Just this morning I read Joel Comm’s post “Where is the Integrity in Internet Marketing?” and not three hours later I get an email from someone asking for help and in return he will give me gifts.  By the way Joel is the author of KaChing – How to run an online business that pays and pays. (Affiliate link to Amazon) Great book.  I met Joel Back in October at Carrie Wilkerson’s BOSS event 2010 in Dallas.  This man can really rock the mobile world.  Not only that he is a good speaker too.  I read his book on the airplane on the way home.

Anyway – it was a thoughtful post and it was hit home to me not three hours later as I mentioned.  I got an email from a PLR company wanting to ask my opinion – just two questions and they would give me $334 in products.  Here is the [almost] exact email:

The Hook!

Chris,

I’m always looking for ways to improve the quality of our products and services here at [Company XYZ]. And I’ve come up with a great way to do that and give you two gifts at the same time.

So here’s the deal. If you’ll take about 20 seconds to answer a two question survey, then as my way of thanking you, I’ll give you two gifts worth a total of $334.

How’s that for a sweet deal? You can take the survey (it really takes no more than 20 seconds) and claim your gifts by clicking here:

[ Link to survey]

Thanks a lot for your help!

Regards,

[Signature]

Knowing that this is a PLR driven site – I knew the gifts would be PLR products – it only seemed right.  So why not – I’ll bite for 20 seconds and a some PLR that may or may not be of use to me.

When you click on the link you go to the survey which asks two simple questions:

Thanks for taking a few seconds to answer our survey which will help us provide even greater value for our customers. Just answer the two questions below and then you’ll immediately be taken to the page where you can collect $334 in gifts as my thank you for your help.

If there’s been any problem with PLR, what would you say that is? *

Unsure where to start or how to use it
Unsure how to monetize it
Unsure how to use it to increase traffic

If I was to create a new product that would really help you, what type do you prefer?(*
Videos
Audios
Books

Wow that was easy! Now for the gift!

Easy right?  Sure – and quick too.  So where is my $334 in gifts?  Oh here it is (here comes the sneaky part.)

Thanks for taking the survey …here’s your $334 in gifts

[The Guy]

As my way of thanking you for answering my survey, I have two great gifts for you with a total value of $334.

[The Guy]

Gift #1 – Your free copy of [something]
[a dscription of gift #1 and a link to download]

Oops… Gift #2 Is Not Ready Yet. (Sorry!)
Gift #2 – A discount of $285 on a special package [blah blah blah]

OOPS?

What is oops?  It’s not ready yet?  Then why in the world did you put it there?  And oh yeah – a discount on a product IS NOT A GIFT!  Dude who are you and what kind of marketing is this?  Do people REALLY fall for this?

Oh but you knew that a discount on a product was not really a product – you were just creating some kind of scarcity there b/c wait for it……..  Not 15 seconds after I landed on the page I got a follow up email – Ah the power of auto-responders.

Is it just me or is this a fraud?

I have gotten the guy’s stuff in the past – it’s decent but I wouldn’t write home about it for sure.  Anyway – back to the auto-responder.  The guy has the gall to say he gave me the worst gift ever.

Well DUH!

You read the email and decide for yourself – is this guy nuts or does he just think that we as humans are STUPID?

Dear Chris,

Do me a favor and delete that email I sent you about $344 in gifts…

As you may have noticed, one of the gifts was an on-sale item. And come on! What kind of gift is that?

When I woke up this morning I thought, “Wow, this is awesome!” Then as soon as I sent the email, I realized it’s pretty lame to call a discount a gift, because, well…

… a gift is free, right?

Anyway, delete that email from before. That was really stupid. And here are some REAL gifts for ya…

[four more downloads and they are resell rights]

Anyway – to top it all off he has these great file names too.  The first one is called “wow-this-is-crazy” and the second is called “the-real-gifts”

Now that was just the dumbest ploy I have ever seen in my life.  Again I echo Joel in his comment.. “Where is the Integrity in Internet Marketing?”

Stay away from the weird ones – let us know of some examples of shoddy marketing practices you have seen.

Gos Bless and Give with Passion!

Chris