Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Why Marketers Should Embrace the New FTC Rules
If you're either a marketer who's been living in a cave, or someone for whom marketing is on the outer borders of your awareness, you may have missed the new rules about marketing from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

I won't go into detail on the rules here. You can find detailed analysis on just about any marketing blog. Just google "FTC rules, December 1, 2009" and you should find plenty of analysis -- and plenty of hand-wringing.

Basically, the new rules cover two things.

• Disclosure of any relationship between anyone who recommends a product and the product seller
• Disclosure of AVERAGE results obtained by buyers

Disclosing relationships
The disclosure of relationship means that anyone who writes reviews or otherwise recommends a product to readers has to inform them of any connection between them and seller. In other words, when I recommend a product to my readers and I receive any kind of payment from the seller, I must disclose that.

For me, that's no big deal. I've done it sporadically in my reviews already. I simply have to make sure that disclosure is visible on any page where I recommend any affiliate product.

Disclosing average results
With the other rule about disclosing average results, marketers now must find another way to excite potential customers about their product other than boasting about the absolute best result anyone has ever gotten with it. Just putting the phrase "Results not typical" in small print is no longer enough.

Marketers now must clearly describe the AVERAGE results that buyers get instead of the best. This is what's causing the most hand-wringing. Considering that most people who buy a weight-loss product or an Internet-marketing product do absolutely nothing with it once they've bought it, that brings the average results waaaay down.

The rules' purpose
The idea behind these rules is to make sure that buyers have a clear picture of exactly what they're getting. They're designed to make it harder for scammers to mislead.

In the process, the rules are making it harder for legitimate marketers to dance around the edges of honesty by making statements that don't provide the full picture to buyers. I don't share the sky-is-falling attitude of many of the marketers I hear complaining about these new rules, though.

My thoughts on the rules
The scammers will continue to mislead. A few of them might even suffer consequences for their scamming. In other words, not much will change for the hard-core scammers.

Rather than playing victim about this ruling, though, marketers can look at the positive side. Following the rules gives marketers a chance to differentiate ourselves from the scammers.

I suspect that many publishers will ignore the ruling and do business as usual. That means that by simply following the rules and being upfront about our relationships and the results buyers can expect, we will come across as different from what people expect. We will stand out, especially at first.

Disclose what needs to be disclosed in connection with a personal statement of your business philosophy -- a philosophy founded on honesty and genuine value. I've done that on my site.

Customers are hungry for someone they can trust.

Yes, it will take some creativity to generate the same kind of desire to buy that sprang from using exceptional results that we knew that most people wouldn't achieve.

Marketers, though, are a resourceful bunch. I'm confident we'll find ways to tap into people's emotions with honesty and transparency -- and maybe, in the process, find ways that help raise the average results of our customers. That would be a big improvement over resigning ourselves to collecting money from customers who never use our products to their fullest potential. It would be a big improvement over shrugging off buyers' lack of results as being beyond our control.

Maybe we'll put more effort into following up with our customers to help them achieve better results and raise the average. I don't know what exactly will come out of this, but I expect that once marketers put the Kleenex away, some of us will find ways to bring their customers more value. And those new approaches will become best practices that other legitimate marketers will adopt.

That would be great for buyers. It would be great for marketers, too.

All obstacles contain in them hidden opportunities. I have no doubt that, as we get used to the new rules, we'll find opportunities that this obstacle conceals.
Jeff

Labels: marketing