{"id":2318,"date":"2009-08-26T15:45:53","date_gmt":"2009-08-26T15:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/?p=2318"},"modified":"2009-08-26T15:45:53","modified_gmt":"2009-08-26T15:45:53","slug":"why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Got an MLM &#8220;war story&#8221; for ya today.<\/p>\n<p>One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &#8220;piggyback&#8221; off another successful business&#8217;s marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the scoop:<\/p>\n<p>As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM.  <\/p>\n<p>And while I&#8217;m no longer in &#8220;the business&#8221; anymore, I learned some <em>invaluable<\/em> lessons while being pounded on by prospects day after day.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite is the infamous &#8220;Get Your Spot&#8221; fiasco.<\/p>\n<p>This was a doozy of an idea my upline leader cooked up.<\/p>\n<p>What he decided to do was create a &#8220;mass sponsoring&#8221; campaign by aping what AOL (at the time) was doing &#8212; which was blanketing millions of homes with AOL CD&#8217;s.  But, instead of AOL software on the CD&#8217;s, my upline dude&#8217;s idea was to put his sponsoring video on them (he labeled them &#8220;Get Your Spot!&#8221; &#8212; as in, &#8220;get your spot in this MLM deal while it&#8217;s hot!&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>Look, I won&#8217;t say it was a completely bad idea.<\/p>\n<p>On the <em>surface<\/em> it almost even made sense.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, AOL made hundreds of millions of smackeroos from it, yeah?<\/p>\n<p>But there was a &#8220;snag&#8221; in the master plan:<\/p>\n<p>The AOL discs were mass mailed to peoples&#8217; mailboxes with an offer to try their Internet services free for 100 hours. It was a no-brainer for anyone wanting to get online (which was a LOT of people at the time).<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Get Your Spot&#8221; thing?<\/p>\n<p>Not so much.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it was almost the exact <em>opposite<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Because instead of mass mailing millions of people a product they already WANTED (like AOL did), we manually passed out these &#8220;Get Your Spot&#8221; discs to people, and then tried selling them something they didn&#8217;t want and, in some cases, were even <strong>HOSTILE<\/strong> to.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, here&#8217;s the &#8220;moral&#8221; of this story:<\/p>\n<p>Be careful when mimicking another successful business&#8217;s ideas &#8212; whether it&#8217;s a sales letter, marketing campaign or business plan.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not saying it never works.<\/p>\n<p>But most successful marketing has lots of &#8220;moving parts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And it&#8217;s usually very <em>hard<\/em> to mindlessy copy and pull off.<\/p>\n<p>Ben Settle<\/p>\n<p><strong>P.S.<\/strong> To &#8220;get your spot&#8221; in my Crackerjack Selling CD Club, go to:<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.CrackerjackSelling.com\" rel=\"noopener\">www.CrackerjackSelling.com<\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Got an MLM &#8220;war story&#8221; for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &#8220;piggyback&#8221; off another successful business&#8217;s marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here&#8217;s the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I&#8217;m no longer in &#8220;the business&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sales-marketing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.9 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Got an MLM &quot;war story&quot; for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &quot;piggyback&quot; off another successful business&#039;s marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here&#039;s the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I&#039;m no longer in &quot;the business&quot;\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Settle\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.9\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ben Settle -\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Got an MLM &quot;war story&quot; for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &quot;piggyback&quot; off another successful business&#039;s marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here&#039;s the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I&#039;m no longer in &quot;the business&quot;\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Got an MLM &quot;war story&quot; for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &quot;piggyback&quot; off another successful business&#039;s marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here&#039;s the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I&#039;m no longer in &quot;the business&quot;\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#blogposting\",\"name\":\"Why \\u201cPiggyback\\u201d Marketing Doesn\\u2019t Work - Ben Settle\",\"headline\":\"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ben-settle\\\/#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Marketing\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/sales-marketing\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Marketing\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/sales-marketing\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Marketing\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/sales-marketing\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/sales-marketing\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Marketing\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ben Settle\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ben-settle\\\/#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ben-settle\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ben Settle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5b41e5a7b56ff3ef2863efb96b60feb917a13ead5504ea75e8cd43c818d75f7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Ben Settle\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why \\u201cPiggyback\\u201d Marketing Doesn\\u2019t Work - Ben Settle\",\"description\":\"Got an MLM \\\"war story\\\" for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to \\\"piggyback\\\" off another successful business's marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here's the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I'm no longer in \\\"the business\\\"\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\\\/#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ben-settle\\\/#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/ben-settle\\\/#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ben Settle\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bensettle.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle","description":"Got an MLM \"war story\" for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to \"piggyback\" off another successful business's marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here's the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I'm no longer in \"the business\"","canonical_url":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#blogposting","name":"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle","headline":"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/author\/ben-settle\/#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/#organization"},"datePublished":"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#webpage"},"articleSection":"Marketing"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/category\/sales-marketing\/#listItem","name":"Marketing"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/category\/sales-marketing\/#listItem","position":2,"name":"Marketing","item":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/category\/sales-marketing\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#listItem","name":"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#listItem","position":3,"name":"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/category\/sales-marketing\/#listItem","name":"Marketing"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Ben Settle","url":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/author\/ben-settle\/#author","url":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/author\/ben-settle\/","name":"Ben Settle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b41e5a7b56ff3ef2863efb96b60feb917a13ead5504ea75e8cd43c818d75f7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Ben Settle"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/","name":"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle","description":"Got an MLM \"war story\" for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to \"piggyback\" off another successful business's marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here's the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I'm no longer in \"the business\"","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/author\/ben-settle\/#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/author\/ben-settle\/#author"},"datePublished":"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/","name":"Ben Settle","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Ben Settle -","og:type":"article","og:title":"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle","og:description":"Got an MLM &quot;war story&quot; for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &quot;piggyback&quot; off another successful business's marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here's the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I'm no longer in &quot;the business&quot;","og:url":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/","article:published_time":"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00","article:modified_time":"2009-08-26T15:45:53+00:00","twitter:card":"summary_large_image","twitter:title":"Why \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work - Ben Settle","twitter:description":"Got an MLM &quot;war story&quot; for ya today. One that could save you LOTS of buckeroos if you ever choose to &quot;piggyback&quot; off another successful business's marketing ideas, campaigns or strategies. Here's the scoop: As you may (or may not) know, I used to be in MLM. And while I'm no longer in &quot;the business&quot;"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"2318","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":"default","schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2023-09-10 11:50:13","updated":"2025-06-24 21:20:17","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/category\/sales-marketing\/\" title=\"Marketing\">Marketing<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tWhy \u201cPiggyback\u201d Marketing Doesn\u2019t Work\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog"},{"label":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/category\/sales-marketing\/"},{"label":"Why &#8220;Piggyback&#8221; Marketing Doesn&#8217;t Work","link":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/why-piggyback-marketing-doesnt-work\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bensettle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}