Linda Caroll
Jul 26, 2017 · 1 min read

I’ve worked in marketing forever and I think marketing itself isn’t innately good or bad, it’s the people doing the marketing that make it either.

Some people seem hardwired to lie and manipulate to make a sale. Other people seem hardwired to teach, instruct and help and in the process, they make a sale and earn loyalty.

I’ve discovered that you can’t “teach” the former to become the latter. Also, the latter will never be comfortable acting like the former.

Another thing I’ve learned is that money isn’t the hardest commodity to come by online. Attention is. Words are food to our brain and we end up emulating what we consume.

What I suggest is that if you get emails from companies that use lies, boasting, BS and trickery to manipulate you into buying — unsubscribe as fast as you can click the unsubscribe button. You don’t need that crap in your brain or your life.

Incidentally — Amazon doesn’t use those tactics and the lack of BS and manipulation sure doesn’t seem to be hurting their sales. They just show you things based on what you look at and let you read customer reviews, good and bad.

The reason some of those manipulative marketers are shouting so loud and so often is because they have abysmal response rates.

    Linda Caroll

    Written by

    A notorious bad influence. Canadian. Get writing and marketing tips on Fridays at https://lindac.substack.com/

    Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
    Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
    Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade