What's wrong with Swine Flu? Or, are you really in business?

[Kevin Riley]

I've seen a few Warriors complaining about marketers capitalizing on Swine Flu. The comments run the gamut from exploiting to sick.

Please! Are we Warriors? Are we really here to discuss making money?

Let's look at the definition of an infopreneur. This is someone who organizes valuable information and provides it to the market for a price. An infopreneur makes money off that info, but they also provide a valuable service.

If you have a sick car that needs to be tuned, is it exploitative for someone to sell you a set of directions for fixing your car? If you have acne, is it exploitative for someone to sell you a book on skincare? If you are worried about losing your house to foreclosure, is it exploitative for someone to sell you a booklet on protecting your house?

If there is a cold going around, is it exploitative for someone to sell cold remedies? If there is a new flu threatening people, is it wrong to sell them the info that can help them avoid it and save them lots of lost time (and lost income)?

Right now, I see Dee Power running a WSO of Swine Flu PLR. If I was still in the health niche, I'd jump all over that. Sure, I could make a bundle of money off it, but at the same time I could provide a valuable service by getting the info into people's hands before they get sick.

See ya'll just had to get the hamster king started ... You all done it now ...

Oh Hi Kevin, What Up dude ...

James

[bgmacaw]

Well, I suppose porn "provides a valuable service" but I don't plan on working that niche either, also for personal ethical reasons. But, I don't have a problem with someone else working it as long as they're providing that valuable service and, in the case of health care info, that the info is scientifically and medically accurate.

[p2y]

I agree, it's silly to think that just because something is "serious" that it can't be monetized. Think about it for a moment, the only reason people exchange money for an e-book is because they have a problem (that they think is serious) that they would like to understand, solve, or learn more about.

As long as people are providing accurate content, good customer service, and providing value for the customer I don't have a problem with anything being monetized.

[RevenueRabbi]

... as long as it's not "hamster flu". then Kevin would SLEEP in his white coat!!!

[Brian.B]

If you think it's unethical, don't do it. If you want to make some money do it. Pretty simple.

[Steven Wagenheim]

Kevin, to answer your question...

is it exploitive?

According to a lot of folks here, yeah.

Go figure.

[DeePower]

I'm not "working the niche". One thing I've found is that when you search for info on the net you get valuable info and you get stuff that isn't related at all. I started researching swine flu and spent hours. So I thought I could pull together some good, non technical, information not the "I - found - the - cure" information. If I made money, that would makes me - what?

Dee

[Neil Morgan]

You could say it's unethical NOT to offer access to real advice and solutions.

Imagine if Google decided to be "ethical" and ban all sites that related to any kind of serious problem that people were having.

In other words, they turned their back and said just let them get on with it. They've got the information, but they've chosen to keep it from people that really need it.

Now that's unethical.

Cheers,

Neil

[OmarNegron]

I don't see a problem with it...

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

as long as they're providing that valuable service and, in the case of health care info, that the info is scientifically and medically accurate.

Great point. And this is important. As infopreneurs we carry a responsibility to provide accurate information.

[Mo Goulet]

You do not have to be involved in Porn to make money off it.

This is supposed to be a marketing forum and the key to success in marketing is to offer a product or service to people who are looking for it.

60% of internet surfers are looking for adult content so I would prefer to promote it than market buggy whips when .0001% are actually looking for them.

I promote what makes money.

I don't always use the product I promote.

I promote Strip Poker Goes MLM With The Worlds Best Adult Online Networking Oppotunity and have never even looked at their back office.

Also, Looking at the human body, sex and all this stuff the world calls immoral when in reality it is the most beautiful thing God ever created.

When God created in Genesis he said the animals, fish and birds were good yet when he created man and women, he said it was VERY GOOD...Yo now that is Dope!

[Bev Clement]

I will repeat what I said in the other thread, I'm being lazy so copy and paste here

I'm like Dee writing a report on it. I was going to sell 10 copies as PLR for anyone who wanted one, but I see that nobody here would be interested because it is a hot topic and one that is scamming people. Give me a break.

Let me give you some facts for a moment, before SARS people didn't wash their hands in China, what happened with the news reports and information given in the media, they learnt it was OK to wash their hands, and now you don't see many people going to the toilet and not washing their hands.

More people get and die from flu every year, what the figures will be from this type of flu is not known. How terrible that marketers have books on flu and what to do to prevent it.

Millions of people die from cancer, terrible all those books out there on the different cancers. I mean we are talking about the main cause of death here.

Millions of people are living below the poverty line, how terrible that people sell these make money books.

Millions of people buy books on different subjects each year, how terrible for a marketer to cash in with ebooks especially those who go looking for formulas of how they think a person might be making xxxx with a certain formula and then sells them as golden bullet.

How terrible to cash in on the offline market, and charge a premium because marketers think it is OK to do it even though many haven't got the basic information.

How terrible for those who promote mainly blackhat tatics because they think they are above the rest of us, and can't come up with a legal way of making money.

Thanks for letting me know, I will know what to do with our report

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by proapc

60% of internet surfers are looking for adult content so I would prefer to promote it than market buggy whips when .0001% are actually looking for them.

Wait a minute! Porn? Buggy whips? Aren't they related markets?

[Ken Strong]

Originally Posted by proapc

60% of internet surfers are looking for adult content so I would prefer to promote it than market buggy whips when .0001% are actually looking for them.

Jedediah's Buggy Whip - Wolbach, NE

I don't know if they have an affiliate program yet...

[Rod Cortez]

For me it's all about how someone goes about it. But generally speaking, I don't have any issues with it as long as the information / product / service provided gives good value.

Now, if there's ever a hamster flu or a man-kini epidemic, that might be another story. :P

RoD

[Mo Goulet]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

Wait a minute! Porn? Buggy whips? Aren't they related markets?

That's why I follow your workshops, we think alike...I was going to put that in but ....

Besides, your stuff works anyway...

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by proapc

we think alike...

Oh, you are in trouble.

[Michael Mayo]

Originally Posted by Rod Cortez

Now, if there's ever a hamster flu or a man-kini epidemic, that might be another story. :P

RoD

ROFLMAO......

Rod, You owe me a monitor!
I SPLORFed so hard I blew a hole through this one...lol

Have a Great Day!
Michael

[Jeff Henshaw]

Now, if there's ever a hamster flu or a man-kini epidemic, that might be another story. :P

Well the virus jumped from swine to humans, so what's preventing it from mutating again and jumping to infecting hamsters??

[J Elizabeth Dize]

Originally Posted by Rod Cortez

For me it's all about how someone goes about it. But generally speaking, I don't have any issues with it as long as the information / product / service provided gives good value.

Now, if there's ever a hamster flu or a man-kini epidemic, that might be another story. :P

RoD

This is how I feel about it too. My first reaction is that it makes me sick to think about marketers spreading the panic of the flu (this could devastate the economy even further, and is just wrong when done for selfish or uncaring reasons). If people spread panic to make sales -- that's just awful (in my opinion.) It will end up hurting us all.

However, if marketers provide well-researched information that serves to quench the thirst for information that is definitely out there right now -- then I don't have a problem with it.

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by Jeff Henshaw

Well the virus jumped from swine to humans, so what's preventing it from mutating again and jumping to infecting hamsters??

Actually, it's the new strain that develops in hamsters and jumps to humans. It causes an outbreak of whiskers.

OMG! I think I have it already. Where's some sunflower seeds?

[Mark McClure]

Just imagine the marketing folks in those companies that make the infra-red body heat scanners, masks etc in their daily morning meeting with sales managers... what do you think they are saying and planning?
If there's a perceived need and their product fills that need... they'll be marketing and selling.

I noticed in one of the big downtown Tokyo stores that the mask display section has been moved nearer the entrance to that floor (where the escalators are) to catch more of that foot traffic. Masks are common here anyway and with Japan's golden week holiday just starting and zillions of people on the move, I expect they'll be selling truckloads of the things.

That being said, I don't think anyone with a shred of decency wants to see a pandemic of anything. Maybe this one is a storm in a petri dish but reading how things escalated explosively in the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic makes you wonder....

A timely account of the 1918 flu pandemic - The Boston Globe (and that article's from 2004!!)

The stories about the troops ships are tragic beyond belief.

[Rod Cortez]

Originally Posted by Michael Mayo

ROFLMAO......

Rod, You owe me a monitor!
I SPLORFed so hard I blew a hole through this one...lol

Have a Great Day!
Michael

Monitor on it's way......

[phil.wheatley]

I had a disturbed sleep last night, I had dreams about Ninja Hamsters wreaking havoc throughout the planet....should've known it was somebody upsetting the Hamster Overlord! Please guys, don't make Kevin angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry!

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by phil.wheatley

I had a disturbed sleep last night, I had dreams about Ninja Hamsters wreaking havoc throughout the planet....should've known it was somebody upsetting the Hamster Overlord! Please guys, don't make Kevin angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry!

Here we go! The Brits are waking up. Phil is at this moment sipping his coffee and suspiciously eyeing his bacon and wondering if it will sneeze in his direction.

[Neil Morgan]

I had dreams about Ninja Hamsters

Amazing! I had a nightmare that someone had a spelling mistake in their WF signature, and when I checked everyone this morning, it was you Phil

Cheers,

Neil

[Thomas Belknap]

I went to bed last night with a fever, headaches and some congestion. I awoken in a man-kini. I am afraid, very afraid.

[Aaron Elliott]

Yep scary stuff, I wouldnt even think of marketing for this. I found google maps on cases marked so far, considering how easy this can be spread it has potential to be very nasty.

H1N1 Swine Flu - Google Maps

[phil.wheatley]

Kevin - all you siad there was true apart from the coffee bit, I'm a brit so I drink tea of course...with the queen of course, in fact she's sitting on my lap as we speak (she's put on a bit of weight bless her)

Neil - Classic! Yeah, I can't spell affiliate it seems, if Kevin is the Hamster King, I'm the Typo King!

[Bev Clement]

Phil you're OK because that is the new British way to spell Affilaites, but we haven't told Neil yet

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by Gedagger

I just heard my cat sneezing,
do you think it has caught this swine flu ?

Are we gonna get epidemic of cat flu now ?

The London Chinese resturants wont want that - where
will they get their free meat for savory chicken curry ?

Poor Chinese restaurants. First they lose pigeon meat to bird flu. Next cats? Then no more stray dogs? Hard times.

[phil.wheatley]

Oh crikey, I'm going to China Town off Leicester Square today actually, maybe I should avoid the cat chow mein then? Talking of which, I went to Indonesia recently and had that Cat poo coffee...Kopi Luwak as it's known. VERY nice but couldn't help thinking about where the beans had come from.

Ok, I can't resist this...Cat-astrophe!

[MichaelHiles]

There's nothing wrong with exploiting the pig virus. As long as one recognizes that it's the fad of the moment, and will be gone as soon as the next "wag the dog" event is pumped by the silly school girl inciting mass media.

[phil.wheatley]

Michael, you could be right, the media has a habit of doing this. I live in London so I was a bit worried when they said 92,000 could get infected by this....yeah...COULD....well, an asteroid COULD hit the Earth also and blow up the whole planet.

[Art Turner]

Originally Posted by proapc

I promote what makes money.

I don't always use the product I promote.

Isn't that what a drug pusher would say?

You're fine with making money by pointing surfers toward sites that will have an extreme negative effect on their marriage, their job and their life?

And I can't believe you referred to the Bible in defense of porn.

Art

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by phil.wheatley

Michael, you could be right, the media has a habit of doing this. I live in London so I was a bit worried when they said 92,000 could get infected by this....yeah...COULD....well, an asteroid COULD hit the Earth also and blow up the whole planet.

WHAT? Now I won't sleep tonight. I can't find a single e-book on how to protect against asteroids. Also, my home insurance may not cover it.

[seobro]

If you want to learn on CONmerce you should see a movie and be taught by the master - Harvey Hunnicut. This guy could even sell a Chrysler minivan.

Twilight Zone - Half Hour Video - The Whole Truth - CBS.com

[Rod Cortez]

Threads like these always fascinate me. All kidding aside, it just goes to show you that everyone has a different perception in regards to marketing. What some people find exploitive or unethical, another might not. Like some of the threads where people rant about a certain way of being marketed to because of their own personal preferences (not talking about ethics or morality in this example) and ignoring the possibility that it might be a highly effective way of marketing.

I'm not saying there aren't people exploiting the swine flu hysteria, there certainly are people doing that, but sometimes people don't take the time or use their mental fortitude to step back, try and be objective observers, and try to focus on the marketing lesson instead of letting their own personal feelings get in the way. But hey, to each their own I always say.

Besides, we might have an outbreak of mankini hamsters now thanx to this thread.....and I blame Tom and Kevin for that.... :P

RoD

[visit_faraz]

Exploiting??
I would have jumped on it if I was not busy with my other projects.

Faraz

[TheAngelGuy]

This isn't a comment on the rightness or wrongness of anything spoken about here, but there is an aspect that deals with the subconscious and that's whatever we tell ourselves is what we often believe and then act on as real. If we tell ourselves it's fine, and we subconscisuly believe that, then we will act that way. If the opposite is true, then the opposite happens.

Another aspect (just to give some of you insight as to why others might say it's unethical and you can't figure out why) is that there's always a part of us giving out energy (through our actions) to the world, and sometimes that energy isn't as good as it can be.

When someone offers a remedy, no matter what you might think, they ARE profiting off of someone's loss. This isn't a debatable point. What's important is what happens next. If the remedy that someone offer's helps them to to get rid of it AND NEVER GET IT AGAIN, that's the higest best "output" of personal energy to the world. However, if the remedy keeps them coming back, then it's lower and does have some negative components, and others are picking up on that and simply offering those who are justifying making money by whatever reasoning makes them comfortable the reasons.

Following the "it's okay - it's only a service!" thinking, then you'd have to consider your local neighborhood drug dealers as providing a much needed service, too.

I'm personally not pro or against it, so I'm not going to respond to any sort of replies telling me how right or wrong I am according to what you've already subconsciously accepted.

My biggest beef is with the media frenzy, trying to make us think that we're going to die if we even get the slightest strain of it. That being said, if any of you die because of getting it...

I get first dibs on your stuff.

(Again, not trying to post judgement or make it a right-wrong thing, just saying there's the subconscious factor as well as the "effect on the world" factor and if neither of those matter to you then forever so be it. But it does matter to some and if you recognize that you won't be as shocked at the apparent insanity that some people have by not agreeing with you about your self-convincing logic.)

[Ken Strong]

Originally Posted by Art Turner

Isn't that what a drug pusher would say?

It's also what a male gynecologist would say -- as well as plenty of other legitimate business people and marketers.

Why do you immediately think of the most extreme negative example you can imagine?

[Mike Long]

My issue is not about the morality of it, it's the fact that once again, we have who knows how many people jumping off the boat of building their own businesses to chase a quick buck.

The single biggest downfall for most online marketers (especially newbies) is FOCUS. Things like this are the antithesis of focus. There is a very strong possibility that a future prolific marketer has just been permanently sidetracked from an important, useful project to go chase a few swine flu bucks.

Focus people!! You'll make FAR more by building your own brand, and your own business, in one single niche, then you will by being the online equivalent of an ambulance chaser.

[Mary Gallivan]

Is someone wants to make money from selling info related to swine flu then go for it!

We're often told to keep an eye on upcoming trends and this will be around for some time yet.

I'm waiting to hear about the launch of a new face mask that can be sold to pig farmers for their pigs.

How about a product on how to stop pigs getting flu in the first place?

By looking after the pigs the hamsters are less likely to get it. Hmm...I wonder if guinea pigs can catch it?

Mary

[Jeremy Gatica]

Originally Posted by Kevin Riley

Poor Chinese restaurants. First they lose pigeon meat to bird flu. Next cats? Then no more stray dogs? Hard times.

There is always hamsters.

[Randy Bheites]

What I find fascinating is how many people confuse personal ethics choices with business matters.

Morality tends to be highly subjective. While we mostly all agree that, for instance, killing is wrong, we mostly all support soldiers whose job description is to kill. Many feel that thinking sexually about someone other than your significant other is "cheating in your heart", yet see no conflict with leafing through Playboy or harboring fantasies about unatainable moviestars.

I personally see no problem whatsoever with monetizing swine flu or any other disease, as long as the information presented is correct and the products offered perform as promised. Providing helpful information/products/services is adding value to a needy market.

I think the problem most of us have with capitalizing on catastrophe is when 'snakeoil' and gouging enters the equation, but then we're right back to the concept of being ethical and responsible, which has nothing to do with the catastrophe itself.

[Chris Kent]

Originally Posted by TheAngelGuy

Following the "it's okay - it's only a service!" thinking, then you'd have to consider your local neighborhood drug dealers as providing a much needed service, too.

That's a great analogy without you even realising it.

People seeking out recreation and someone providing it.

If drugs were legalised, we wouldn't have any of the negative effects that exist around it.

[oohah]

I have been building what I hope will be an informative blog about convergent marketing slowly but surely. I posted about how swine flu has gone viral and I got a big boost from the search engines.

I don't think being timely is necessarily exploitative or shunning the long view for the quick bump.

By the way I did get a quick bump from google! ;-)

Ken

[Michael Motley]

How is this any different than someone that has a local store? Are they playing on people's fears of starving to death? no, they are providing what people are looking for. Do they need to be food experts to sell it?

[TheAngelGuy]

Originally Posted by Randy Bheites

What I find fascinating is how many people confuse personal ethics choices with business matters.

Some of the emotionalism comes from people finding it fascinating how people DON'T link the two.

(Not saying it's wrong, just giving a reason for the fiery feedback from some folks. It's a disservice to ourselves to be blind to the ENTIRE picture of reasoning why people (including us) do the things they do and why.)