operations ftc publishes new guidelines for testimonials...

15INFORMATION MARKETING INSIDERS’ JOURNAL NOvEMbER 2009

OPERATIONS

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FTC Publishes New Guidelines for Testimonials and Endorsements

by Robert Skrob

The FTC has tightened the rules regarding endorsements, testimonials and offers made by affiliates. Learn the rules, and when in doubt, consult an attorney.

A key component of any marketing campaign is proof. As a marketer, you

need to prove that your product delivers the benefits you say it can deliver. Oftentimes your customers who have used your products can provide testimonials for you to use in your marketing to show potential customers that your systems work.

The Federal Trade Commission has changed in several important ways its compliance guides that delineate its interpretation of the rules related to testimonials.

The scope of these revised guidelines is much broader than only testimonials. In fact, the new interpretations can also impact the way you present endorsed joint

venture offers as well as your relationship with affiliates

for selling your products. While the testimonial provisions are grabbing a lot of attention, the new guidelines could have a larger impact on other aspects of your business.

Before we begin, a few caveats: This article is informational only. It is not legal advice. If you have questions, please seek out the advice of an attorney; there are several listed in the printed IMA Buyer’s Guide as well as online at MyInfoMarketingForum.com. Last year, when these changes were proposed, I received several questions about them. Please understand that I am not licensed to answer your questions about complying with the law, especially when you send me examples or scenarios. Please don’t get frustrated when I answer your question with a referral to an attorney. I’m required by law to refer you to attorneys.

Next, it’s important to understand what these new guidelines really mean. Staff attorneys at the FTC create compliance guides that provide business owners like you and me with their interpretations of the laws. These guides are not laws. If those attorneys were going to prosecute you, they would have to prove that whatever you did was unfair and deceptive. These guides do provide you with details about what these attorneys look for when they consider which businesses to

prosecute and which to leave alone.

These new guidelines touch on several areas of your business: testimonials; joint ventures; and

your affiliate programs.


Key TermsTestimonialComments made by a consumer about a product, service or individual that are used as a tool to convince prospects to buy.

FTC Guidelines interpretations of u.s. law by attorneys at the ftC in an attempt to provide businesses with additional information to aid compliance.

Endorsementa recommendation by an expert, celebrity or trusted advisor to buy a product or service.

Typical Customer Experience the ftC’s term for what the average customer experiences with your product or service as determined from studying results or research.

Disclaimers 1) useful ways of educating prospective customers; or 2) statements that flag the ftC that you may be doing something you know risks breaking the law.

Legal Advicesomething only an attorney is licensed to provide and something robert can go to jail for attempting to provide even when he is just trying to be helpful.

DeadlineWhen robert has to stop typing so the newsletter can be printed and shipped on time.

OPERATIONS continued from page 15

Experience TestimonialsThe vast majority of the

testimonials you and I receive are experience testimonials.

Here are a couple of examples of experience testimonials: “I love Robert Skrob’s articles. They are so informative, and his words flow off the paper like fine wine. If you are on the fence about whether or not to join, do yourself a favor and jump in. You’ll be glad you did.” Or, “I just met with Robert Skrob, and it was a life-transforming experience for me. He replaced my confusion and frustration with clarity, and then he outlined a roadmap of exactly how to reach my goals along with a list of key vendors to help me get it done more quickly. I recommend Robert’s coaching.” (These testimonials were made up for illustrative purposes only; my writing is more comparable to Bud Light than fine wine.)

While these testimonials are complimentary, they don’t provide quantifiable proof that I’m delivering actual results. Instead, they show that customers are sometimes happy with the products and services I provide.

The FTC’s revised guidelines have no impact on these types of testimonials. You can use experience testimonials in the same ways you have been using them.

Outcome TestimonialsAs we jump into outcome

testimonials, let’s build a scenario as our example:

If your information products help widget manufacturers increase their profits through more sales or by decreasing expenses, you’d like to prove that fact. So, you work with three or four widget manufacturers to generate terrific results, and three of them give you

testimonials of increased monthly profits of $20,000.00, $22,000.00 and $42,000.00. You begin marketing your product.

You find that customers who buy your information and apply it can generate a monthly profit increase between $15,000.00 and $25,000.00, and some generate two or three times that. However, over 80 percent of your buyers never apply the information you provide. Their results are zero because they don’t do anything with the information they purchase from you. So, when you calculate the average of your “typical customers,” you have to average the 20 percent of customers who implemented and got $15,000.00 to $25,000.00 with the 80 percent who did nothing. That comes out to about $4,000.00.

I know what you’re thinking. The FTC is wrong. Telling customers they can expect a $4,000.00 return is deceptive. After all, your customers either generated more than $15,000.00, or they generated nothing. The $4,000.00 figure is arbitrary and inaccurate in every case.

Perhaps you are right, but the FTC’s attorneys want your sales materials to give the reader an understanding of what the typical customer receives when he or she buys your product. And by typical, they mean the average of all buyers, including the majority who do nothing. It’s important to understand that this has been the FTC’s position since 1976. This isn’t new and has always been the FTC’s view of the world.

Let me explain the guidelines’ change with an example:

Say you received a testimonial from your best customer that says, “I bought the product, and it saved me $42,000.00!” Better still, you use that testimonial as the headline


of your sales letter and include a story about how this customer got $42,000.00 when he purchased your product.

In the past, the FTC’s guidelines allowed you to “balance” the testimonial with a disclaimer that noted, “Results not typical,” “Actual outcomes vary” or “Results reflect buyers who implemented lessons, not typical of all buyers.” The new guidelines eliminate the disclaimer option.

The FTC’s research shows that consumers ignore the disclaimer and believe they are reasonably able to achieve the results of the outlying positive testimonial. In the commission’s effort to protect the consumer, it is proposing requiring marketers to make their testimonials reflect only what the typical buyer will experience as a customer. If half of your customers do nothing, then that has to be computed into your average.

The FTC’s attorneys are likely to believe your sales materials are deceptive unless they communicate what prospects are likely to achieve. And by likely to achieve, the FTC means what the average consumer achieves when you factor in the successful as well as those who do nothing with the information they purchase.

The FTC wants your overall sales message to reflect what a typical customer will experience as a result of investing in your information. If your testimonials show a lot of big numbers that don’t reflect the experience of the typical buyer, you will be out of compliance, even if

those results are perfectly achievable.

To comply with the rules, you must provide detailed information on what typical customers achieve. For instance, you can include a table showing a sample of what representative customers generated as a result of investing in your product. Within that information you are free to explain that the majority of the people who generated no results also did nothing to implement the information they invested in.

As long as your overall sales message portrays what typical customers are likely to achieve, either through testimonials that provide background and context for the achievement or through some additional information about typical outcomes, then you are able to use your great success examples.

Editing TestimonialsIn my research I came across an

answer to a question I frequently receive: “May I edit a testimonial?” Yes. It’s always a good idea to provide a copy of the testimonial as edited to your customer to review and sign to acknowledge approval. But even if you don’t go through those steps, editing is O.K.

You aren’t bound to the exact words of a testimonial. However, the testimonial must still express the sentiment of the writer. You cannot selectively edit the testimonial to change the overall meaning.

For instance, let’s assume a customer of yours sends you a cancellation letter that says a nice thing or two about your program as

he is dropping out. If you use his positive comments as a testimonial, it’s likely to be considered deceptive. The customer was providing you that compliment in the context of canceling the program. The overall impression the customer was giving was, “I don’t want this.” Therefore, you cannot edit his words to say your program is great.

As long as you keep the overall meaning of your customer’s words, you may edit the testimonial.

Disclosures Through Website Disclaimers

Around 2000, enforcement actions against Internet retailers led to those long “terms of use” or “disclaimers” at the bottom of websites. Some marketers even force you to agree to a “terms of use” as part of the sign-up process.

So, the question is, can you put the details about the experiences of the typical customer within these disclaimers (linked to your sales page) and expect the FTC to consider your website to comply with its new guidelines? No way.

The entire point of the FTC’s guidelines is that your sales message must present the typical customer’s experience with your products and services. If you give customers a glowing description of a certain expectation and then within a “disclaimer” page explain that the expectation isn’t what they most likely will experience, you can expect the FTC to accuse you of unfair and deceptive trade practices. This is

The FTC’s research shows that consumers ignore the disclaimer and believe they are reasonably able to achieve the results of the outlying positive testimonial.




New FTC Guidelines Raise Concerns in Four Areas

exactly the type of thing the FTC is trying to do away with by eliminating the “results may vary” disclaimer from the previous guidelines. In several enforcement actions over the last year, the FTC has determined that the language in the “terms of use” or “disclaimers” page of a website does not adequately inform the customer if the rest of the site gives a different impression.

Your Compensated Endorsements

One of the most important parts of the new guidelines are the interpretations related to compensated endorsements.

For instance, there have been a lot of news reports lately about “mommy bloggers” and their followings. Companies are providing free products and many times compensation to these mommies to write about their products on their blogs. Under the FTC’s new interpretations, those mommies

must disclose the free products and/or the compensation to avoid being deceptive. But this isn’t just about cracking down on those sneaky mommies.

For years it has been popular to create a blog with a made-up personality to blog about weight loss, moneymaking or some similar topic and then to provide reviews or comments about products in exchange for compensation from the companies endorsed.

You see this a lot in the Internet marketing world. Several info-marketers have pages dedicated to them on so-called review sites. While these sites purport to provide visitors with an honest review of the info-marketer and his or her products, they actually turn the review into an opportunity to pitch products the reviewer wants to sell. Under the new guidelines, those compensated endorsements are considered deceptive unless the compensation is clearly disclosed because within

the context of a review, the typical consumer is not likely to expect the endorsement to be compensated. (Who knows when the FTC will get around to prosecuting these sites and shutting them down? For those of us that are the targets of these sites, it can’t be soon enough.)

These new guidelines also apply to you. Do you have monthly calls for your customers that feature experts offering products or services? Do you receive compensation for the products sold? Do you endorse those products? If so, you may need to disclose your financial interest to your customers. The FTC’s goal is for the consumers to understand that you may be making money on the sale when they hear your endorsement. If instead you’ve positioned yourself as a trusted expert and are endorsing the product, then you need to disclose the compensation so consumers understand that you have a stake in the sale. In speaker introductions

Outcome Testimonialsyour sales materials must reflect the overall customer experience with your products or services. thus, your experience testimonials with remarkable results must include the context of how those results were achieved, or the testimonials must be “balanced” with information about the typical customer’s experience.

Endorsements You MakeWhen you are endorsing products and getting paid for that endorsement through an affiliate commission or otherwise, the ftC expects you to disclose that you are being compensated for your endorsement.

Endorsements You ReceiveWhen your affiliates or joint venture partners endorse your products, the ftC can hold you responsible if your affiliates are not disclosing their compensation for their product endorsements.

Bulletin Board Poststhe ftC’s position is that bulletin board posts presented as independent customers’ opinions should be from uncompensated endorsers. When those posts are actually compensated through an affiliate arrangement or by payment to an independent contractor or an employee, that compensation should be disclosed.

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at seminars or through teleclasses, you may no longer provide “stealth” advertisements.

Again, this all depends on context. If you are processing the orders so customers see they are paying you for the orders, it’s probably fine. If your guest is processing orders and sending you a commission, you need to be aware of what your customer is likely to believe when you give your endorsement.

One approach is the old Remington razor commercial in which Victor Kiam had the famous line, “I liked the shaver so much, I bought the company.” You could say something like, “When I spoke with Mr. Smith and saw what he had, I jumped at the chance to joint venture to make his products available to my customers.” Again, this isn’t legal advice, but I must tell you that some attorneys will say that the term “joint venture” doesn’t go far enough in disclosing the compensation arrangement between you and your guest.

When you are providing endorsed testimonials and your customers are not likely to understand that your endorsement is compensated, the new guidelines require you to disclose it.

Endorsements of Your Products

One of the most troubling aspects of these new guidelines is when others give compensated endorsements about your products. Let’s pick on those mommy bloggers again.

Let’s say that a mommy blogger posts a glowing recommendation for your product. Then the mommy uses her affiliate link for your product within her endorsement. It’s possible she should have disclosed her financial stake when she made those positive comments, her bad. However, as the company that received the endorsement, you are just as liable as she is. Yes, policing every one of your affiliates may be impossible; however, the FTC may hold you responsible for their behavior anyway.

Now let’s pick on those review websites. Let’s say an affiliate of yours builds a website that purports to review each of your competitor’s products, and then the review turns into a recommendation of your product as the solution that will solve the reader’s problem. Nice recommendation. However, the owner of the review site should clearly disclose that he or she is receiving compensation for the endorsement of your product. And since you own the product he or she is endorsing and are paying him or her commissions, you are just as liable for the deception.

There are several things you can do to limit your liability for affiliates’ failure to disclose their compensation when they provide endorsements of your products:

Include a policy within your affiliate agreement that specifies your affiliates must disclose they are receiving compensation if they provide their endorsement unless consumers will clearly understand it

is an advertisement.

Respond to complaints or information you receive by warning affiliates and/or canceling the affiliate relationship if they are using deceptive strategies to sell your products.

Actively police affiliates by checking out what your affiliates are doing to send traffic to your site. Watch for traffic spikes from affiliates and review what they are doing to generate that traffic.

Posting CommentsThe FTC’s guidance provides some

insight into what its prosecutors are thinking about when they see marketers using social media, comment posts and blogs as marketing tools. It’s important to review the FTC’s guidelines as you consider your social media strategies.

Some companies pay people to go to message boards, chat rooms, product review boards and blogs to post positive comments about their products. The FTC’s guidelines show that it believes it is deceptive to position a paid posting as commentary from a customer. Likewise, encouraging your customers to make negative posts about your competitors or paying representatives to pose as disgruntled customers is also deceptive.

A popular money-making strategy on the social networking site Twitter is to post a bunch of free articles, resources and videos. Then, for every 5 to 10 free resources you post, you

When you are providing endorsed testimonials and your customers are not likely to understand that your endorsement is compensated, the new guidelines require you to disclose it.




provide a resource where you receive an affiliate commission on the sale. The free information has a great pass-along impact that allows you to build a large number of “followers” in a relatively short time. Then the endorsement with the affiliate link gives you an opportunity to monetize your list. In considering whether those compensated endorsement posts are deceptive, the FTC attorney is going to consider whether or not the average follower will understand that some of your posts were compensated. The FTC believes it’s deceptive to make a compensated endorsement when the customer hearing or seeing the endorsement doesn’t understand that the endorsement is compensated.

EnforcementThese new rules go into effect Dec.

1, 2009, with per violation fines of up to $11,000.00. It’s likely the FTC would consider it a violation each time you distribute to a customer a communication in violation with these guidelines. Thus, the potential liability multiplies quickly.

In 98 percent of all cases, the FTC or the attorney general will send you a letter requesting additional information from you if it suspects you may have run afoul of these guidelines. These “discussions” usually end in your agreeing to remove some testimonials and the matter is closed. However, even in these cases, you may be wise to hire an attorney experienced in FTC defense to prepare communications on your behalf. So, even these “minor” interactions can become costly.

In rare cases, the FTC may come after you with all of its might. This can begin with the agency putting a hold on all of your personal and business checking accounts. This is

done under the guise of “protecting the public” from your spending ill-gotten gains, but it also prevents you from hiring an attorney to defend yourself.

In all cases, if you can demonstrate that you acknowledge the law, have documentation for your testimonials and make efforts to comply, you’ll be viewed a lot better than if you tell the investigator that the FTC is an “unconstitutional harassment agency.”

RealityThere are many more details

within the new FTC guidelines than I can cover here. For example, there is an entire section related to celebrity endorsements. Let me say this for the third time: If you are in doubt, consult an attorney. My goal in this article is to inform you about the issues you need to worry about and to put your mind at ease where possible.

When you do have to justify whether or not your marketing materials are deceptive, it will be to an overanxious prosecutor who is trying to decide whether or not he or she can use you as a case to further

his or her career. You will not get the benefit of the doubt or the benefit of logical arguments. However, acknowledging the guidelines and showing where you tried to comply with them will go a long way toward demonstrating compliance.

For years I have counseled clients facing meetings with bureaucrats with these simple statements: “They’ll either feel powerful because you have acknowledged their position and are working to follow their will, or they’ll feel powerful because they have imposed their will upon you by enforcing arbitrary decisions. Either way, they’ll leave your meeting feeling powerful.” The fastest path toward your goals is to acknowledge the new rules and put into place practices that demonstrate you are trying to comply. And, finally, one last time: If there are questions about particular sales letters or testimonials, ask for the advice of an attorney.

(Disclosure: I am not receiving compensation from any attorneys for recommending you consult with them.)



Info-marketIng Industry calendar

All members of the Information Marketing Association are welcome to include items in the Info-marketing Industry Calendar. Send us a fax at 850/222-6002 including the dates, company name, meeting name, location and call to action for more information.

November 2, 16, 23 & 30, 2009 • 8 p.m. EasternThe Chris Mullins After Hours [email protected]

November 6-8, 2009Salim Omar’s Intensive Marketing Boot Camp for Accountants (limited to 20 people)www.CPAmarketingGenius.com

November 8-11, 2009 • Delray Beach, Fla.Joe Polish presents at Early To Rise Info-Marketing Boot Campwww.EarlyToRise.com/events

November 11-14, 2009 • San Francisco, Calif.Katrina Sawa’s The Love and Money Business Summitwww.LoveandMoneyBusinessSummit.com

November 12-15, 2009 • Huntington, Calif.Adam Urbanski’s Last Ever Attract Clients Like Crazy Boot Campwww.AttractClientsLikeCrazy.com

November 18, 2009 • 3 p.m. EasternChris Mullins Interviews Video Coach Ron Sheetzwww.GreatBottomLine.com/marketingvideocoach

November 19, 2009 • 8 p.m. EasternSydney Barrows’ How to Design a Unique & Compelling Customer Experience So That Your Customers Want to Do Business With YOU and Only YOU!www.SydneyBarrows.com/experiencetele3.html

November 20-21, 2009 • Meza, Ariz.Joe Polish’s Info Marketing Seminarwww.JoePolish.com

November 24, 2009 • TeleclassKatrina Sawa’s Silver Mentor Program“Special Q&A With Kat”www.LoveandMoneyBusinessSummit.com

December 3-4, 2009 • Atlanta, Ga.7FigureLaunch.com’s First Live Launch Workshopwww.7FigureLaunch.com/workshop

December 3-6, 2009 • Los Angeles, Calif.James Malinchak’s College Speaking Success Boot Campwww.CollegeSpeakingSuccess.com

December 7 & 14, 2009 • 8 p.m. EasternThe Chris Mullins After Hours [email protected]

December 9-10, 2009 • Charlotte, N.C.ROI Revolution’s Google Analytics Seminar for Successwww.ROIrevolution.com/seminar

December 10-12, 2009 • Orlando, Fla.Richard Roop’s Raising Millions in Private Money Boot Campwww.RichardRoop.com/pmbc

December 15, 2009 • TeleclassKatrina Sawa’s Silver Mentor Program“A New Year, A New Plan”www.LoveandMoneyBusinessSummit.com

December 18, 2009Chris Mullins’ Birthday FREE 28 Week Video Email Coaching Serieswww.GreatBottomLine.com/fixmyphones

January 15-16, 2010 • Budapest, HungaryWolf Gábor’s Smallbiz Marketing EXPO

January 18-20, 2010 • Orlando, Fla.Richard Roop’s The Ultimate Strategy Boot Campwww.RichardRoop.com/bootcamp

March 25-27, 2010 • Budapest, HungaryWolf Gábor’s 3rd Annual Marketing Szuperkonferencia

April 1-5, 20102010 Necker Island Trip With Joe Polish and Sir Richard Bransonwww.CenturionMastermindGroup.com


PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Skills That WillPay You for LifeOne of my first entrepreneurial ventures was as an Amway distributor. I traveled around Florida showing the plan to potential distributors as well as to friends of distributors who signed up with me.

In a bold move, I made arrangements to show the plan to someone in Pensacola, Fla., at 8

p.m. on a weeknight. Since Pensacola is 2-1/2 hours away, I had to leave work at 5 p.m., drive the 179 miles, change into a business suit and make my 8 p.m. appointment. I made it to Pensacola with time to spare, but the only place to change my clothes was in a Burger King restroom stall.

I made it to the appointment, gave the presentation, left the leave-behind materials (guaranteeing a follow-up visit) and said good bye to my prospect, knowing I was another step closer to becoming a millionaire. However, on my 2-1/2 hour drive back home to Tallahassee, I began to feel bad about myself. Why? Because on my way out of town, I had to stop at that same Burger King restroom to change out of my business suit. I was a CPA, a Certified Public Accountant. I was dignified. There was no reason why I should have to change my clothes in a Burger King restroom. It just wasn’t the type of thing I should have to do. (I’ll come back to this thought in just a moment.)

Farmers experience good years and bad years. In times of drought, there aren’t any crops to sell. That makes for a lean winter waiting until the next growing season. During good years, there can be too many crops. Because there is so much, the farmer has to sell at lower prices and still

doesn’t yield as much profit as he expected.

Then there are the farming supply companies. Of course, as info-marketers, we’d never want to be the farmer; we’d want to be in the farming supply business. As Dan Kennedy often says, “During the Gold Rush, it wasn’t the prospectors who got rich; it was the people selling the shovels, picks and blue jeans.”

Sam, a client of mine for the last 14 years, was in the farming supply business during the 1970s and 80s. Sam profited at the beginning of the planting season as well as at the end. As farmers were planting crops, he sold them seed, tractors and equipment. As farmers harvested their crops, Sam brokered the crops to food companies. This way he made a profit as the crops were going into the ground and a broker’s fee as they were harvested. Sam had scalable income: he made money from his own efforts as well as from the efforts of all of the farmers in his county. And Sam never had to get his hands dirty.

It all ended for Sam during the three-year period from 1984 to 1986. Inflation increased the price of everything farmers needed. Large crop yields decreased the prices any one farmer could generate for his crops. Plus, tax law changes severely decreased the value of family farms,

hurting farmers’ ability to obtain credit and work their way through the crisis.

Sam’s commissions on crops sold declined by 30 to 50 percent as prices dropped. And since farmers were generating less cash, they didn’t have the money to make the payments on the tractors and equipment they had purchased from Sam. (Sam had self financed most of it, figuring “Why give that interest to a bank when you can earn it for yourself?”)

Sam did everything he could to survive the first year. He thought, “If I can just hang on through this season, next season will be better.” Instead, the next season’s prices for crops were just as low. Already financially stressed, Sam had to declare bankruptcy, and he lost his entire business. He went from millionaire farming supply man to broke—and none of it was his fault. All of it happened because of global economic changes and the decisions of lawmakers.

Many info-marketers have been impacted by the recession. Of course, there also are many that haven’t been impacted by the recession; they are doing well. Some info-marketers have seen declines in their continuity programs. Others have coaching programs they sold for 12 monthly payments of $1,500.00 or $2,500.00, and their clients are defaulting on the contracts. Those info-marketers


had the thrill of billing a million or two only to discover they collected a mere hundred thousand or two. It’s disappointing and frustrating. I’ve been there. There are lessons in these stories for all of us to learn.

Info-marketers and farmer supply companies are similar in many ways. An info-marketer can earn money at the “beginning of the season” by selling products to customers. Then, as your customers use your products and succeed, you can earn more money as they buy more products and participate in your coaching programs.

The key difference between the info-marketing and the farming supply businesses is this: In farming supply, you are stuck with your customers. It’s not possible for farm suppliers to sell to farmers two counties over. And farm suppliers can’t change their market from farmers to attorneys. After all, how many attorneys need a John Deere farming tractor?

As an info-marketer, you have a huge advantage over farming supply companies: You have the ability to change your customers.

I started a brand new information marketing business in 2006. My business grew quickly, and my customers loved my products. I still have stacks of success stories and thankful customers. As 2007 ended, I was trying to decide if I should sell the business or grow it to the next level. It was starting to get too big for me to manage along with everything else. Turns out, I didn’t get to make that choice.

In 2008 with the changes in the financial markets, over 50 percent of my customers dropped out of the

continuity program. By the end of 2008, I had a product launch that sold a few $1,500.00 products, of which 70 percent took me up on my 12-month, no-hassle, money-back guarantee. The business and the market are gone. The early mornings, the trips for industry meetings and the long hours, all for naught. Everything I worked for shuttered, with little to show for it.

Just like changing in a Burger King restroom, it feels like I shouldn’t have to go through this. After all, I’m the president of the Information Marketing Association—I shouldn’t have an info-business that doesn’t succeed. But I’ve found that succeeding in any business, even the info-marketing business, is about doing things other people find distasteful or are unwilling to do.

The info-marketing business is not better than other businesses because it’s perfect. It isn’t perfect. As an info-marketer, you are vulnerable to changes that impact your customers. And while you can try to anticipate those changes, often they are preceded by a lot of mixed signals.

Still, the info-marketing business is better than other business models—even though it’s not perfect. It’s better because you can take the same skills you learned in one market and quickly transfer them to another market. You have the power of a business model that allows you to scale your work, to do the product once and sell it many times, to create the newsletter once and sell it to hundreds or thousands of people or to sell the coaching program to 10 people for $997.00 a month or to 210 people for $997.00 a month. Then, if something happens to your current customers, you can transfer those

same skills to another industry. Once you have the skills to generate new customers and products, you can transition into another market if you must.

Sam wasn’t so lucky with his farm supply business. He found a job with a federal government agency and does fine. But his business days are over because all he knew was the farm supply business.

Right now I am launching a new business where I have a lot of sponsors who will pay me to create the product and people who will make bulk purchases of the product once it’s created. It’s a no-lose deal and could be worth a lot more than the business I lost. I never would have had this opportunity had I stayed with the other business. Having that business disappear actually opened the door to something better. As it always does.

Info-marketing is a superior business model that allows anyone to build a multimillion-dollar business in a few months. Plus, it’s a business that’s systemized and that provides a great lifestyle. Is it perfect; is it immune from the recession? No, nothing is. However, the skills you learn—generating customers, creating products, keeping customers engaged—are readily transferable from one industry to another. The skills I learned by launching that failed business will pay me for life, even though those customers aren’t paying me anymore. What new skills are you learning this month that will pay you for life?

The info-marketing business is not better than other businesses because it’s perfect. It isn’t perfect. Still, the info-marketing business is better than other business models.

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Three Great Member Benefits From the Information Marketing Association …

Finally, Insurance Coverage to Protect the Business You Have Created …

When we are starting our information marketing businesses, we aren’t worried about liability. Our businesses start small, so we aren’t a big target. As our businesses grow and we talk about the success we achieve, we become a visible target and a scapegoat for others’ problems. Many info-marketers manage this liability through an insurance policy. Up until now, premiums for these policies could be more than $6,000.00 a year.

The Information Marketing Association has created an insurance program specifically tailored to the requirements of info-marketers and available exclusively to IMA members. Instead of you having to spend countless hours searching for the best company to meet your unique needs—and negotiating to get the best coverage—we’ve done the work for you!

For more information about this IMA members’ only benefit, please visit www.Info-Marketing.org/Liability.

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The Information Marketing Association is pleased to provide our members with a national group and individual health insurance program with average health insurance savings of 42%. The IMA Health Plans’ Benefits Program is issued and underwritten by JLBG Health, one of the largest health insurance carriers in the nation.

Please visit www.Info-Marketing.org/HealthInsurance for more information about this IMA members’ only benefit.

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““TThheerree HHaavvee NNeevveerr BBeeeenn GGrreeaatteerr,, MMoorree DDiivveerrssee,, MMoorree LLuuccrraattiivvee OOppppoorrttuunniittiieess FFoorr EEvveerryyoonnee ––VVeerryy EExxppeerriieenncceedd,, SSuucccceessssffuull EEnnttrreepprreenneeuurrss ttoo RRaannkk BBeeggiinnnneerrss –– IInn TThhee FFiieelldd ooff IINNFFOORRMMAATTIIOONN MMAARRKKEETTIINNGG””

•• MMaakkee mmoonneeyy bbyy ccrreeaattiinngg aauuddiioo,, DDVVDDss aanndd mmaannuuaallss tthhaatt yyoouu ccaann sseellll •• WWoorrkk oonnccee ttoo ccrreeaattee aa pprroodduucctt aanndd sseellll iitt mmaannyy ttiimmeess ssoo yyoouu ggeett ppaaiidd oovveerr

aanndd oovveerr aaggaaiinn.. •• LLeeaarrnn hhooww yyoouu ccaann ccrreeaattee ffaasstt sseelllliinngg mmaannuuaallss aanndd hhoommee ssttuuddyy ccoouurrsseess.. •• YYoouu’’llll lleeaarrnn ffrroomm tthhee bbeesstt iinn tthhee iinndduussttrryy aabboouutt,, ““iinnffoorrmmaattiioonn mmaarrkkeettiinngg..”” •• LLeeaarrnn hhooww yyoouu ccaann uussee eeaassyy bbuussiinneessss mmeetthhooddss ttoo ccrreeaattee aa mmiilllliioonn ddoollllaarr

iinnccoommee ffoorr yyoouurrsseellff..

““1133 EExxppeerrttss SShhaarree 110077 YYeeaarrss WWoorrtthh ooff EExxppeerriieennccee iinn tthhee WWoorrlldd’’ss MMoosstt LLuuccrraattiivvee BBuussiinneessss””

Image, sitting back in your easy chair while 13 of the world’s best experts share

their lessons learned, business building short-cuts and expertise. That vision is a reality.

Working together with the experts at Entrepreneur Press, publisher of the popular Entrepreneur Magazine, we created a step by step manual on jumpstarting your information marketing business. It’s called, the Start Your Own Information Marketing Business guide.

As a member of your local GKIC Independent Business Advisor Chapter you can get a copy of this book for just $9.95. Because of your membership status your receive a 44% discount off the cover price and a 24% discount off of the Amazon.com internet price.

““PPlluuss YYoouu’’llll RReecceeiivvee aa FFRREEEE 22--MMoonntthh TTrriiaall MMeemmbbeerrsshhiipp iinn tthhee IInnffoorrmmaattiioonn MMaarrkkeettiinngg AAssssoocciiaattiioonn””

As a thank you gift for investing in the Start Your Own Information Marketing Business book you’ll receive a 2–month trial membership in the Information Marketing Association. During your free trial you’ll receive:

• 2 copies of the Information Marketing Insider’s Journal • A issue of Dan Kennedy’s No B.S. Info–Marketing

Letter and Information Marketing Special Reports • Two Best Practices in Information Marketing

teleseminars, co-hosted by Bill Glazer, including a question and answer session for you.

• Participate in two Jump Start Coaching Calls that allow you to get answers to your questions so you can get your info–business started and profitable quickly

• Access to the IMA member site with Journal archives, Jump Start call archives, content for your newsletters and the online member forum.

• And a whole lot more…

""YYoouurr CChhaannccee TToo EEaassiillyy DDoommiinnaattee YYoouurr MMaarrkkeett,, MMaakkee LLoottss OOff MMoonneeyy,, AAnndd FFiinnaallllyy LLeeaadd TThhee LLiiffee OOff YYoouurr DDrreeaammss!!””

YES, Rush me a copy of the Start Your Own Information Marketing Business for $9.95 with free shipping. Because I am investing in this book directly from the Information Marketing Association, I get a free 2-month trial membership. For 2 months I will experience all of the membership benefits. There is no obligation, and I may cancel at any time. Only after 2-months, you will begin paying membership dues at the rate of $99.00 per month. I understand that I may cancel at any time with a simple request. (Dues for international members outside the USA are $109.00 per month.)

HHeerree iiss aa PPaarrttiiaall LLiissttiinngg ooff WWhhaatt YYoouu’’llll DDiissccoovveerr!!

• Escape Hours for Dollars, Do the Work Once and Get Paid Many Times

• Protecting Your Information Marketing Business

• Financing Your Info-Marketing Business • Simple and Easy Strategies for Creating

Products You Can Sell for Years • The Five Keys to Effectively Marketing Your

Business • How to SELL Your Information Product

Online or Offline • Build a Coaching Program From Scratch to

$2 Million a Year within 18 Months

• Getting the Lifestyle and Income of Your Dreams by Using Joint Ventures

• An Alternative to Professional Publishers • Maximizing Online Info-Product Sales,

Generate More Money from Your Business Using E-zines as a Fast and Practically Free Way to Sell More Info-Products Online

• A Coaching Program Making Millions with No Affinity, No Money and No Experience in Info-Marketing

• Speed Implementation; How to Get Your Info-Marketing Business Up, Running and Profitable Quickly

No Risk – Print Clearly So You Receive Every Benefit!

Name: Company: Address: City/State/Zip: Phone: Fax: Email: Website:

Note: Providing above information constitutes permission for the Information Marketing Association and Robert Skrob to communicate with you via these means about this order or other, additional information, events and offers.

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Your signature indicates your agreement to the terms within your credit card issuer’s agreement.

4 Easy Ways to Get These Benefits Website

www.InfoMarketingStartup.com By Mail/Fed Ex

335 Beard St. Tallahassee, FL 32303

By Faxing this form 850/222-6002

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