The Syndicate (business group)

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The Syndicate is a business group that uses digital marketing to sell get rich quick, work from home and self help products. [1] Technology journalist Joshua Topolsky has described the Syndicate as "these guys call themselves Internet marketers, but what they're really doing is its a pyramid scheme, essentially".

Contents

Activities

Members of the Syndicate use online advertising, email marketing, affiliate marketing and multi-level marketing to sell information products, such as self-published books and videos that purport to teach customers how to get rich through online business. [1] They also do lead generation for pressure-sales telemarketing companies called "boiler rooms". [1] The Syndicate's members use the group as a way of coordinating product launches and release dates, and of enhancing perceived credibility through social proof. [1] According to Syndicate member Frank Kern, "Have you ever noticed that all the people in the Internet Marketing world are promoting each other? I mean, we're not psychic. It's not like, 'Oh, I suddenly realize he's having a launch today, I have to nail it'. We all work together, all the top people work together."

Members

Andy Jenkins

Andy Jenkins is an Internet marketer, filmmaker, and the founder of The Syndicate. [1]

Eben Pagan

Eben Pagan is a former real estate agent and pick-up artist under the pseudonym "David DeAngelo", [2] who has since become a "full scale member" of The Syndicate. [1] He sells relationship counseling products with his wife Annie Lalla. [1]

Frank Kern

Irwin Frank Kern is an Internet and video marketer, who has released videos describing the operation of The Syndicate. [1] In 2003, Kern was charged by the Federal Trade Commission with engaging in deceptive business practices and operating a pyramid scheme. He settled the case, and paid a fine of $247,000 to compensate victims. [3] The Verge has claimed that Kern does lead generation for Jeremy Johnson, [1] a marketer who was charged by US federal prosecutors with operating an alleged fraud ring. [4] Kern used inheritance to break into the business, despite claiming to have lived in a trailer, and being down and out in Macon GA. Got his start in business by working at his grandfathers used car lot. When a invisible dog fence franchise didn't work out for him, he broke into the internet marketing scheme he is now famous for.

Jeff Walker

Jeff Walker is an Internet marketer and member of The Syndicate. [1] He created the "Internet Marketing launch process" used by Syndicate members. [1]

Mike Filsaime

Mike Filsaime is a Syndicate member and telemarketer. [1] He sells packages of information about how to make money on the internet, and does Internet lead generation for boiler rooms and call centers that sell "coaching programs" that claim to help people learn Filsaime's methods; Filsaime receives a percentage of the money paid to the coaches. [1] One of these boiler rooms, Prosper Inc., was a major donor to Utah politician Mark Shurtleff and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. [5]

Relationships

Motivational speaker and self-help author Tony Robbins has promoted the Syndicate and its members Frank Kern, Eben Pagan, and Jeff Walker.

American author and public speaker Michael Ellsberg has written about the lives of, and promoted the products of, Syndicate members Frank Kern and Eben Pagan in his book "The Education of Millionaires". [6]

Related Research Articles

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Viral marketing or viral advertising is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people in their social networks, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks.

Direct marketing type of marketing sending messages directly to consumers

Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as direct response marketing. By contrast, advertising is of a mass-message nature.

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts.

Boiler room (business) an outbound call center selling questionable investments by telephone

In business, the term boiler room refers to an outbound call center selling questionable investments by telephone. It usually refers to a room where salespeople work using unfair, dishonest sales tactics, sometimes selling penny stocks, private placements or committing outright stock fraud. The use of falsified and bolstered information along with verified company released information is oftentimes adopted. The term carries a negative connotation, and is often used to imply high-pressure sales tactics and, sometimes, poor working conditions.

In marketing, lead generation is the initiation of consumer interest or enquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be created for purposes such as list building, e-newsletter list acquisition or for sales leads. The methods for generating leads typically fall under the umbrella of advertising, but may also include non-paid sources such as organic search engine results or referrals from existing customers.

Nu Skin Enterprises American company that develops and distributes personal care products and nutritional supplements

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Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital technologies on the Internet, through mobile phone Apps, display advertising, and any other digital mediums. Digital marketing channels are systems based on the Internet that can create, accelerate, and transmit product value from producer to a consumer terminal, through digital networks.

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A minisite is a website by which companies offer information about one specific product or product group. Typically, a minisite is enhanced by various multimedia content, such as an animated, narrated introduction, and accompanied by a visual scheme which complements the product well.

In internet marketing, private label rights is a license where the author sells most or all of the intellectual property rights to their work. The license is defined by the author of the work and has no legal definition. Private label rights is derived from private labeling.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Flatley, Joseph L. (May 10, 2012). "Scamworld: 'Get rich quick' schemes mutate into an online monster". The Verge . Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  2. Chivers, Tom (January 14, 2010). "Pick-up artists, online seduction and dating tips". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  3. Gross, Grant. "FTC Cracks Down on Internet Scams". PC World . Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  4. Scott, Kimberly (July 1, 2015). "Feds intend to drop some charges in Jeremy Johnson fraud case". St. George News. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  5. Flatley, Joseph L. (June 8, 2012). "Mitt Romney goes to Scamworld: Prosper, Inc. and its powerful friends". The Verge. Archived from the original on February 8, 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
  6. Gregorian, Vartan (October 21, 2011). "The Myth of the Millionaire College Dropout". TIME Magazine . Retrieved 31 January 2016.