Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category

Hello again.

I’d intended to post something more, ‘ere now, on the subject of honesty in marketing.

It wasn’t my intention to simply leave it where I left it. In fact, in case you couldn’t tell, I actually had a strategy, or triad of posts, in mind when I began with the question ‘Is Honest Marketing An Oxymoron’ and then confirmed that it is. But I’ve been writing all my posts here myself, and some family health matters have come up that have delayed the intended third post.

Yes, I could have hired it out, but it’s just not my wont these days.

So… I’m just posting this as a notice that I still intend a few more words on this subject, as I believe where the confusion lies is that honest marketing may actually be the wrong terminology, and not exactly what customers are looking for anyway.

What your customers and my customers want — and what we all want as consumers — is marketing with integrity.

So if you’re not sure why I’m making that distinction, what I mean by it, what the difference is, or why it’s important to understand, I hope you’ll stay tuned and check the blog again sometime soon.

Thanks.

I had an experience recently that called into question much of what I've believed and tried (increasingly) to practice over the years, and I decided I should blog about it, and maybe even ask for your thoughts.

First off, let me 'fess up and say that I can't claim to have always been 100% totally transparent or hype-free, and I'm certainly not trying to imply otherwise with this post. The lure of easy money has a very strong appeal, as the song says, and I've given into temptation on occasion. I've also been just plain ol' lazy more times than I care to admit.

Even so, I have consistently worked harder at it over the years, and I feel like I have a pretty decent track record at this point — even though, at the moment, I'm starting to wonder if it was all for naught.

Okay? So with that said, I suppose the best way to proceed (or the best way I can think of) is with a few questions, as I have more questions than answers right now, and it is these questions, just lately, that are keeping me up nights.

• Are we, as a society (or as consumers, if you prefer) now completely addicted to hype?
  

If someone tries to sell us something without exaggerating the benefits and without downplaying the drawbacks, does that necessarily mean there is no way in hell we are ever going to buy?

• Do we now assume that any honesty in marketing is just another cynical ploy?
  

Is there really any room for honesty or transparency in marketing any more? I know plenty of marketers and consumers talk about it, incessantly, and claim to practice it, and claim to want more of it, but is there really any room for it if the assumption always is going to be that it doesn't really exist? Or that to the extent it does exist, it is just another tactic?

• If a marketer or salesman comes on as honest, is your first instinct to distrust him (or her)?
  

Maybe this comes down to how many times you've been burned by those claiming to be nothing but honest. But does even making the claim that one is honest actually work against a marketer now as so many who have not demonstrated anything in the way of honesty contantly make the same claim?

• How honest is too honest to be believed?
  

If someone actually tells us some of what to watch out for, and how we might be able to make better judgments about when and whether we are being bamboozled, and begins to reveal some of the psychology and methodology by which we are being taken… is that an insult to our intelligence?

Are we to assume that we are all (even the inexperienced) always cognizant and fully informed of, and about, such matters? — that we would never fall for such manipulations? And are we to assume, also, that any such 'educational' effort is simply another cynical strategy to win our trust so that we will be vulnerable and get burned yet again?

As for why I'm asking these questions, I won't go into all the details — at least not yet. As I said, it was a recent experience that brought this on, and it has caused me to question whether or not we are all addicts of hyperbole now… and whether there is really any point anymore in being honest.

Of course, there is always the ethical point that honest is the right thing to be, but if customers are always going to conclude that any such honesty is just another ploy, and if customers are always, or mostly, only going to buy into the hyperbole anyway, then is the concept of honest marketing an oxymoron?

And if so, why not just give it up… and get with our deliberately deceptive times… and run with our hyperbolic brothers and sisters… and possibly make more money by simply giving consumers even more of what they seem to want and expect?

I mean, yeah, of course that would be wrong from your average moralist's or ethicist's point of view, but wouldn't it also be giving a whole lot of consumers exactly what they demand? (And isn't that kinda sorta a marketer's raison d'etre?)

This recent incident — well, I guess I've said all I'm going to say about it. I guess, maybe because I'm in the planning stages for a product launch, it just threw me off my game, and I'm just kinda struggling with all these questions right now, so… if you have one, I would really appreciate your helpful comment.

Have you heard of ClickTale?

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One way of course would be if you could watch your visitors and see how they respond to differing parts of your sales message, i.e., your web page(s). Well, ClickTale won't let you do exactly that, but it does come fairly close.

ClickTale can provide online businesses with some very real insights into customer behavior. Many marketers are already finding this an excellent resource for helping to improve the performance, usability and conversion of their websites. Every mouse move, click and scroll is tracked.

There are also what ClickTale calls "heatmaps" and behavioral reports that complement traditional web analytics.

Definitely worth checking out. Sign up here for your FREE subscription,

To your success!,

Richard D. Farley

If you are celebrating the holidays this season, have a wonderful time with those you love!

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I've received quite a lot of flack since my last post. It has been made very clear to me that it wasn't appreciated by many. But rather than apologize, let me explain a couple of terms and add a clarification or two. When I said "that just about everyone in this business that has done well has had to work very hard," what I meant was that… Well, I define doing well, or success, as being in it for the long term and to me that means whatever you're doing is legal, honest, ethical by the most widely accepted standards, and that you make a sincere effort to add at least some value for your clients, customers and fellow marketers — at least whenever possible. So when I said what I said, I guess I was revealing that my definition of success, or doing well, doesn't just mean making money, or just making money for now. It doesn't jive with everyone's definition. I know that. Certainly not with some of the quick-and-easy-buck types. So yes, I'm wrong. It is possible to make a quick buck, but if you intend the above, i.e., legal, honest, ethical, and added value, then you almost certainly will:

• have your own unique and valuable product to sell; and/or
• have all the right connections within your particular industry, and/or
• be one of the very first to find out about and implement a new and effective methodology, and/or
• have at least $10,000 to invest upfront with previous and up-to-date experience in marketing, and/or one or more valued information technologies, and/or
• just luck into something.

But not very many of these things tend to be very true for those who are brand new to the game. That's all. That's all I was saying. I wasn't trying to discourage anyone. I was trying to tell those who need to be told that it's a business, like any other — except that it's been rather like the wild, wild west so far — but that's changing some already and likely to change a lot more in the next few years. So if you are in it for the long run, if you are going to stay legal, ethical, honest, and add value for your customers — and there simply are too many out and around who don't act as if they understand that — then it most likely will take work, lots of it. So, yeah, maybe you can figure out a way, as a still-wet-behind-the-ears newbie to make a lot of money fast and easy. What do I know? It might be that very next product launch that will make it happen. But if you compromise on the long-term strategy I've laid out above, as far as I'm concerned, you might be a rich crook or a rich con artist, but you are not a successful marketer, and anything you do that doesn't pass the smell test probably will come back to bite you sooner or later. Well, that's my take on it anyway. Regards, Richard D. Farley