Reputable Goals Help You Avoid Self-Sabotage
Traditionally, this step of The SMART Goals Framework would be a different word. But in the world of Digital Marketing, reputation is everything and there are many people who ruin theirs with bad decision making.
Your goals need to be created in an effort to help you maintain a clear conscience and give you the ability to network and sell online without making people question your motives, the quality of your products, or anything else.
You may see people in the marketplace who you know have a shady reputation, and yet they are still making money. Unfortunately, many of these individuals network with each other, supporting one another to steer unsuspecting newbies their way. They are reinforcing and enabling the stereotype that all marketers are immoral.
But what often happens is the consumer gets burned and realizes they have been scammed. Not only do they no longer trust or purchase from that individual, but they also lose all respect for the person who recommended them.
Building a solid reputation is a goal you should have not only as an product creator who is providing information for people to learn from, but also as an affiliate marketer whose purpose is to connect buyers with product vendors.
If you ask around, people will be able to tell you some horror stories about marketers who burned up in the industry by exploding their reputation beyond repair. Some people are able to keep things below the radar of most individuals and still make sales, but once word gets out, it will make it hard for you to bring affiliates onboard, get approved to promote products, or even secure sales for your own courses.
By working on developing reputable goals, you will avoid the self-sabotage that many marketers end their careers with. You want to remain ethical/moral and provide yourself with the opportunity to have longevity in this industry.
So what does it mean to be a Moral Marketer? First and foremost, you have to have a goal to be unique. Develop your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) There are many marketers who sell tools and courses teaching you to simply copy other people’s work and ideas.
Even if you rewrite a creator’s entire course, that is still immoral and a problem with copyright, as well. No matter who tells you it’s okay to do that, the burden rests on your shoulders to be responsible and know what you can and can’t do both ethically and legally.
When you work as an Affiliate Marketer, you need to have a goal to maintain your reputation by protecting your subscribers first. Your goal should be to help them find the best product, not just to line your pockets.
Never let desperation steer you into making the wrong decision when it comes to your reputation. It’s better for you to get a second job offline while you build your career than it is to indulge in shady operations, hoping that no one will notice.
You may ultimately sabotage yourself to a degree that you’ll never be able to work online under your own name again. And some people do have to reinvent themselves with a pen name, which is humiliating when people discover what they’ve done.