Marketing - is there any merit to a no-BS approach?

[Dale Dough]

I picked up a copy of 'The 4-Hour Workweek' at the airport, just finished it. Need a break from cards after my worst [censored] day ever, so I decided to try my hand at employing Indians to sell crap online on my behalf.

There's just one problem: marketing. Great gift idea for the holidays! Free refund if you don't like our product! (lol they should try that one in Russia) Sign up for our newsletter! Testimonials! Only $(round number minus one or five cents)! Only 4 days left to cash in on our special discount! You Need A Vacation - Specials For This Weekend! Flashy ads. Etc etc.

I hate it all with a passion. If it were up to me, all marketing/advertising would be limited to a list of products in a place where I can find it, and that's it. But apparently the rest of the world feels differently, and these piles upon piles of bullcrap make some people good money.

If that's what it takes to get rich off of selling stuff - I might not be able to do it. There's no way I would be truly committed. I would have no choice but to view my customers as suckers, which I think is pretty hypocritical.

See post title. How far do you think I would get if I kept all that crap to a minimum, and just had useful info on my site regarding the product, and that's it? In the book (and elsewhere) the advice is given to 'be part of your target audience', to be able to estimate what people want. Well, are there enough people like me in this world?