Posted by Jesse Willms on Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Hi, this is Jack Stanton once again, filling in for my friend and co-worker Jesse Willms on his blog. He asked me to post an entry today about a discussion we had in his office last week. Over a year ago, Jesse decided to start helping out the Kiva Foundation as it works to fight poverty by offering microloans to budding entrepreneurs in third-world countries when banks are unwilling to. This can help create an emerging middle class in the third world. Jesse has been proud to support Kiva, but was disturbed by recent news articles that have put microfinancing in a bad light. He brought me into his office to discuss the situation and decide if we still wanted to support Kiva. Over the course of the next few hours, we went through all of the available information about the microfinancing controversy. What we discovered was that certain people not associated with Kiva were taking advantage of the microfinancing... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Wednesday, November 24, 2010
On my blogs I spend a lot of time trying to encourage people to find ways to give back to their community and help make the world a better place for everyone. I also spend a lot of space writing about worthwhile charities that I support including Samaritan’s Purse and the Breast Cancer Research Fund. Or, I talk about my volunteer work for The Mustard Seed or Habitat For Humanity.I do so in order to inspire others to follow my example. But, I often hear back from people that they simply don’t have enough free time or money to support nonprofit organizations even if they want to. I can understand that attitude. It did take me a fair amount of time to set up my volunteer work and many people are not in a financial situation where they can write checks just because it’s the right thing to do. That’s why I wanted to take some time today to point... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Wednesday, October 20, 2010
I have one rock solid rule for all of my Internet marketing efforts: Never use the word “free” in any ad or promotion whatsoever. I know this goes against what people think are the “rules” of marketing. Heck, any time you read a book by a so-called “marketing guru,” the first thing they tell you is that “free” is a powerful word that will motivate customers. However, I disagree. Nothing in life is free, and most potential customers know that. In fact, most people don’t want free products. It makes them feel cheap. Instead, they want to buy something they consider valuable that they can show off. Think of it this way – people perceive things based on their expectations. When someone pays $150 a ticket to see a famous band in concert, they almost always have a good time, because they expect to. After all, if the tickets are expensive and hard to get, then the band must be... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Friday, October 1, 2010
Most of my time on this blog has been spent talking about ethical business practices, and why it’s important not to do anything shady that can mislead potential customers into buying your products or services. But, today I want to write about something different – about giving back to the community and supporting worthy charitable organizations. It’s long been an adage that philanthropy is part of being an ethical businessperson. You shouldn’t use your company to simply make money for yourself; you should also use your company to try to make the world a better place. I’ve spent a lot of time building up my company to make a fair amount of money but, lately I’ve spent even more time researching and supporting meaningful charitable institutions. While I didn’t come from an overly privileged family I had a much more fortunate situation than many in the developing world. And I think that’s the case for most of us who are... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Saturday, September 25, 2010
Being ethical in all of your business dealings should be your first priority. That also should be second nature, but many people fail to grasp this basic concept – especially in the online marketplace. They’d never lie to someone in person and if they ran a brick and mortar operation; they’d be honest because they’d have to look their customers in the eye. But, the anonymity of Internet marketing seems to create a distance that makes many of us forget we are dealing with real people, and not just a bunch of electronic wallets. It can be all too easy to behave unethically online. Bad people and scoundrels have created a lot of software that makes it simple to hide IP addresses, disguise where your email is coming from or simply disappear when a customer has a complaint. But, taking advantage of any of these tactics is pure folly. Sure, you might get some short-term profits; but you will hurt... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Friday, September 10, 2010
Today, I want to talk about one of the most important ethical problems facing the Internet marketing community: spam. We all get it in our inbox or spam basket, and we can’t believe anyone falls for it. But, not everyone is Internet-savvy – and unfortunately, unethical businesses take advantage of less aware people, and give all of us who rely on email for sales a bad name. This is not to say that sending emails to your customers is always a bad thing. It’s only when you do it too often, or send it to people who are not interested, that it becomes an ethical challenge. That’s why an ethical marketer uses email marketing in a fair, conservative way. When you collect emails to build your list, make sure people understand that you will be contacting them with information and special offers. Next, make sure you send out email blasts only when you have a sale or a new product... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Thursday, September 9, 2010
Lose 30 Pounds In 30 Days! She’ll Love You More When You Use Herbal Viagra! Start Making Six Figures A Month From Your Home Today! Do those statements sound familiar? I bet they do. I just found each one of them in less than 10 seconds simply by looking in my spam box. Cruise around the Internet for any length of time and you’ll quickly find similar statements. What do they have in common? They are all false. While I guess technically you could lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but likely no product alone could make that happen. And herbal Viagra may do what it’s supposed to do, physiologically speaking, but the description could be much clearer. And that last one is disingenuous for a variety of reasons. False advertising claims give a bad name to Internet marketing. They are unethical, and really, they are unnecessary. If you have a decent product or service, it will sell – but... more »
Posted by Jesse Willms on Thursday, August 6, 2009
Hi. My name is Jesse Willms. I’m the founder of Terra Marketing Group. Over the years I’ve gotten very frustrated with how unethical many people in our business are. That’s why I’m in the process of creating a Code of Ethics for our industry. I’m going to post it here when it’s ready – but in the meantime I’d love to hear your suggestions. Thank you, Jesse Willms
