A couple of years ago, I had some brief conversations with JT Foxx and decided not to ghostwrite a book for him because of his attitude and approach to doing business. He’ll tell you it’s because I wouldn’t lower my professional fees to the level he could afford. Both are true.
But that’s not the point. Recently I was talking with someone else about the current players in the “get rich” and motivational industries, and JT Foxx’s name was mentioned. He and a couple of his senior managers have been sued by several former employees for sexual harassment.
Because I knew some of the people involved, I did a search on “JT Foxx lawsuit” – and what I saw was a truly clever reputation management strategy. There was one news release from the plaintiffs’ law firm outlining the details of the lawsuit. Here’s the clever part: There were multiple Foxx-sponsored pages announcing the Foxx organization’s efforts to teach small businesses how to avoid being extorted by frivolous lawsuits.
On those pages, he never mentions the specific lawsuit that charges JT Foxx personally with attempting to initiate a sexual relationship with a high school student (the suit was filed by the girl’s father) who had signed up for a $35,000 coaching program. Nor does he mention allegations of sexual, racial and religious harassment from multiple former employees.
This is an absolutely brilliant reputation management strategy: Flood the internet with websites and blogs that are optimized for the keyword phrases that people are likely to be searching on when looking for something negative, yet make the information those pages contain positive.
I’m not commenting on the merits of the lawsuit. I’ve only talked with JT Foxx on the phone and exchanged emails with him; I’ve never met him in person. While I found his approach to negotiating insulting, it didn’t rise to the level of harassment. But whether you are a JT Foxx supporter, detractor or you’ve never heard of him and don’t care anything about him, there’s a lesson to be learned from what he’s done.
What do you think? Join the conversation below.
This blog has generated a great deal of interest from people who want to comment on JT Foxx’s business practices by posting complaints, criticism and/or praise. My intention was to discuss his SEO/ORM strategy. I have never been a customer of JT Foxx and he has never been a client of mine. To avoid the time and expense of defending a lawsuit, I have removed all comments and complaints about JT Foxx, his organization, and his employees that do not directly relate to SEO/ORM, and will not publish any further comments that do not directly discuss the SEO/ORM strategy or other SEO/ORM techniques.
Click here to read JT Foxx’s apology to Jacquelyn Lynn
Update: In doing routine website maintenance and checking for (and removing) non-working links, I noticed that the link to JT Foxx's apology to me (which should be found at http:// www.jtfoxx.com/ jt-foxx-apology-jacquelyn-lynn ) isn't working. This is in violation of our agreement. While I have recourse under the terms of that agreement, I'm not going to waste my time.
Jacquelyn's latest book is Christian Business Almanac: The Ultimate Daily Guide for Kingdom-Driven Entrepreneurs and Leaders.
She is the author of the nonfiction books Simple Facts About Self-Publishing (Second Edition), Words to Work By: 31 devotions for the workplace based on the Book of Proverbs and Finding Joy in the Morning: You can make it through the night as well as the novel Choices (A Joyful Cup Story). With her husband, she is the co-creator of several coloring books for adults and the novelty My Book About series.
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You are right, it does seem to be a very good strategy. After reading your post, I decided to Google “JT Foxx Lawsuit” and came up with several recent press releases that had a positive spin, in addition to the websites and blogs. Then, I found dozens of branding sites who would help someone bury negative search results using the same type of strategies. This looks like a big business!
I could not agree more, Jacquelyn. Absolutely, this was absolutely the strategy used. A definite powerful marketing strategy -bury what you don’t want found.
As the old saying goes, “BUYER BEWARE!”
The reputation management strategy he is using works. Most people won’t dig deep past the first few pages.
I commend your observation in pointing out a clever reputation management strategy. It’s VERY obvious that SEO strategy is being utilized via sponsored pages to overwhelm negative publicity.
Sadly, there will always be those who use SEO “strategies” to game the system and try to lure in more victims. The method JT Foxx has used is a popular way of trying to spin the truth and bury negative search results. Buyer beware! Do your homework, use a variety of search terms to investigate a person or product before you invest your money and look past the first page of search results – sometimes you will be very surprised at what you find.
This is an excellent SEO/ORM strategy whether or not you have people posting complaints about you online. Be proactive and own as much online “real estate” as you can to control your message.
This is probably an effective reputation management and SEO strategy. But if someone is really doing a good job and operating ethically, his work will speak for itself. If you’re not doing anything wrong, why would you have to do this?
Having multiple websites is an effective SEO/ORM strategy only if the sites are well-designed, branded, and maintained with fresh, original content. Don’t create more sites than you have time to keep up.