A while back I blogged about the deceptive advertising practices by FreeCreditReport.com (sorry no link for bad boys). Today’s NY Times echoes my dismay. FCR, which is actually owned by the big credit reporting service Experian, claim to offer “free” credit reports, but they actually require enrollment in a $15/month paid service.

“Consumer groups have long objected to sites like FreeCreditReport.com. Consumers may obtain a free credit report each year from the three major agencies, as mandated by an act that Congress passed in 2003. The only authorized site for that is AnnualCreditReport.com.” (NY Times)

Consumer reaction is pretty predictable. This Lifehacker post gives you a peek at some of the negative feedback.

It’s like I always say: Be straight with people, especially prospective customers. The truth always gets out, no what your marketing might claim.

Too many information marketers are making the same stupid mistake. Seconds after you arrive at their site, a pop-up (or slide-in) window appears, asking you to fork over your precious contact information. Hey man, I don’t even know you.

Just like in comedy, the secret is… (one, two, three) timing. Why would I be willing to fill out your form when you haven’t even given me a chance to read anything yet! I don’t know you, how good you are, or whether your expertise is even relevant to the problem I’m trying to solve. Back off, Jack.

Imagine a guy walking up to a good looking woman at a party or bar. Instead of saying hello and getting acquainted, he immediately says, “Please give me your name, e-mail address, and maybe your phone number too, while you’re at it.” The fact that you would even ask for that kind of intimate information before you’ve established any kind of relationship makes you seem a little, well… creepy. It’s annoying and off-putting.

Business owners and marketers: Don’t be a victim of “premature e-POP-ulation.” Get to know your website visitors a little before you ask them if you can contact them. Otherwise they’re going to look for someone who’s not so pushy.

“What the headline giveth, the small print taketh away,” grumbles the old advertising cynic. Sad to say it’s true, even in this era of supposed transparency.

Take the TV ads for FreeCreditReport.com. A young guy dressed like a pirate, singing (OK, lip-syncing) a catchy little tune about he’s stuck in this nowhere job because his credit was whacked. If only he’d taken advantage of the sponsor’s free credit reporting service.

Except the free service isn’t really free. First you have to enroll in their (paid) Triple Advantage program. But that fact is kept hidden until (literally) the very last line of each spot. The net effect is to admit that everything you’ve said up to this point has been a lie. The truth is, you have to pay $15 per month for X before you get the free Y. Which means Y isn’t really free.

Clever, I admit. They build the ads around the “free” offer, the bonus, even though what they’re really pushing is the paid service. FreeCreditReport is from Experian, the big credit reporting agency, not some fly-by-night. So I assume they honor their promise to cancel your membership within four days after you come to your senses cancel.

But it’s understandable why you might be hesitant. Any company that’s deceptive about a supposedly “free” service might also be the kind of company that makes it really difficult (read: nearly impossible) to cancel once you’ve handed over your credit card information. After all, why would a company like that suddenly play it straight when it comes to letting you out of your contract?

My purpose is not to knock Experian, but to caution against this kind of “gotcha” marketing tactic. They can backfire and cause grave harm to your brand. Think about that next time your marketing guru suggests making pie-in-the-sky promises. If you deliver real value to your customers, there’s no need to be deceptive or sneaky.

And in the Internet age, you will be found out.

Business can be a lot simpler than the consultants and MBAs claim. Craigslist, for example, just listens to its customers, then gives them what they want. No wonder they’ve been profitable since day one.

Wait, that can’t be all there is to it, can it? It must be more complicated than that. Nope, not according to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster. In a recent Marketplace interview, he said:

“Like a lot of stuff we do, we’ve found it to be very effective and basically fool-proof to just prioritize our activities according to what users are asking for.”

Ryssdal: Seems bizarre in this economy to be so democratic.

Buckmaster: Well, it certainly makes our lives simpler since we just have the one criterion to go on. We don’t have to sit in rooms trying to figure out how to conquer the world because basically we are not trying to achieve any particular market share or world dominance. We’re just trying to follow up on requests that we get from users.

Ryssdal: And yet you have enormous market share and very nearly world dominance.

Buckmaster: … what better way to operate is there than to just follow up on what your customers or users are asking for, and to just block out everything else.”

Via The Consumerist

Only one guy in the world has the gall to dish out $50 million for PR and publicity: yep, Uncle Sam.

It turns out a $50 million public relations contract — to promote the Thunderbirds, the Air Force aerial stunt team — was tainted by improper influence and preferential treatment. Nothing blatantly criminal enough for anyone to go to jail, apparently. Just semi-corrupt business as usual. Details here.

But what really galls me is the idea that our military is shelling out that kind of money just to promote the T-birds. Typical government waste. Now just imagine how many more of your tax dollars are squandered on the team’s jet fuel, aircraft maintenance, pilots’ and mechanics’ salaries, etc. (Did you know that an Air Force pilot earns $75,000+ ?)

The total budget for this foolishness must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars — double if the Navy’s Blue Angels are still flying. All for something that adds zilch to our national security, and does nothing to help win the two wars this nation is fighting.

Finally, as a 20-year media veteran, I have to question how difficult it is to publicize the Thunderbirds’ appearances? A diamond-shaped squadron of jet fighters screaming overhead is pretty hard to ignore, folks. The media will be there anyway, $50 million or no $50 million.

Promoting the squadron’s appearances is a public relations slam-dunk. I’m sure other PR specialists — like me — could do the job for, say, a measly $25 million. Whatever happened to awarding the job to the low bidder?

Part of me wonders why my firm never wins fat contracts like that. Then I remember — oh yeah, it’s because I have a conscience.

What do you think? Am I all wet? Should our military be spending hundreds of millions to promote unnecessary fluff like the Thunderbirds? Or should Uncle Sam use that money for more important things — like bailing out the poor millionaires at Bear Sterns? Or do the Thunderbirds serve some useful purpose?

Andy Sernovitz at MarketingProfs offers six WOM tips, gleaned from his experiences with Holly Suttmann, a former schoolteacher who has effectively been promoting her Black & Light Candle company.

“Holly really understands word of mouth,” Andy says. “She’s proof that every business can master these inexpensive techniques. There are a lot of global companies that should study what she’s doing.”

I’m going to extract and paraphrase a few of Andy’s gems:

1. Cultivate key talkers. But use personal notes and e-mails, NOT not press releases, to build a personal relationship with the writer or blogger. As Sernowitz aptly put it, “Not sales calls, just friendliness.” [Note: there is a time and place where press releases are appropriate, but not with bloggers! More on that in a future post.]
2. Give away free samples. People can’t talk about a product they haven’t seen.
3. Make it easy to spread the word. Think coupons, discount codes and other pass-alongs.

Question: What is missing from this list? It’s an essential ingredient for any kind of effective marketing, conventional or viral. It’s mentioned in the MP article, but it’s not on my list. Can you spot what it is — without looking at the original article?

Tell me in the comments.

The mortgage market is in turmoil, thanks to the subprime fiasco. Millions of homeowners face foreclosure, mortgage lenders are losing billions, new loans are impossible to get — hey, wait a minute.

If mortgage loans are so hard to get, why are Countrywide, Ditech and other big lenders still running TV ads every 5 minutes? Even the National Association of Realtors is running ads, saying there’s never been a better time to buy a house. (Better for their members, maybe.)

Despite all the foreclosures, lawsuits and investigations, the mortgage industry is still spending money on ads like a drunken sailor. A big chunk of the buy has shifted to the Internet, but the total spend is staggering.

In fact, they’re spending more now than they did during the height of the housing boom, according to today’s New York Times.

Naturally, what’s good for the advertiser is not necessarily good for the customer. “There may be some good, legitimate offers,” a spokesman for the Federal Trade Commission told the Times. “But it’s a good time for consumers to be especially wary.” Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, adds, “Consumers need to read between the lines of everything (the advertisers) are saying.”