The DARKSIDE of Marketing

Episode Summary:

Today we're dimming the lights, lighting some spooky candles, and talking about the dark side of marketing. We're diving into the ghouls, ghosts, and goblins that haunt the business world... those manipulative tactics that give honest entrepreneurs a bad name.

Whether you're sipping your pumpkin spice latte or your regular morning brew, grab your coziest blanket, snuggle up with your pups, and let's explore the spooky side of marketing together. Don't worry, I promise by the end of this episode, you'll know exactly how to spot these creatures in the wild and avoid becoming one yourself.

What I hope you take away from today's episode... 

• There are a lot of marketing tactics to help grow your business 
• What makes shifts things to the darkside is the intention to manipulate for the sake of money
• When you focus on real value, genuine connections, and great service you are building a solid honest business 
• When you are fake in your marketing, eventually your real self comes through, and that's never good for business

Links to the cool stuff mentioned in this episode... 

Lots of love out to the pixabay creators who shared their sound effects for today's episodes

The apps with great free trials I mentioned... 

• ReciME: https://www.recime.app/
• Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com/

Links to connect with me... 

• Book a Consult HERE! (https://caffeinecreative.io/consult/)
• Email me: theperfectblend@caffeinecreative.io
• Find me on Substack!

Detailed Show Notes

Spooks and specters that haunt our purchasing and our businesses 

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday of mine. I once was the house who went all out in decorating. Each year I would add more to the box of ghouly decor and I had dreams of some day turning my garage into my own haunted house. 

But living in the middle of nowhere South Dakota, where we don’t even get a trick or treater to show up at our door, those dreams have had to be put aside. So this year I am channeling my love of Halloween into this episode…  

Before we dive in, let me introduce myself to those new around here. I am Teresa Schlup, The Original Caffeine Creative and I provide branding essentials and stand out websites to solo small businesses. You can find out more about me, my services and even book a free consultation at my website caffeinecreative.io 

Thank you all for tuning in and listening. I truly love connecting with you through this podcast. 

And now let’s talk about the Spooks and specters of marketing… 

Relationship Marketing Spooks and Specters

A lot of business owners form genuine friendly relationships with their customers. I myself consider my clients my friends, and even when our working relationship has run its course I do my best to keep in touch. 

There are also coaches out there who help people work through some very deep vulnerabilities for the sake of healing and growth, but then you have the pretenders that make it hard to trust everyone. These are the people who go out of their way to manufacture intimacy and create connections all for the sake of the sale. I am calling these people, The Friendship Phantoms.  

We are talking the “Regina George” of marketing for my “Mean Girls” fans out there. This is the person who can be very kind and sweet, and they make you feel like you are important. They create one-sided relationships where you feel like they “know you”  and “understand“ what you are going through, and genuinely want to help you, when in reality they don’t care about you as a person all that much. Essentially they want you to worship them so you will keep giving them money. 

Now the Friendship Phantom can take on many forms. Here are a few to look out for… 

The Confession Collector or Scripted Soul Stealer  

These are the ones waiting for a chance to share their so-called “personal stories” and “deep dark secrets” that may or may not be real. Even when there is a bit of truth to them, they are purposely manufactured to create a false sense of security and friendship. 

They also love to collect struggles and trauma, and will encourage you to confess your own deep dark secrets, and are brilliant at showering you, briefly, with concern and understanding. These confession collections are treasures to them, as they will use them to manipulate you all for the sake of getting your loyalty and your money. 

The Pain Peddler, and The Savior Sorcerer  

These are the ones who particularly thrive on pain, suffering and misery, often under the guise of healing and growth. They pay close attention to the struggles that are being discussed more openly on a broad scale and deliberately trigger those pain points to position themselves as the savior who “gets it”. 

They also will watch their community closely for anyone who is courageously sharing a very real experience and jumps on that vulnerability while it is still raw so you and everyone around can see them save you. 

They may even openly and frequently share tearful confessions on a regular basis, positioning themselves as “real” or “authentic” when in fact they are using these moments simply to tap deeper into vulnerabilities and pull you closer into their circle of sales. 

The Gatekeeping Ghoul and Guilt Goblin  

These are the people who are really good at applying pressure while under the guise of concern, and they do this in a few different ways.  For one they are brilliant at positioning themselves as being in “high demand” when the reality is they are struggling to get clients. They create false scarcity with “Application Only” and “Join the Waitlist” campaigns and will often position themselves as a martyr by sacrificing their time and boundaries to make room for you. 

These pesky creatures also love to make you feel guilty… in come the Guilt Goblin, by making you feel guilty for questioning their process or pricing. And are quick to assure you that their competitors could never help you like they could, if they ever discover you are considering other alternatives to them. They also don’t mind using this guilt to pressure you into giving them glowing reviews and testimonials, making you even more loyal as you remember the “breakthroughs” they led you through, and so they can pressure others into being just like you. 

There is a darker side to these ghouls and ghostys…. 

These are tactics that some business coaches and marketing experts teach their followers how to grow their following, the business and their bank accounts. Now sharing real stories, or  connecting with a person's pain points is the right course of action, but only when it is truly genuine, and relevant. There is also nothing wrong with asking for reviews and testimonials, but you don’t want to be a pushy jerk about it. 

Let me share a few examples of small business owners I have seen use these tactics, and how it blew up in their faces…

I once attended a gathering where the guest speaker, an up and coming Life Coach in the area, shared a tearful confession about the struggles she had to face when her husband's cattle froze. Now this was a really serious tragedy that happened here in South Dakota. Around 10 or 12 years ago there was a freak that caused the deaths of tens of thousands of cattle. It was so sad and tragic and a lot of cattle farmers were impacted by this. 

But it wasn’t her tragedy. It later came out that her husband didn’t even have cattle impacted by the storm and their quality of life had not been impacted whatsoever. She didn’t need to build her Life Coaching business to help make ends meet. She was using a tragedy to get clients, and it worked for a little while, as there were women in the crowd who were actually impacted by this storm. 

She had become addicted to sharing “pain” to be relatable to others, so much so, that the desire for the attention became even greater than the desire for money. So she fabricated a story to be relatable to the women attending this event, and when the truth came out, her business tanked. 

Now I have one more example to share… I actually had a business coach I worked with years ago who fell into the trap of becoming a Gatekeeping Ghoul. She had just launched her first coaching program, and stressed in all of her marketing that there were “limited spaces” available, even though she was counting on 100s and had no cap on the program. 

She had 5 people sign up, myself included, and then lied to us saying she had so many people sign up she broke us up into smaller groups. She positioned her as a selfless martyr sacrificing her time for the sake of helping others become as successful as her. 

She used every scarcity tactic in the book, only to later confess to us that she had lied about the limited spacing, that there actually weren’t waitlists, and that she only said those things so people would act fast and sign up for her programs. 

This was a huge hit in our trust for her. She flat out admitted she had lied to us to get our money, and was now teaching us to do the same thing. After that confession, all five of us in her group left, because it just felt icky knowing we had been duped. 

When you are fake in your marketing, eventually your real self comes through, just like these coaches. Who no longer have businesses.    

How to Recognize the Friendship Phantom  

Some of what I just shared is pretty obvious, but remember their evil super power is making you think they are your new BFF. So here are a few things to watch out for… 

They remember your pain better than your progress. If someone can recall every struggle you shared months ago but seems fuzzy on your wins and breakthroughs, that's a red flag. Those truly dedicated to your success will celebrate your growth and wish you well when you're ready to move on.

Their personal “just checking in” messages to you feel a little too perfect. You get a DM or email that feels so personal and timely... but something feels off. Maybe the language doesn't quite match how they usually talk, or it feels scripted. That's because it probably is scripted and sent to dozens of people with a few details swapped out.

The relationship feels weirdly one-sided. You know a ton about their life, their struggles, their story. But when you really think about it, do they actually know you? Or do they just know your pain points and what you might buy?

They create an "us vs. them" mentality. They position their community as special, enlightened, or "getting it" while everyone else just doesn't understand. This makes you feel like leaving means losing your tribe, which keeps you paying to stay in.

Now let’s move onto Transactional Marketing Spooks and Specters.  

Transactional Marketing Spooks and Specters 

Now I have always focused my marketing efforts on relationship marketing, but as a consumer I have come in contact with quite a few transactional marketing spooks and specters. 

Many of the tactics used are legitimate marketing strategies. It all comes down to intention. If their intention is to actually provide a useful product or service for the betterment of your life, awesome. But if they are attempting to manipulate you simply in the name of profit, you may want to look elsewhere. 

For the sake of our Halloween themed episode I am calling these creatures the Fee Fiend. Money is their treasure and they will stop at nothing to get as much money as they can. 

The Fee Fiend can also take on many forms. Here are a few to look out for… 

The Deadline Demon or Scarcity Specter  

These are the people who manufacture fake urgency to rush your decision-making. They use countdown timers that magically reset, and give you warnings like, “This price is only good for 20 minutes!” When in fact you could come back later today, tomorrow or next week and get the same “low low price.” 

They will flash messages like "Only 2 left!" which is a total lie as there are 2000 sitting around in boxes waiting to be sold. They also love to plaster exit popups with guilt trips like "No thanks, I don't want success." 

They are counting on you making a panicked, impulsive choice before you have time to think it through, change your mind or shop around.

The Switcharoo Shapeshifter with their Hidden Cost Hexes  

These folks lure you in with one fabulous, too good to be true deal. They get you by offering a great price so you click, and then surprise! You learn that's not actually available but they have a pricier option just waiting for you. 

They may also show you a low starting price, which sounds amazing, only to sneak in additional mandatory fees at checkout. Or they promise you can purchase “just what you need”, only to reveal that the “ONE” thing you actually want is only available if you take the large pricier bundle. 

The Subscription Sorcerer and their Cancel Curse  

These are the subscription tricksters who make it stupidly easy to sign up (one click!) for a free trial that gives you such limited access you feel you have no choice but to pay the full price.  

Or that free trial automatically converts into a full blown subscription with no warning and becomes a complicated convoluted nightmare to cancel. They sneak in pre-checked boxes for things you didn't want, that automatically adds upsells, and additional subscriptions you have to manually remove. 

And they love to hide the cancellation button, or make you call during "business hours" and talk to a minimum of three people aka Confusion Conjurers, all using their best pressure tactics to keep you in and probably spend even more money. 

I want to say that I don’t think everyone offering a free trial is dodgy. I just signed up for a free trial with the ReciMe app to manage my recipes a few months ago, and my free trial gave me full access to everything. It even reminded me when my trial was about to end so that I could opt out and with ease. Duolingo was the same way. 

It’s the ones who sneak in extras, and make leaving difficult that I am talking about. 

The Greed Ghost  

These marketers are all about smoke and mirrors. And they find lots of ways to create illusions that make you want to buy. There are the ones who fabricate social proof with fake reviews and stock photo "customers" showing how easy it is to get results.  

They may show inflated "regular prices" with “buy now to save” flashing banners when their prices never actually change. And the worst of the worst, will steal product information from legit websites and sell that content, only to never actually deliver. 

They are brilliant at making everything look legit on the surface, but it's all manufactured to make you think you're getting a better deal or making a safer choice than you actually are.

How to Recognize the Fee Fiend  

Like with the Relationship Marketing Spooks and Specters, many of these are obvious, but remember their evil super power is making you feel like you're getting an amazing deal when you're actually getting played. So here are a few things to watch out for…

The price keeps changing in weird ways. You see one price on the ad, a different price on the product page, and then surprise fees at checkout. Or that "sale" price has been running for six months straight. 

Everything feels urgent for no real reason. 

Countdown timers"only 2 left" warnings"this offer expires in 10 minutes" 

But there's no actual reason for the rush. Real limited-time offers have clear reasons (like a seasonal product or actual event). Fake urgency is just pressure to stop you from thinking clearly so you’ll double click your apple pay to confirm purchase.

Getting in is easy, getting out is a nightmare. Before you make the “One click” to sign up, check out the cancellation policy and see how easy it really is. If it requires a phone call during business hours, or they employ the guilt trip in the cancellation policy (Yes I have seen that), definitely pause and think. Remember legitimate businesses make both processes equally simple.

The "fine print" tells a completely different story. That amazing deal comes with a bunch of terms and conditions buried where you'll never read them. Auto-renewals, hidden fees, mandatory add-ons, all tucked away in tiny text at the bottom of the page.

They make it confusing on purpose. The good guys in  businesses want you to understand exactly what you're getting. So if the checkout process is weirdly complicated, there are too many options that don't make sense, or you're not quite sure what you're actually buying, step away from the keyboard or phone. Remember Confusion is a tactic. 

Now there are some hybrids that utilize relationship marketing and transactional marketing that are worth mentioning… I call them the Two-Faced Tricksters. 

The Two-Faced Tricksters 

A lot of businesses will employ a little bit of relationship marketing as well as transactional marketing and that can be a great strategy, but like with our other marketing approaches, there is a dark side to this approach as well. 

The Two-Faced Trickster can take on many forms. Here are a few to look out for… 

The Chameleon Con Artist 

These are the ones who will use fake credentials and certification to convince you that they are an expert or authority. They will purchase awards or “Featured In” appearances to appear more important than they are. At one time I was offered an opportunity to have my business mentioned in the New York Times for the low low price of just $99. 

They also use fancy job titles to make themselves appear to be way more important than they are. These could be things like “Thought Leader” or “Strategic Growth Optimization Specialist” and “Revenue Acceleration Consultant.” 

I have even seen people purchase a doctorate diploma from a defunct university.

The Pixel Poltergeist   

These are the ones who aggressively use retargeting ads to show up everywhere you are. They overtake your inbox, invade your social media feeds, overpower YouTube, and even harass you on Google. They are relentless and always pushing you to buy buy buy. 

I do want to say that retargeting ads is not a bad strategy for some. In fact, just last week I was encouraging a business I was consulting with to consider running retargeting ads. The difference is in the intention. This company has a really great product that they want to promote. Their goal is offering quality with great customer services. It's the manipulators that give us all a bad name. 

My final piece of advice… 

As a consumer, if your gut is screaming "too good to be true!" or it just feels weird and you can’t explain why… trust your intuition. It really can save you. 

As a business owner… if the approach you are considering just feels icky or dodgy… think of something else. I have watched far too many businesses crash and burn because they thought these were strategic marketing tactics.  

Thanks for tuning into the Solo Grind. If this episode helped you identify some marketing monsters lurking in your feed, please rate, review, and subscribe so other solo business owners can avoid these tricks and focus on the treats of running an honest business.

If you want to connect with me, you can find me at caffeinecreative.io. And remember, the scariest thing in business isn't ghosts and goblins, it's losing people's trust by using these shady tactics.