Loren Weisman Brand Communications and Optics Strategist Orlando, Florida · Working worldwide

Cheap Marketing Tricks and the Cost to Your Reputation

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Loren Weisman

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Cheap marketing tricks are the subject of this video for small business owners, creators and professionals weighing low cost growth offers. Many of these promises come in at a very low cost financially. However, what is that cost in the long term for your reputation?

This video first went up on YouTube on May 1, 2025. The written post was added on November 6, 2026.

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How Can Cheap Marketing Tricks Hurt Your Reputation?

Cheap marketing tricks can cost little up front and still cost your reputation in the long term, especially when they break platform rules. Asking about the process and working from objective, substantiated truth may protect you from being flagged and penalized, in Loren Weisman’s view.

  • Promises to bounce up your YouTube, get you views and make you go viral may come at a very low cost.
  • Fake views or methods against the YouTube rules may cost a channel its monetization.
  • Some profile advice may go against the standards in a platform’s own terms and conditions.
  • If damage happens after buying into the hype, it may be as much on you as on them.
  • A marketer who worked with a superstar may not know how to work with someone without those same funds.

Cheap Marketing Tricks: The Full Transcription

Promises, Fake Views and Penalties

Are they hurting more than helping? My name is Loren Weisman. I’m a brand communications and optics strategist. And as with AI and all these marketing salespeople that have all the answers, I’m going to bounce your YouTube up.

I’m going to get you views, I’m going to get you authority, I’m going to make you go viral. Many of these promises come in at a very low cost financially. However, what is that cost in the long term for your reputation?

A number of these people that say they can make you go viral or get you all sorts of views, and they push that whole popularity tag with YouTube. If they’re getting you fake views, if they’re doing things against the YouTube algorithm and you get caught, there goes any kind of monetization.

A LinkedIn Profile Expert and the Terms

And there you go getting penalized and pushed down. Same thing goes with LinkedIn. You know, it’s interesting. There’s some people that I’ve come across, some of them and they’re LinkedIn profile experts, and I played a little dumb with one of them.

One wanted to meet with me and I talked to her for a little while and she ran through this. Just pure hype and crap, going against so many of the standards on LinkedIn. And some of these sites these days, as opposed to sending you, you know, putting you in the penalty box.

YouTube does that and some other sites do. LinkedIn won’t. They’ll just penalize you. You need to do this and you have to do this and LinkedIn wants you to do that.

And I couldn’t hold my own. I, I said, look, I’d like you to go to LinkedIn terms and condition. Here’s a subsection here, dig here. The last three things you said, LinkedIn is completely against.

And she was on Zoom. And I watched her face just drop. Many are out there. And if we, all of us are not responsible to vet and to ask, what is your process?

Asking About the Process and Who Is Liable

Okay, are you using Google AdWords? Are you using advertising to promote certain things? Are you following the straight line so that nothing can come back to bite you in the back backside? Great.

But if you’re just buying into the hype, if some kind of damage happens, that’s as much on you as it is on them. And in many cases, for these small little jobs or these people, there’s no liability.

Or even if you went back and said, oh, I want my money back, damage is still done.

Objective Truth and the Compliant Way

It is key these days in the way that you organize, in the way that you optimize, in the way that you set your communication that you’re working from the foundation of objective, substantiated truth and not the hype and opinions of people that might have a little fold or a little model or a little thing they can pop through AI to give the appearances that you’re looking better and doing better than you are, protect your reputation online and off, protect yourself from being flagged and penalized.

And while you’re in the middle of something going really well that it gets pulled out from under you, the same thing goes with your finances financially, making sure that you’re setting up the things in place and say, oh, well, they’re not looking at taxes from this or they’re not looking at taxes from that.

Maybe not at the moment, but are they going to take the time to make sure and ensure you’re doing it the right way, you’re doing it the compliant way. So as it grows bigger for you, and maybe it might take a little bit longer, you’re not going to find yourself in trouble down the line.

Caught Up in the Hype

It sounds obvious, it seems obvious, but right now people are getting so caught up in the hype of, I’m going to get this many followers. I’m going to go viral. I’m going to use this, I’m going to work with this person.

Oh, look at the promises that they gave me. Oh, look, this person worked with so and so, so great. They worked with a superstar that already had a great amount of popularity. Does that mean they know how to work with someone that doesn’t have those same funds or that same.

A different platform? Dig deeper. Be careful and careful for your career and for your vision, as if it was a small child. Nurture it, care for it, protect it, do the right thing, and then many more right things can happen to.

Avoiding Flags and Penalties in My Talks

Messaging adjustments to meet your standards and not false standards that can flag, penalize and get you reported.

Questions and Answers

Can buying fake YouTube views get your channel penalized?

Buying fake views or doing things against the YouTube algorithm can get a channel caught, penalized and pushed down. Any kind of monetization may go with it, as Loren Weisman sees it.

What questions can you ask before hiring a marketing consultant?

Asking what their process is, whether they use advertising such as Google AdWords and whether they follow the rules can help. Asking who is liable if damage happens may matter too, since many small jobs may carry no liability.

Does LinkedIn penalize profiles that break its rules?

LinkedIn may penalize profiles that go against its standards, rather than putting them in a penalty box the way YouTube and some other sites do. Reading the subsections of the LinkedIn terms and conditions may show whether advice breaks the rules.

Is a marketer who worked with celebrities right for a small business?

A marketer who worked with a superstar may have worked with someone who already had a great amount of popularity. That may not mean they know how to work with someone without the same funds or the same platform.

Why build marketing on substantiated truth instead of hype?

Marketing built on objective, substantiated truth may keep your reputation from being flagged or penalized when things are going well. Growth done the compliant way can take a little longer and may keep you out of trouble down the line.

More Videos and the Podcast

Loren Weisman is a Brand Communications and Optics Strategist who specializes in illuminating authoritative intelligence and amplifying authentic experts.

Weisman is the host of the brand communications and optics podcast Wait What Really OK.

© 2011 to 2026 Loren Weisman. All Rights Reserved ® ℗

Cheap Marketing Tricks and the Cost to Your Reputation

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