This was eluded to in Sammer's thread on 'testimonials'...

Is it ethical or even legal to write a sales letter for a product and sign it using a fake name?

Many top marketers are doing just that...to hide their identity and protect their niche market.

What do you think?

Ed

Protecting your identity allows you to reveal intimate details you’d rather not have your family and close friends know you told.
It can also protect our first amendment rights from those who prefer to use something other than words to attack ideas they disagree with.
In these times, with the theft of identities, business processes and theoretically protected work, writing behind an alias, when the intent is not to deceive the reader but simply protect the writer, is not just OK, it’s the smart thing to do in some cases.
Also a good reason to have a separate legal entity to do business out of.

Major fiction writers use pseudonyms all the time.

As long as the writer does it for the right reason, there's no ethical conflict.

Alex Stiner

I'm a little lost here. Do you mean write a letter promoting your own service and then sign it with a different name? I'm sure it's legal...just not sure why someone would do it.

Think "Garth Brooks" as "Chris Gaines"

Music artists change their names. Actors sometimes change their names -- especially from early in their career.

So what's the big deal?

EXCEPT... I agree with Eric -- why would you do it? At least in the info-marketing business...

Isn't "Name Recognition" or "Expert Status" important? I suppose an argument could be made that you could develop "Expert Status" in a variety of niche markets under separate names.

Hmmm... that could work! Especially in this "hide behind your keyboard" marketing world we have these days.

Come to think of it... didn't I see someone post here recently that "Gary Halbert" is really "Larry Albert"?

Seriously, I don't choose this path -- but I can see the argument for "My online, selling, marketing promoting life AND name -- VS my family and friends name. It's something to think about...

And besides... there are plenty of YOU 1,800+++ members of this board hiding behind "usernames" that make no sense whatsoever, or identify you in any way. What's up with that???

Hmm, tricky one. I can see where and why writers would so this. Hmm, still on the fence on this one

I don't see it as unethical. If it doesn't hurt anyone, and it protects the writer, I don't see a problem with it.

Janet

So, is it legal or ethical to fictionalize the entire story in your letter?

Or to create a conglomerate person who is writing your letter?

Obviously not for self promotion, but for other letters?

Any thoughts?

Chad

Fictionalizing the story itself is misleading the readers, and that is not ethical.

Unless fictionalizing your name is misleading the reader in a way that would compromise the reader's ability to make a decision about the product, I don't see that as unethical. The worst you would do is shoot yourself in the foot, if you have a name the readers would trust, but you use a false name that nobody has ever heard of.

Janet

I still don't get it. Are you saying write a letter for a client, and then sign it with a false name? Wouldn't you just sign your client's name?

In fictionalize, do you mean like an anecdotal story to make a point? I do that all the time. Call it poetic license. Heck, if you only use true stories, I think you're copy could stand a lot of improvement.