You likely aren’t impressed by over-promises and hype. Neither am I. You could argue whether its right or wrong and try to change it all. I suggest though that you don’t spend that much time on the subject. Just accept it. Because the fact is that for most consumers hype sells (and marketers know this). Much like Hollywood knows that sex and violence sells movie tickets, marketers know that playing word games, comparing apples to oranges, providing hope, and using hype tactics sells more products. Whether they then choose to engage in it or not is up to them, but it’s up to you, as the consumer to dig through all this and consider what is fact and what is fiction.

And, as I mentioned, before you argue that hype sells realize that the majority of the population responds to it… just look at National Enquirer, look at the popularity and effectiveness of infomercials, and more. You can go ahead and try to change the world if you wish (I leave that task with you… you might want to find some friends to help you as it will be a heck of a challenge) or you can just accept it.

Understanding Misleading Advertising

Let’s take a look into some of this hype. You likely have heard large income claims before, whether it was on a website, in a classified advertisement, in a magazine, on an infomercial or any of a hundred and one other avenues. You have likely read “Make $10,000 per week. We’ll show you how” type ads before. You also likely heard testimonials of “After purchasing the course, I quickly made $8000.” Or “Thanks to what I learned at this seminar, I now make $20,000 per month working from home”.

There would be many elements to look at in any of these situations to really separate fact from fiction.

First off, are the testimonials and claims real in the first place or just fabricated and sensationalized for the sales effect?

If the person did in fact “make $8000”, for example, did they have previous experience, customers, contacts related to that field (remember my $1 million in one day examples... when properly setup with the right contacts, the right customers, the right database and a long running campaign, even a million can be made in a day but that certainly won’t be the average result).

But my personal favorite (and this is the most common tactic) is the difference between “sales” vs. “net profits”.

Let me quickly explain as this will help you decipher what you hear in financial books, on financial websites, in magazines, at seminars, from marketers and more. Suppose I sell a pond building kit. It comes with all the tools and instructions that will allow anyone to build a small pond in their backyard. The kit sells for $1000 (just to keep the math simple). But the cost of goods in there is $900 (the tarp, the lights, the wiring, the pumps, and more).

Suppose that my second month in business, I take out a small loan and invest $5000 into a marketing campaign that lands me 20 sales in one month. All I did was put the ads into a pay-per-click campaign or sent out a direct mailing (or ran ads in targeted magazines). Point is, no labour, no cold calling. The sales were created from my marketing messages.

I could be quick to tell you that the pond business is THE business you need to get into because in my second month I created $20,000 with no work, no selling, no nothing. All this from the comfort of my own home (the pond kits get drop shipped from a fulfillment house I use).

Heck I could even write a book about how I did it and sell it online for $47:

Ex-Minimum Wage Line Cook Gives You the Instant Profit Secrets of How He Made $20,000.00 His Second Month In the Pond Kit Sales Business.

Learn how you too can earn a six-figure income, from home, with no experience, no work, minimum time invested while working in your boxers.