TCC Podcast #385: Ethical Marketing with Maggie Patterson and Michelle Mazur

Is marketing unethical? What about tactics like scarcity or significance? Should copywriters be using these persuasive elements in their copy? If not, why not? And when is it acceptable? Our guests for the 385th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast are Maggie Patterson and Michelle Mazur, hosts of their own podcast called Duped where they talk about the misuse of persuasion in marketing. Between the four of us, we figured out the answers to these questions and more (almost). Click the play button below, or scroll down for a full transcript. Stuff to check out: The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Duped Podcast Full Transcript: Rob Marsh: At some point in your writing career, most copywriters bump up against a persuasion tactic that just feels off. Or worse, they’re asked to do something they don’t feel good about. Maybe it’s as simple as adding a deadline timer to an offer with no real deadline. Or it might be something worse… like selling programs to people who can’t afford them, or who will never get the promised results. Hi, I’m Rob Marsh, one of the founders of The Copywriter Club. And on today’s episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, Kira Hug and I had a chance to speak with the dynamic duo behind the Duped Podcast, Maggie Patterson and Michelle Mazur. We talked about those dubious marketing tactics, when it’s okay to use them, and when you need to be the adult in the room who says, this is going to far. If you’ve ever wondered where the line is when it comes to marketing ethics, this episode will give you something to think about. But first, I want to tell you abou The Copywriter Underground. You’ve heard about the library of training that will help you build a profitable business. You’ve heard about the monthly coaching, and the almost weekly copy critiques and the helpful group of members ready with support and even the occasional lead. Last week we recorded an exclusive training for Underground members on the diagnostic scorecard that helps you close just about any prospect or project on a sales call. It’s the kind of business secret you don’t read about in free facebook groups or even on most email lists. But right now, you can watch that training and get the diagnostic scorecard to help you close more projects when you go to thecopywriterclub.com/tcu and join as a member.  But hurry, that training disappears in a few days. Now, let’s hear what Michelle and Maggie had to say… Kira Hug: All right, welcome, Michelle, Maggie. So good to have both of you here. Let's kick off with the catalyst. What was the catalyst for Duped and that partnership between the two of you? Michelle Mazur: Well, I believe it started with me. Maggie and I vox a lot about things we're seeing and chatting about it. I sent her a Voxer message and said, hey, I think we should do a limited series podcast episode where we dive into some of these topics. And that was the catalyst. We were already creating the content in our Voxer conversations. And we're like, well, what if we just open that up to a wider audience? And we intended just to do, I think, eight episodes and maybe a second season. And then we realized, oh, wow, we have a lot to talk about here. Rob Marsh: So for anybody who's not already heard duped or aware of duped or even met you, Maggie and Michelle, tell us a little bit about, let's just lay that groundwork. What is Duped and why should people be listening to it? Maggie Patterson: So Duped is a consumer advocacy podcast that is really designed to help consumers in the online business space make more critical, nuanced decisions. Because what we tend to see is a lot of stories of, I bought XYZ, or I signed up with this coach, and I had a really negative experience. And from my perspective as a business owner, there's two ways we can approach this. We can try to get every business owner to reform their practices, which we're never all going to agree. It's just not going to happen. Or we can educate consumers so that they're making purchasing decisions that are going to align with their values, their ethics, what they're actually looking for, and really do the job of vetting the things. Because we've all had experiences of things not being quite what we expected, but because these people are really great marketers, a lot of times really are using really amazing copywriters, we're easily persuaded. And persuasion is a double-edged sword. Michelle Mazur: And I think Maggie and I bring a unique set of skills to this conversation because. It is easy for her and I to clock what is happening, like what persuasion strategy is being triggered and being like, oh, they're using scarcity or they're using a combination of these to ratchet up the buying tension and pressure and then putting their solution as the only way to buy. And so we're skilled at seeing that. I really wanted to relay to people that, hey, if you fell for this stuff, it's not your fault. These are very strategic and intentional decisions business owners are making to sell and to sell as much as possible, to have the mythical six-figure, seven-figure business that we all hear so much about. And so being able to deconstruct and show people like, what's really happening here? And here's why you made the decision you did. So don't feel bad and don't stop trusting yourself. Because that's the other thing that really pains me is I see business owners who do get duped And then they blame themselves, like, I suck. I didn't follow the proven formula for success closely enough. And really, it's not their fault. And most of this one size fits all that is sold in the marketplace doesn't work for a lot of different business owners for a variety of different reasons. So taking that pressure and blame and shame off of it and being able to have a conversation and name it for people, I feel is really important. Kira Hug: Yeah, and I mean, copywriters consume a lot of online products and courses. So I think this is a great conversation for our audience. We're also influential with our clients, which I know we can talk about as well. But I want to go back to your Voxer. I want to get into your Voxer conversation. So I need to know the details of when did that conversation start? I mean, I know you two have been friends for a while. When did that conversation ratchet up and turn more serious? Is this 2020? Is this before then? And were there certain events that took place where you two were like, this is bigger than us chatting on Boxer. We need to go larger. Maggie Patterson: I think there's some interesting things in that. Michelle and I have been friends for, what, 10 years, Michelle? We've been friends for a very long time. Michelle decided we need to be friends, so now here we are. Michelle Mazur: Michelle did a little stalking of Maggie Patterson, too, because I was like, I'm gonna be friends with her. Maggie Patterson: And we've both been talking about, I mean, Rob and Kira, we've known each other for a long time, like, it's not a secret. I've always been, for lack of a better word, vocal about these things. And I've just been like, yeah, that doesn't sit right with me. Here's why. And so we've both been doing those things separately. And you know, we'd be having our conversations on Facebook Messenger, and that evolved into Voxer. And then I kind of went through the experience in early 2020, with the pandemic of I had too much time on my hands, didn't we all? And that's when a lot of things like some of the business practices that we had both clocked for a long time as being very, not productive or helpful for potential consumers, they really ratcheted up. And I just started getting more vocal in my own work. Michelle started getting vocal in her own work. Like I was just like, I'm going to pull the ripcord and put this out there. Michelle kind of had the same attitude. And then the two of us were like, Oh, yeah, we need to formalize this body of work more. Because we also knew that as people have been talking for so long, if we didn't talk about it, someone else was going to fill that gap in the market. And we decided to go for it. And then it's just kind of run away on its own three years later. Rob Marsh: So as we talk about this stuff, I think there's a tendency to start out and say, wait, hold on a second. marketing fills a purpose in business, right? And it's really easy. In fact, I've seen people stand up at events or whatever and say, wow, all of this stuff is really bad. And you guys aren't saying marketing is bad. At least my impression is that what you're really trying to do is take us back to a place of integrity. and say, okay, hold on a second. Let's start with helping people solve real problems in a way that doesn't take advantage of them. Does it go beyond that? Michelle Mazur: Yeah, I believe it does because I always say I'm marketing agnostic, but marketing is neither good nor bad, just like scarcity is neither good nor bad. It's all about how you use it. in your business. And since we are a very unregulated industry, Maggie and I talk about this a lot, there are no ethical standards for like, hey, when is it appropriate to use scarcity and when is it not? So everybody is making these personal decisions. So yeah, it's about bringing us back into integrity, helping people realize that, I mean, I feel like this is kind of the premise of both of our separate podcasts of like, there's more than one way to market. There's no one right way to market your business. You have options. And people for thousands of years have been marketing in ways that are in alignment, in integrity. And it seems like in this digital world, we got into … I almost look at it, I feel like it's like a timeshare salesman. We were taught to market and sell like timeshares people, right? Put on the pressure, get the credit card, get them to sign the contract. Give them all the bonuses just for showing up.