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Honesty in Advertising/Marketing

So-so marketing lies to your face.
It fudges the numbers and preaches tall-tales. It hungers to buy the adspace around us. It invites us to hope for a better tomorrow and trust that our problems will be solved. When we unwrap the packaging and see the truth we know we’ve been betrayed.

Good marketing lies behind your back.
It never promises the world, and instead uses hired help to guide your hand. Here you see paid actors, athletes, or esteemed CEOs speaking a corporate message. We’re invited to trust in an individual’s endorsement. When we unwrap the packaging and see the truth we know we’ve been sold out.

Exceptional marketing doesn’t need to lie.
It is honest. It is clear. It is inspiring. When we get home we find that it is better then we’d hoped, and we learn to trust.

Marketing is the art of cultivating trust.
For every lie you tell, imagine you lose ten customers. For a small business a lie would be deadly, and so we find successful small businesses cultivate honesty. In large businesses the consumer can be so far removed from marketing that honesty is not always required. Lying is seen as a necessary evil. In many cases exaggerating benefits is encouraged.

The “One Rule of Exceptional Marketing” Test.

  1. Are there more potential customers in your sales team ‘s pipeline then being referred by your existing customers?
  2. Was the website traffic from paid advertising greater then your organic search traffic last year?
  3. Does your company avoid using its own product/service?

If you’ve answered “Yes” to any of the above you’re seeing the clear gap between your marketing and reality. But the truly scary thought is: your customers see this view each day.

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