Double Double Toil And More Trouble From The FTC?

With December 1, 2009 just around the corner…

Alot of attention has been placed on the new FTC Guidelines for Endorsements and Testimonials and their affect on bloggers and marketers.

This has created a “hot new market” for all sorts of legal services that just might be a dis-service to you and your business…caveat emptor

What really is important here is that there are some facts that you need to know…

The marketing strategies that are being used…the products that are being produced and promoted…and each business’ structure are very unique….

So…the FTC has outlined and published the new Guidelines for you and your legal counsel to review so that you can ensure that you are in compliance…

You can download the new FTC Guidelines for Endorsements and Testimonials here…

There are many things that you can do right now to ensure your marketing is compliant without hiring an attorney or buying any of the newly offered FTC legal services….

However, if you have any questions what so ever about your marketing and testimonials, discontinue your marketing, get those testimonials off your sites and consult with an attorney specializing in FTC compliance before you get yourself into trouble …

You can watch Mary Engle of the FTC discuss the New Guidelines here…

She answers some of the top questions marketers are asking…

CBS 4 recently wrote a interesting article about “Mommy Bloggers” and really dug into some of the issues that the new Guidelines address

[icon name=”angle-double-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] One of CBS 4’s sister stations also did a news segment about product bloggers and how they can Blog With Integrity…

[icon name=”angle-double-right” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Gary D. Hailey of Venable LLC in Washington D.C. discusses hypothetical examples of what constitutes an “endorsement” by the FTC and has listed several hypothetical endorsement scenarios provided by the FTC to help educate people…

Here is my bottom line take on all of this…

If you choose to market with integrity…

If you choose to be ethical…

If you choose to honor the Golden Rule… do unto others as you would have done unto you…

You can leverage these new rules to YOUR ADVANTAGE by being honest and forthright about your affiliation with and compensation for endorsing a particular product or service.

People appreciate honesty. If you are honest, people will respect you, they will like you, they will come to trust you and they probably will choose to do business with you.

These are MAD ECONOMIC times that we are living in…

People’s futures are challenged on a daily basis… they are scared and really vulnerable…

Many of them are turning to the internet and to network marketing as a SOLUTION …

We have the opportunity to make it a GREAT solution for them if we are ethical in everything that we do.

Here is something to remember in your marketing…

YOU CANNOT PROMISE WHAT YOU CANNOT GUARANTEE and the old “RESULTS NOT TYPICAL” disclaimer just isn’t going to cut it anymore…

Don’t tell people that they can make $10,000 in the next month if you cannot guarantee that… that kind of HYPE HURTS PEOPLE …

Why on earth would you be willing to do something that’s going to HURT someone else? That’s a violation of Universal LAW and it’s the type of reputation ruiner people LOVE to blast out on Social Media!

Don’t pussy foot around what it takes to get a business up and running and IN PROFIT….

Don’t white wash how quickly that is going to happen for them….

Tell the people you speak with the TRUTH….

If they can’t deal with the learning curve… the business expenses… the amount of time it is going to take for them to succeed…

They need to take a look at something else… the timing isn’t right for them.

Serve people well by telling them the truth…

They will appreciate it and remember YOU when the time IS right for them…