[00:00:00] Mia Fileman
Are you tired of empty promises and stolen ideas? Me too. Got. Marketing is a podcast for marketers and small brands who want real talk and clever strategies without the bs. Running an online business is hard, but everything gets easier when your marketing starts performing. I am Mia FileMan, your straight shooting campaign loving friend here to talk marketing, running a business, pop culture, and everything in between.
Let's dive in.
Hello, friend. I'm tired. Not tired as in burned out, tired as in fed up. I really do believe there are people in online business who are intentionally manipulative. I've met them often. They grew up with very little, and now they operate. With the mindset of [00:01:00] nothing will get in my way, not even the truth.
This started as a loud, small minority. People like Russell Brunson, who made a lot of noise about funnels, passive income and getting rich while you sleep. But over the past decade, that noise. Has multiplied, and now we've got this clone army of mini gurus parroting the same lines, selling the same dream of obscene wealth with no effort as long as you follow their blueprint.
Here's what's worse. The majority of online business owners are good people. They aren't trying to manipulate anyone. They're not sinister. They're just caught up. In this echo chamber, they see someone using fear-based language, fake urgency, fake countdown timers, and they think, I guess that's what works, or everyone does it, so it's okay.
I've had comments like that on my post. [00:02:00] And just like that, these good people are unknowingly spreading marketing myths, regurgitating tactics that feel strategic, but are anything but, and this is how we got here, what I refer to as the marketing swap. And not because everyone is a scammer, but because no one has hit ports.
So we need a circuit breaker, a hard stop to the cycle of manipulative marketing disguised as success hacks. And me ranting on social media isn't going to fix this mess. So behind the scenes, I have been working on something big. It is currently called. The honest marketing method, it's time that we expect a lot more from experts.
Frankly from ourselves too. So the Honest Marketing Method is a methodology, an approach to brand building marketing [00:03:00] for people who want real growth. It's for brands who wanna grow sustainably without selling out. You may have heard of HubSpots Inbound Marketing Method or Donald Miller. StoryBrand seven part framework.
Well, the Honest Marketing Method is an approach like these, but it is built for the guru dominant post-truth era that we are living in. It's not about hacks, gimmicks, or a parade of urgency emails. It is about long-term strategic thinking that earns attention and builds trust through honesty. I've been developing it behind the scenes.
And yes, it is absolutely going to challenge some of the loudest voices in marketing. It is values led, it is evidence informed, it is strategic, and it is not desperate or reactive because the truth is that smart, honest, creative marketing will always win the day. It has always won the day, but we need to [00:04:00] tune out the noise.
To hear it. Tuning out the noise is easier said than done, right? Because most of this noise is designed to manipulate you. So let's talk about how that happens and why even good marketers fall for bad advice. I was first introduced to this concept of weaponized psychology. In a podcast episode right here on God Marketing with my first ever guest, Melissa Packham.
Weaponized psychology are the behavioral tricks baked into modern marketing that bypass our logic and prey on our mental shortcuts. I promise this is not tinfoil territory. This is behavioral science, often used unethically to manipulate how we think, feel, and buy humans make around 35,000 decisions a day.
We're not built to think deeply about every single one of those decisions, right? We would be in a coma. So to survive [00:05:00] this cognitive overload, we use what's called. Heuristics or cognitive biases, and these are shortcuts that help us make fast decisions with minimal effort. Heuristics are really useful.
They're necessary, but they're exploitable. You don't need to be a sociopath to use these tactic. But the Internet's most successful marketers have weaponized them with precision. There are three core tactics that do the heavy lifting behind the most manipulative marketing online. So let's go through them.
The illusionary. Truth effect, the more often you hear something, even if it is false, the more your brain starts to believe it's true. That's why you've probably heard things like you don't need a website or it doesn't cost a lot to do marketing, even though you've seen this person's ad a hundred times.
Funny that you don't need to do sales calls. Just let [00:06:00] people click and buy, or you'll see screenshots and income claims that just don't add up, but they're presented so confidently and so often that you stop questioning the math. These ideas are not true, but they're simple, seductive and convenient. They glamorize how easy business could be and when you are overwhelmed and underperforming that kind of message.
Goes down really easy. Repetition builds trust. Familiarity feels like credibility, and before you know it, the myth becomes the norm. Number two, the bandwagon effect. If lots of people are doing it, it must work, right? This powers this idea of hundreds of happy clients. Spots feeling fast. 10,000 people can't be wrong.
Style of messaging. We are social creatures. We crave belonging, so we follow the crowd. Even when our gut tells us that [00:07:00] something feels off, the bandwagon effect stops us from asking better questions because it looks like there's consensus. And number three, social proof as a credibility shortcut. This is where things get really murky.
We see someone with a huge social media following slick branding, award-winning title, a million dollar screenshot with zero context, and we assume that they must be credible because in our minds. Wealth success equals credibility. We are mistaking popularity for legitimacy, but it has never been easier to manufacture clout.
You can rent a lifestyle. You can buy followers, you can engineer a fake Forbes narrative, and people do every single day. The more we see it. The more we believe it because it loops right back into the illusory truth and bandwagon [00:08:00] effects. That's how the online marketing machine works. Not through facts, but through familiarity, conformity.
And illusion does your marketing feel like guesswork? Be honest. Join Marketing Circle the membership for female entrepreneurs who wanna nail their strategy, boost their creativity, and create marketing that actually pays off. No cookie cutter templates and broken dreams, just practical marketing, training, mentoring and support To help you grow your business, you'll work directly with me, a legit marketing expert, and tap into a brains trust of clever business owners who bring their expertise, ideas, and support to the.
We are capped at 45 members, so apply to join today. So while most people aren't trying to deceive, they are caught up in this web of ideas that [00:09:00] sound true, look credible, and feel popular. And the honest marketing method is the antidote to all of this. It's what happens when we stop and we ask, is this strategy actually right for me?
Does this feel good or am I just. Reacting to the noise. People aren't lazy, but they are maxed out and that's what makes us vulnerable to bullshit, dressed up as strategy. So I'm unveiling the Honest Marketing Method in an upcoming live only event. On July 30th, and I would love for you to come along because the honest marketing method is nowhere near finished.
However, I have never waited for perfect, and I'm not going to start now, and I want to co-create this with my community, but I want to address why it's live only because this is important. One of the core principles of the Honest Marketing Method is that we can't please everyone and we shouldn't try [00:10:00] trade offs.
Are essential and boundaries are critical. The thing about the gurus is that they will never turn away money. Even if this person, particular customer is not going to benefit, they're not the right fit. They don't care, right? And I just don't operate like that, and I don't think that you should either.
Currently the online business. World has created this culture of entitlement where audiences expect everything always for free. Right? Some people have already said to me since announcing the live only event, oh, I can't come because I don't work Wednesdays, or It's my birthday, so I won't be there. Uh, but I promise I'll watch the replay.
Trust me guys, the data does say otherwise. Very few people watch the replays, and if very few people watch the replays, then they're not really going to go on and convert. So let's be honest, this forever free access model isn't serving small businesses at all. It is [00:11:00] particularly burning out female founders because we are empath.
While barely growing our lists and our businesses, we keep making everything available and accessible and inclusive, out of guilt, out of obligation, and out of the fear of missing one or two leads. And what do we get in return? A couple of downloads, passive viewers, disengaged lists, and an audience that expects more for less.
So it is time to break up with this particular so-called. Best practice. A live format isn't a punishment, it's a power move. It's a boundary. I don't owe you everything on demand. It's also a container for meaningful discussion, not background noise, not something that sits in your inbox on read, and it's a signal that my work matters.
That it's worth something and so does your presence. And so yes, [00:12:00] I am going to be, or I am 100% comfortable with being purposefully polarizing on this point. It's not to shock people, but to filter out the right people. And if this particular boundary puts someone off, then that's fine. They have self-selected out.
Of my business. We are not TikTok creators paid for views. We are business owners who sell real offers, not produce free resources for shit and giggles. You don't owe anyone your IP on demand. Uh, I would love to see you at the live only event on the 30th of July. And if you can't make it then feel free to head over to campaign del mar.com.
There are seven free trainings. Available right now, 24 hours a day that you can dive into, but this particular event is going to be live only. That's a wrap on today's episode. I would love to hear your thoughts and I hope to see you [00:13:00] on the 30th of July. I've started a substack as the ideal companion to the podcast.
It's packed with. Extra insights, visuals, and nuggets that didn't make it into the episodes. Plus, you can revisit past editions anytime. If you want more or just prefer to read, you'll love it. Plus, it's a place for us to connect. Want the backstage past to Got Marketing? Subscribe [email protected].
Thank you. You listened right up until the end, so why not hit that subscribe button and keep the good marketing rolling. Podcast reviews are like warm hugs and they're also the best way to support a small business. You can connect with me, Mia FileMan on Instagram or LinkedIn, and feel free to send me a message.
I'm super friendly.
