FTC Takes Closer Look At Google’s AdMob Deal

The "Facts about Google's acquisition of AdMob" page Google established in November of last year apparently hasn't satisfied the Federal Trade Commission's curiosity.  A fresh report indicates that the FTC has stepped up its investigation of the deal by seeking sworn declarations from third parties.

This isn't a good sign for Google.  Todd Shields and Dina Bass heard about the FTC's move from "people with direct knowledge of the matter," so the affair appears to have developed beyond rumor stage.

Also, after talking to Stephen Calkins, a professor of law who used to serve as General Counsel of the FTC, Shields and Bass reported that the FTC tends to seek declarations "'when they think there is some significant chance' the agency will ask a court to block a merger, or seek to modify a deal."

Google's been running into more and more antitrust trouble as of late.  From the problems with its book digitization project to a European Commission probe, the search giant's been held up on several fronts.  It wouldn't be surprising if something - such as this AdMob deal - becomes a breaking point.

Still, asking for sworn declarations isn't the same thing as strongly objecting.  It remains possible the FTC will give Google's acquisition of AdMob a green light.

Twitter as the New Ouija Board

Online retailer FancyDress.com is hosting what it claims is "the world's first interactive Twitter Séance or "Twéance" on October 30th - the day before Halloween.

The Twéance allows participants to nominate the names of their favorite "departed stars" along with a question they would like them to be asked by "renowned psychic medium Jayne Wallace." Participants are asked to simply tweet this to @tweance.

FancyDress says a shortlist of "those departed spirits" that have received the most nominations will be published on the site the week before Halloween. Participants are asked to follow @tweance on the morning of Friday October 30th to see if their question is asked, and "what answer is returned."

Clearly this is a social media marketing tactic to sell Halloween costumes, many of which they do offer. While October 30th doesn't leave much time for shipping for Halloween, the campaign was no doubt announced in advance to drive curiosity and traffic to the site. It has probably worked though. It's getting press.

Some people are likely to find this marketing tactic a bit tacky, considering the noticeably large amount of celebrities that have died this year. Although to be fair, they have not limited the Twéance to (or even mentioned by name) the recently deceased. Halloween is widely considered to be the more morbid holiday anyway.

What do you think? Good holiday-themed social media marketing or tasteless exploitation? Share your thoughts.

Dirty Trick #20: Let’s Go Through This One More Time

Fitting that this would be my last “dirty trick” since it always comes at the end of a sales page, huh? But, what IS this one all about? It’s about repetition, plain and simple.

If you have children and you’ve ever watched Nickelodeon’s pre-K programs, then you will be familiar with what I’m about to say here. And that is “People Are Programmed To Learn Through Repetition”.

Which is what makes this dirty little sneak such an important one. In a nutshell, you are repeating the important details of your product or offer in a small but informative summary that should be placed right before the order button.

This summary can take the form of a bulleted list, a little “Yes! I Want To Take Advantage Of This Offer” form, or something similar. The main point here is to remind your potential customers of exactly what they will be getting. Marketers will often refer to this as a “recap”.

My advice, if you aren’t already using this dirty trick, you had better start! Anyone selling anything anytime can benefit from this one.

All these dirty tricks have one major thing in common. Can you guess what that is?

THEY ALL GENERATE CURIOSITY AND A DESIRE TO TAKE ACTION.

To sell something successfully, you have to create curiosity from your customers to want to learn more about what you’re selling.

These dirty tricks work. They do. Give them a chance and see if you don’t find at least one that will have a positive effect on your profit margin.

Dirty Trick #11: Wait. . .There’s More!

If you have EVER, and I do mean EVER been surfing through the television channels after midnight any day of the week, you’ve seen this sneaky little bugger hard at work inside all those crappy infomercials.

These guys, or gals, really want you to buy a copy of their product. So they’ll sweeten the offer up for you to drive that fact home and straight to your credit card or bank account. After all, they are in the business to MAKE MONEY, right?

And, if they’ve already piqued your curiosity, see Dirty Tricks Volume I, then they know that you’re interested in what they’re attempting to sell you. So they try and make the deal better on your end.

That’s when they really kick their selling into high gear by offering you some out-of-this-world bonuses worth -insert any dollar amount here- absolutely FREE! Cue flashing text. . . .

Now I know you’re probably thinking, “Shucks, I’d never fall for that kind of garbage!”. Hmm, how many products HAVE you bought from television adds? If you say none, well then congratulations! You are immune to this dirty trick. Way to go! And if you aren’t immune, don’t worry about it. I would bet that almost 98% of people aren’t either.

The really cool thing about this dirty little monster is that it MAKES you want to buy their original product, even if you don’t want or need it, just to get your hands on all those choice freebie gifts they’ll give you. And all for the cost of the original product price.

What a deal!

Yep. That’s what they want you to be thinking. Sure, you may not like or need the product they’re trying to sell you, but all those things you’re getting for free pretty much makes it worth spending 30 bucks.

Plus, even if you only wanted the bonus items, they still sucked you in to buying the original product to get your hands on them.

Internet Marketers use this one religiously too. Don’t let ‘em sneak it past you. Remember last time you signed up for that free report or ebook? And then after you filled out the form you were magically whisked away to a page that let you know you would be receiving an email to confirm you wanted to be included on their list? ‘Cause that’s the only way you could get the freebie?

What else was on there? Did you notice that there was probably either an ad for another product, we in the Internet Marketing world call this an “upsell”, or a special offer that you would only see that one time, again, called a, what else, “one time offer”?

Or how about when another internet marketer releases a new product and one of their affiliates will offer you a special “bonus” if you buy only from them? They will pack those bonuses to the gills with products that you may want, and probably will, even more than the main product that is being sold.

Aha! The light just went on didn’t it?!

If you don’t have something like this set up on your freebie giveaway offers, you had better start. Otherwise, you’re missing out on profits my friend. And a super script that will help you set up these one time offers is, of course, One Time Offer.

I highly recommend using this dirty trick for anyone trying to sell anything. EVER.

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