reviews”
Before going any further let me say that I don’t mind reviews. Paid reviews are something different. They result when companies pay bloggers with a certain amount of traffic to give them (their brand or product) a positive mention.
Some will tell the blogger that they want an honest review, not just a positive one. The problem is when a monetary exchange has happened, it puts pressure on the blogger to, at best, lessen their criticism or, at worst, give a biased positive review knowing that the company could come to them later with more paid review requests.
Why is this risky?
- Questionable influencer outreach practices may be reported, submitting your business to a possible FTC investigation.
- Anyone who learns about your practices may call you out, which will result in a reputation management crisis.
A better alternative:
Don’t offer your influencers anything. Better yet, don’t ask anything when approaching them. Instead, invite them to be interviewed on your site or give them a reward. Give them exposure from your site or Facebook platform and keep interacting with them afterwards.
Alternatively (or additionally) invite them to beta-test your new product or give them free access, no strings attached.
This gives them no reason to lie or give an unfair bias either way. Plus, they get to genuinely try out what you have to offer.
If you are looking to set up a paid comment, never forget to use proper disclosures to alert your influencers’ followers of your relationships.
Shady Marketing Tactic #5: Stealing Media For Commercial Use
When a photographer found that a company had used his image for free he contacted them to let them know he charged $25 for the rights to use his photos.
Their argument was that they had credited him. But as we all know, exposure doesn’t pay the rent. In the end, they refused to pay and removed the image.
Just a few risks:
Don’t do this. Ever. Not only are you courting the wrath of fans of the original creator, but you are opening yourself up to legal trouble.
Risks include
- Being sued and fined.
- Facing an online reputation crisis like the one I described above.
A better alternative:
Reach out to people whose pictures you like. Not only will you have a confirmation from the media creator but it will also be a great opportunity for new connection. Who knows where it may bring you? This social media user may become your loyal brand advocate or even your partner.
There’s no shortage of sites that give away their photos completely for free (although I’d still suggest leaving a link to credit a source).
Never miss an opportunity to build online connections!
Have a shady practice you have noticed? Let us know in the comments!
Feature image source: Pippalou at Morguefile
Visual quote via bqotd.com
About the Author: Anna Fox is a freelance writer helping fellow freelancers find jobs via her blog hirebloggers.com
