The Power of Telling the Truth, Even When It Hurts
This week, we’re going to discuss the importance of truth in your
marketing campaigns. How damaging information about your
product or service can make you look like a hero…or at least one
of the “good guys.”
Truth.
It’s a wretched word almost every marketer tries to avoid, ignore,
maneuver around or otherwise bend to his/her advantage. Now I’m
going to tell you why you shouldn’t.
I’m going to explain how this one little technique can make the difference between
a unique, powerful, and effective marketing message and a pitiful, snooze-inducing
imitation. Here we go.
Scroll through your mental Rolodex for a moment and think about all the radio and TV commercials you’ve ever encountered that made you roll your eyes and say out loud,
“Yeah right.”
“They ALWAYS say that.”
“Why doesn’t somebody sue them for false advertising?“
“If I hear that gimmick one more time…”
What commercials are you thinking of right now? I’m thinking of a certain furniture store that claims, about every 2.5 weeks, to be having:
“…the largest furniture sale in history,”
“…prices reduced by up to 50% for two days only,”
“…prices so low, we’re practically giving ‘it’ away,”
and my personal favorite, “…going out of business sale. This is the last time ever we’ll have a sale like this.”
Honestly. How many times in one year can a company go out of business?
What about salespeople, more specifically automobile dealers? (No offense meant to those of you upstanding automobile dealers.) But how many times have you heard, “This car won’t be here Monday,” “This special discount is good through today only,” “I’m not making a penny off this sale,” and “This price is the absolute best I can do. Really.”
After they abused your faith and trust the first time, did you ever believe another solitary word again? Did you ever go back? I didn’t. They lost what could have been a lifetime customer in me. More importantly, they bought a lifetime of bad publicity because I warn my friends and relatives about deceitful business people.
The sad part is all they had to do was tell the TRUTH. As humans, we are remarkably forgiving of others’ mistakes and foibles as long as they tell us the TRUTH, even businesses.
Think about the companies with enough integrity to tell you,
- “We’re facing our worst sales slump in the last three years. That’s why we’re discounting our inventory by 25%.”
- “Our purchasing agent goofed and we’re stuck with an overstock of 300 widgets we HAVE to get rid of.”
- “I’ve sold 126 of these programs in the last 13 weeks and had 9 returned. Here’s what one of those customers had to say, ‘Even though the product wasn’t for me, I was amazed at how quickly and effortlessly my money was refunded.”
These sound like damaging statements and many marketers would advise you to lock them up in a vault 30 feet below the Earth’s surface and blow up the key. I’m saying, “DON’T!!”
Believe it or not, you have some very good role models out there to follow. Take a look at these classics:
“Avis. We’re number two. So we try harder.”
”Orville Redenbacher. The World’s Most Expensive Popping Corn.”
“Listerine, the taste you hate twice a day.”
What nutcases thought to use the truth in advertising for these companies? Very clever ones.
Embrace the things your company does well as well as its shortcomings. Share those with your target audience and you will secure more trust and faith in your product or service than any half-baked, sleaze-ball line your prospects have heard too many times.
Committed to your marketing success,
Lina Penalosa
August 29 , 2006
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