What Do You Really Think About "Rich Jerk" Type Sites?

I think the approach works well for "newbies" or those not well-adjusted into the Internet Marketing industry.

For those of us who have been in the "game" for at least 2 years or longer though, we can quickly filter through various sales approaches.

From what I hear, some people respond to that kind of approach. I don't personally use it. But, if the shoe fits, then wear it.

I remember when I first encountered the rich jerk, I thought his marketing techniques were actually quite original and clever.

I didn't buy his book, but I know someone who did, so I guess his style works.

The Rich Jerk, This guy is a member here on the forum and once he sees this thread maybe he will share his thoughts here. IMHO I would think that there is some validity to this type of approach since the Rich Jerk has been around for some time and has added some great insight on IM here on the forum.

Yeah - you got a good point, the idea has worked - and I suspect that "The Rich Jerk" has done alright. By taking this approach to the gamer world, I also suspect new life could be breathed into it.

For example:

"I am a god in World of Warcraft, you on the other hand, should not even be playing."

"You don't even have the right to read what I have to say about Call of Duty. Go sell your game and go back to Pac-Man Looser."

Etc. With some serious copywriting, this "challenge" approach might sell some pretty serious stuff in the game world. I am just thinking out loud here, so correct me if I am wrong.

-DTM

Meh.


That's my short answer. I don't care for them, as they all have an agenda and don't often share anything useful. Even Guy Kawalski over-Tweets. I lost a bit of respect because of that.

It depends on the level of competition in your market as to whether or not Confrontational Marketing will be received well.

If your USP is enough to set you apart from your competitors then I'd say don't try it. But if you're just rehashing the same stuff everyone else is, then CM might be the way to go to gain some traction in your segment.

I posted a thread in the copywriting forum on this topic,
http://www.warriorforum.com/copywrit...outs-suck.html

this might work with my market but I'm not sure if it would work with yours. What segment are you in if you don't mind me asking?

I think you would have to have your head examined if you bought anything like that

It's effective the first time. Then the copycats who couldn't come up with an original idea if you beat them with a stick come out. I bought RJ's ebook and that pretty much began on online career. I thought his site was hilarious. I didn't believe all the hype, but loved the sarcastic approach. I wouldn't waste any time looking at the "others".

When a guy tells me he is a jerk, I have no choice but to take him at his word. I wouldn't buy into that obvious gambit, but he's done okay with it from what I've heard.

I think similar approaches would be seen as copycatting and may not work as well for someone else. I also understand he sends emails with the same kind of phony bravado. I'd get tired of that shtick fast, but others are into self-abuse. I guess you could say he's a marketing dominatrix.

Kelly Felix was the Rich Jerk. He used to pop into the old forum once in awhile, but I don't think he comes here often anymore, if at all. I believe he sold the business. There was speculation as to why that I won't go into. I suppose no one other than Kelly knows the real story.

According to his Facebook page he's a salesman for a company based in New York. Last I heard he was in San Diego. I can't vouch for what information is current.

John

....have to admit as soon as I see the fancy car in the driveway of this sprawling mansion.. it's time to bail!
I hate to admit it.. but the pages with the family thing going on is beginning
to annoy me...

you know, the husband, wife, two kids and dog on the beach routine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a great family man, but there is too many of these
sites and I suspect there a bit slimy!

The Rich Jerk eBook was not a very exciting read, basically just a general overview of the different methods to make money online, they are a dime a dozen. His worked, and it sold, because of the way it was branded. Identity is everything up to the point of purchase.

I didn't buy the book but I enjoyed the promotion. Seems to me it's designed to take the reader on an emotional journey as carefully scripted as any ride at Disneyland.

Shock! that someone clearly trying to make a sale would be so obnoxiously rude.
Envy! at the guy's wealth.
Greed! at the idea that I could get me some o' dat wealth.
Fear! that the whole thing's a scam.
Anger! at the prospect of being scammed.
More fear! at missing out.
Wonder! if it's real.
Shame! at not having made anything of my financial life to match that guy.
Laughter! at how over the top the whole thing is.
Curiosity! at whether his techniques really could work for me.
etc...

The content of the book could likely have been published as "Optimizing efficiency of Internet-distributed sales promotions." With that title, maybe a dozen university libraries would have bought it and stuck it in the basement. But rich jerk, maybe I could be one too... man that's got some zing to it.

Came across the same technique in an article the other day. "You may not agree, but you are wrong. If you knew more than I do I would be reading your list." Had to laugh at seeing the Rich Jerk technique again.

Chris

It certainly is a marketing technique that works, although it can be overdone. It reminds me of the popularity of the "Dummies" books in the 80's, when I first encountered them I thought "who would want to buy a book that screams to the world that you're a dummy?".

But as they have (and continue to) sold millions of copies it was obviously a successful marketing technique - and I actually did read "Java for Dummies" about 12 years ago.

Other titles tried to copycat them and didn't do as well. I suspect that now that the Rich Jerk has been the original that a copycat technique wouldn't do as good. I'd stay away from trying it, but then I was wrong about the "Dummies" books so who am I to say?

Bill

Don't waste your money on RJ. he makes money from selling to people who he deliberately insults.

It's the same if you said: "You don't have my e-book??? What are you, a loser?? You will be a loser until you buy my e-book."

Yes, it is an effective technique, but do you really want to call your audience or potential customers losers and other insults? Doesn't give you a strong customer base. Most who bought from RJ for 100's when it came out, probably just took their loss.

I even wrote to RJ once and said I saw him on the show "the biggest loser".

I would not buy into such crap ... For one his site claimed he lived in a city I am close to and I know he did not live here and further investigations found out many things that was nothing but hype ..

I will not go into that on this forum but to answer the OP anyone that falls for the bullcrap must be a newbie.

James

Funny thing is, that guy was on a hot TV show and became broke until he made that product.

He's really not that rich, at least not enough to deserve that attitude on the site, and his product doesn't tell much more than these things you see newbs throw up. :/

-Sean

Love or loathe his copy writing, the fact is that you all read it. Probably read plenty more than just one sales page too. The RJ was able to standout and get a truckload of attention within the Internet Marketing world. Anybody who can get that sort of attention in a noisy overcrowded market is a great marketer.
In answer to your question David. Controversy will continue to capture attention. Think Howard Stern, and more recently Gordon Ramsy. Whenever I have fun with my copy, conversions improve.

Well, the funny thing is I've actually opted in to the Rich Jerk site and bought the $10 e-book just to see what it was all about.

The information inside was good and straight forward, but its nothing you can't find running a search through the Warriors Forum or Google.

Also, the idea behind its marketing, in my opinion, only stick to those who are susceptible to messages that attack someones ego. I am not particularly fond of it, and I still receive emails everyday from the site.

...It's actually starting to get annoying. Lol!

Of all the guru's I unsubscribed from, he was not one of them. I am sure he has a target audience as most business advertising has, but I wasn't one of them so I never checked him out. It just isn't my style.

Oh Come on people .

You don't know what life is all about till you have smoked a rich jerk cigar .

I have a post to make here:

I seriously believe that many people are undermining the concept of "Rich Jerk" website. Dont look into that aspect way too much.

Look at it from this perspective: HE WAS DIFFERENT.

Now, by being different, he became an idol, an enigma, and someone who took the industry by storm. You have to give him credit. Now, chances are, people might copycat that, but..

when you keep on coming up creative projects, people are bound to keep an eye on you: no matter what they say..

To be honest with you, Rich jerk aka. KF is the ONLY sales letter that I've read back then.

Do I read most of your sales letters? NO.

It's good to be different but again, you need to study your market well.

I was thoroughly entertained by the Rich Jerk. I still get his emails, and read them for the sheer comedy.

I don't bother with any copycat sites though - a joke is never as funny the second time around.

Going on this thread alone, I think it's obvious this guy has been successful in his branding efforts, if nothing else.

I have found his approach amusing and have hung around on the site long enough to be entertained but it stops there.

Regardless of what you may think of it, it was unique when it first came out compared to everything else. But it's been so overused now that I think even newbies see it a mile away.

Well, he sold me his ebook and I'm the biggest skeptic around. I don't buy ebooks. I went to the site 10 times before I bought and figured well, the site is so amusing that it's worth the money for the ebook.

The access to his forum was priceless. I made a lot of money and some friends there.

Plus ... I'm on very few lists. I dump them at a blinding rate, but I never unsubscribed from RJ's list. The last email I got if I recall was a few days ago

Subject: OPEN IT DAMMIT

I did.

I found Rich Jerk offensive. Still there was something to learn with his approach and style. The funny thing is this, the whole thing wasn't really about the stuff in his ebook, which was rehashed material that could be found in any decent 'info product' PLR package.

His main business was Web hosting but most people missed that. When you subscribed to his 'system' you got a free cookie cutter Website. Yeah, sure... free.

The hook was that you had to host through his company at $10 a month. That's some nice residual income when you multiply it by tens if not hundreds of thousands of jerks, errrr... members. There's nothing new under the sun, just new suckers to make it look so.

These days success is measured almost exclusively by your gross and net. I guess it doesn't much matter if you berate people and hype the living crap out of ancient info to make it look fresh.

Thanks for cutting to the chase.

I appreciate any marketer who can
Dare to Be Different.

The Rich Jerk Started that and at one time
it worked very well for Mr. Kelley Felix.

I actually met one of the Rich Jerks a few months ago. He's good friends with another marketing buddy of mine. His name is Ryan, and he's a great guy. He's a VERY smart marketer, and does VERY well. He's not really a jerk, that's just his angle....and it works. He definitely wasn't Kelly Felix, so I'm guessing there's a few of these "jerks" running around...lol!

I would agree that the technique probably works best with newbies, but lets face it, with the economy in shambles, there's a TON of newbies always coming into the marketplace looking to make a buck.

Shecky

Yeah I remember coming across his products back in the day. Definitely amusing and caught my sense of humour. Did a bit of research and decided it wasn't for me but there is no doubt that type of marketing can work when done properly.

Well, I think the Rich Jerk site is brilliant from a marketing stand point. People want to hear that, people want to believe that the key to riches is sooo easy everyone can do it. No surprise his ebook is a best seller. From that perspective it is brilliant.

On the other hand, I don't buy it, no get-rich-quick scheme works and I'm not saying that because of experience it's just common sense. However people want to believe it works, so that's the reason they exist.

So in that case, they are just fun to watch their ludicrous claims and see how people "bite" it.

Well,

I must say I never thought my simple question would generate this much interest - and that in itself is quite constructive. I suspect that if a topic can generate a long thread and a lot of interest on Warriors, then it will also generate traffic on the internet.

The "anti-marketing" aspect of the RJ site points out some interesting things with regard to positioning and trends. RJ sites began back in the more innocent internet era, when the world was not teetering on economic collapse - "everyone" was making a fortune in the "Dot Com" Boom. A certain sense of envy permeated the landscape.

Now, as more people have lost jobs, and we are a bit more skittish with regard to "internet fortunes" I wonder what new strategies in the "anti-marketing" genre would work.

Many thanks to all who have posted their insights to this thread, and of course big thansk goes out to Mr. Kelly Felix, the original.

-DTM

It takes all sorts, doesn't it? Like workouts or training - some people love the bootcamp approach and being shouted at..... I didn't take to his style at all..... but then, my gym membership has lapsed!

I though that it was well done. Absolutely brilliant. He made a fortune from that style of marketing. Why? Because it is different, unique, and unexpected. He was able to separate himself from other so called "expert." The copy was absolutely well done.

Yah I subscribed to Rich Jerk crap for a few weeks. I got pretty fed up with the rich jerks, the black hats, red hats . . . probably the whole babble came from the same jerk alright!

Anyway, I unsubscribed him long ago and thank God I never spent even a wooden nickel on him.

Also Thanks to Tiffany Dow for letting it out the bag today. She sounded pretty upset about it, and I'm proud of having her for a friend and adviser.