I was contacted recently by someone who wanted to share a video with me. This was an hour-long video that he created himself, in which he described a certain internet marketing “secret”. This video was free to watch, and he suggested I share it with all of you. I don’t plan to do that because I won’t be responsible for sharing tactics that I believe are unethical.

I also won’t “out” the guy, because I’ve long been a proponent of not outing anyone’s tactics, unless those tactics were illegal. Since, as far as I know, this guy’s tactic isn’t illegal, I’ll stick by my “no outing” policy. I will, however, tell you just enough about this tactic to hopefully prevent you from falling for it yourself in the future.

If you see an ad that doesn’t clearly spell out exactly who the advertiser is, and you are prompted to subsequently fill out a form or submit an application as a response to that ad, be cautious! You may very well be on the receiving end of a bait and switch lead generation tactic. The ad “implied” one thing, but once you fill out the form, you’ve just voluntarily opted into someone’s mailing list, and you’ll now be guided through a funnel of marketing messages designed to sell you something that has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the ad you responded to in the first place.

I believe this tactic probably doesn’t cross over into illegal territory, because the ad itself is worded in such a way that outright fraud doesn’t come into play. Nevertheless, the intent is to fool people into believing one thing, thus getting them to sign up for marketing messages they didn’t intend to sign up for. It may not be illegal, but it’s just flat out wrong, so be wary when you respond to ads that are vague enough to be questionable.

No company name in the ad that can be checked out and verified as legit? Hmmm….might not be what you think it is.

Does the ad lead you to fill out a form, which might be disguised as an application of some sort, but there’s STILL no verifiable company attached to it? Think twice about filling it out.

Just to note: When I first started watching the video, it seemed like it might have some interesting and useful information to share. It wasn’t until I got quite a bit farther into it (days later, when I finally got around to watching the entire thing) that I realized what type of tactic it was really explaining. Yuck. That’s the best I can say about it. And no, I won’t give too many specifics, because I’d rather not give unethical folks enough information to have them use this tactic themselves.