When it comes to your business, don’t stretch the truth.
I’m a creative problem-solver driven by the desire to see small businesses improve their image and succeed. I’ve got over 20 years experience and have worked with clients as large as Nike and as small as a local sole-proprietor. I’ve been an advocate for education, a member of prestigious design organizations, won awards, and been invited to judge design competitions. Over the years, I have also written blogs and articles for a number of online sites and print publications. I have a heavy background in art, photography, graphic design and thinking outside the box. When not working, you’ll find me getting outdoors, practicing Qi Gong, snowboarding, camping, collecting rocks, and driving around in a sweet 1970 Camaro.
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I receive a lot of marketing email daily. Most of it is complete spam (and oftentimes its only usefulness is a few laughs). The other day I received a message from a mailing list I joined quite some time ago and happened to click through to the interview just to see what it was all about. Well, the interview was with a man who claimed to be an “internationally recognized entrepreneur and marketing expert”. My b.s. detectors were already going off, but that’s just because I’m hyper aware of less than accurate statements like that from self-proclaimed experts in the field of marketing. For me, a quick search on Google for the name of this, “internationally recognized entrepreneur and marketing expert” brought up all of two sources: his own website and his own Twitter feed. Seriously. If you’re the big shot you claim to be, where is all that international recognition and who, other than yourself, has deemed you to be the expert in your field? Better yet, part of his claim was knowing all about SEO (search engine optimization) and if that truly were the case, why wouldn’t his name in a Google search bring up more than just those two sources? Perhaps the old saying, “doctors really do make the worst patients” can be true but if you claim to have the skills and they’re not apparent with your own website, well, to me that is a red flag.
When stretching the truth snaps back …
Like a big fat rubber band, you can only stretch the truth so much before the limit is reached and it snaps back (or breaks). What stretching the truth really means is that you’re not being fully honest with your potential customers or clients. And one instance of truth-stretching often leads to another. You’ll have to keep up your “act” for people to keep believing what you’re claiming. And then when it comes time to produce, you better be able to walk the walk as well as talk the talk because it doesn’t take people long to see through false claims.
Honesty in web copy.
I think most everyone understands that marketing is making something (or someone) look as appealing as possible – enough to drive a consumer to eventually want to make a purchase (whether it be goods or services). There’s a lot more to it of course, but language is a huge part of it. The copy that appears on your website should be crafted to honestly relay information, make statements, and ultimately get the viewer to DO something (contact you, buy something, sign up for something, etc.). Good copy answers questions: who, what, when, why, how. If you make a statement that you or your product is, “the best”, be prepared to honestly tell us all why that is. How and when did you come to be the best? And by all means show us some examples.
Transparency has become a bit of a buzz word but I do agree that it’s a good way to do business. There really is no reason to hide or stretch the truth if your product is great or if you have the skills, experience, and knowledge to do what you say you can.
If you need help crafting some professional and honest web copy for your website, give us a call. We have an experienced copy writer that can work closely with you to come up with the perfect text to convey your message.
I’m a creative problem-solver driven by the desire to see small businesses improve their image and succeed. I’ve got over 20 years experience and have worked with clients as large as Nike and as small as a local sole-proprietor. I’ve been an advocate for education, a member of prestigious design organizations, won awards, and been invited to judge design competitions. Over the years, I have also written blogs and articles for a number of online sites and print publications. I have a heavy background in art, photography, graphic design and thinking outside the box. When not working, you’ll find me getting outdoors, practicing Qi Gong, snowboarding, camping, collecting rocks, and driving around in a sweet 1970 Camaro.
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