In the first of our new ‘TipiLeaks’ series I wanted to cover something that can generate a fair bit of suspicion but often unfairly so… third party promotions.
What are they?
A third party promotion is an advertisement for a product or service that we at Bet Chat do not run ourselves. Often, they might offer a chance for some free content in exchange for joining an email newsletter.
How do I spot them?
We make these easy to spot by adding the following banner to the top of our emails (there was one on Friday’s email):
There are occasionally services that are not run fully by us where we leave the banner off (such as the Adam Cheng Bet Mentor course we sent out a free lesson from recently)…
With services like these we don’t take payment but are involved to some degree (obviously Adam Cheng is a Bet Chat tipster). With third party promotions, we have no involvement whatsoever.
Does this mean they should be avoided or could be dodgy?
No and, if done properly, no!
Although the emails aren’t advertising something run by us, we have full control over what emails are sent to you and so I can guarantee that every third party promotion you are sent has been fully vetted by us.
I’ll be completely honest with you – I won’t have used all of these services myself (often I will have done, but there are only so many hours in the day!) however, what I can tell you is that anything you receive will be:
- From a genuine publisher. If you like the look of the service and decide to sign up, your payment details will be safely processed and any personal information such as your email address will be safely stored. All money back guarantees on offer will also be genuine.
- From a trusted publisher. While I may not have tried the service, I do know that any track records advertised are real and that the service or product provider is a knowledgeable person who offers good betting information.
In fact, most of the people you’ll receive these promotions from are people that I’ve actually met in person.
Of course, none of this is to say that every third party offer will be for you, just as not every Bet Chat service will be right for you. However, they are always worth a passing glance, especially the ones offering free content!
Why do we send them out?
Obviously we don’t send emails out from competing publishers purely out of the goodness of our hearts, so what’s in it for us?
Well, generally these sends work in one of two ways:
- The other publisher will promote one of our services to their readers and we’ll do likewise (known as a swap).
- There will be some form of commission agreement (known as a paid send). This would mean that if you sign up to their paid service through our link, we would get 50% of the fee.
Essentially they’re designed to be mutually beneficial all round…
You get to hear about something new that could potentially be of use.
They get to reach people they wouldn’t usually be able to.
We are able to send out some content and generate some extra income without any real time or investment at our end. Given most publishers in this industry are small one or two person bands, that can be really useful.
Is there a dark side?
While the third party promotions we send are always vetted, sadly that isn’t the case for all publishers. As such, you should never be afraid to ask them outright – how they respond will tell you a lot about their integrity. If you ever want to know whether I’ve tried a service personally, or even just exactly how I know the publisher, just ask. You can reach us at clients@thebetchat.com.
It should also be said that nobody is perfect and even good publishers can release the occasional dud or make the occasional misstep. As such, if you try one of these products or services and you’re unhappy with them, please do let me know why and I can investigate.
That aside, the only other thing you really need to look out for is if you suspect that your email address or other personal details have been sold by a publisher. A clear sign of this would be if you sign up to an e-letter legitimately but then start receiving content you’ve not asked for from a variety of other publishers, particularly if that content looks overhyped or spammy.
This is not allowed (it carries a hefty fine) and is far more than a misstep.
The good news is that in all my time in publishing, I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve been offered email addresses for money, so I don’t think it’s all that common. It should go without saying though that if somebody is willing to sell your email address they’re also more than likely going to be the type that would promote fake results or fake money back guarantees – avoid these publishers like the plague.
So, to summarise this edition of TipiLeaks, third party promotions might get a bad rap but when done properly and transparently they’re actually a good thing and result in quality services and information being accessible to more people.
The key, as with any potential purchase, is of course to be confident that what you’re buying is genuine and hasn’t been misrepresented and that’s exactly what we’re going to cover next week in an in-depth audio interview intitled ‘TipiLeaks: Confessions of a Copywriter’.
Look out for that and, as ever, if you have any feedback or questions, you can reach us at clients@thebetchat.com.
