Nomad Internet Marketing March 2017 Issue 03 | Page 17

17
Income Claims, The
FTC and Jail
Some of you might remember the wild west
days of the Internet, where you could make ANY
income claim and pretty much never have to
worry about the feds coming after you.
“Bank 10 Gazzillion Bajillion dollars in 2.3
Seconds!”
Yeah, in some ways those really were the wild
west days…
The days of people throwing up a website,
creating a crappy product and ripping everyone
off to the tune of hundreds of dollars apiece…
…and then disappearing down the rabbit hole
from which they came.
No, we don’t miss those days a bit.
These days advertisers have to be…
To be fair, I’m sure there are cases where the FTC
gets over-zealous or even spiteful and targets a
marketer who means well.
But you have to admit, the trust level overall these
days between product creators and product buyers is
arguably higher than it used to be, because of the FTC
regulations in place.
And this is a wonderful thing, because people are
generally LESS skeptical when they read about a new
product that doesn’t claim to make millionaires out of
paupers at the press of a button.
Now then, if you’re new to marketing or you haven’t
been paying attention to what you can and cannot do
in your advertising, here are some guidelines to keep
you out of hot water with the FTC.
And please note: I am not a lawyer, nor do I play
one on Netflix. This isn’t legal advice. This is simply me
wanting to keep you out of jail with some good
common sense.
Let’s get started:
(get ready for it, this is a lulu of a shocker)
…advertisers have to be HONEST.
Gasp! Shock! Oh, the horror!!
Wait a minute – isn’t that a GOOD thing?
So many times I’ve heard people moan and
groan about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
playing cop and being mean when someone
makes income claims.
For example, legendary marketer Frank Kern
was sued by the FTC because he advertised
specific income results. Yes, he might have made
5 or 6 figures from what he was teaching, but the
vast majority of people won’t.
1.
If you’re making income claims of any kind, be
fully prepared to back them up with
documentation that will satisfy a court of law -
just in case.
2. If you’re making income claims, state clearly
that the income claimed is one example of
what might be accomplished, and absolutely
no guarantee these results can be duplicated.
Just because someone can win a gold medal
in running, and then teach me to run, doesn’t
mean I can win a gold medal, too.