Marketing = Lying?

I did an article for my newsletter on this very question, based on a thread I started here a while back.

Here's the whole thing. (Note: there are no sales links or promotions in the piece.)


"Lose The Hype!"
==============

You've probably had that thought at one time or another,
right?

"Lose the hype!"

It's a common response to some salesletters. An even more
common response to barrages of identical emails from 27
different publishers, all claiming to have "just gotten off the
phone with my friend Joe Schlabotnik, and twisted his arm to
get you this special deal."

Yeah. That's hype. In almost every case, that's an outright
lie. (Where it's not, you won't see it, verbatim, from 27
different people.)

On the flip side, have you ever heard someone describe
something as hype and wondered what they meant? Something that,
to you, seemed perfectly reasonable and believable?

Happens a lot, if you hang out in marketing playgrounds.

That happened recently, when I listened to a group of highly
skilled technical people describe what I saw as a very
reasonable public comment as "extreme hype."

As a writer, I find subjective words endlessly fascinating.
Most people couldn't care a lot less, and they're right not to
waste their time on such things.

This word, though, is one that should be interesting to anyone
who sells anything.

I mean, if people see your sales materials or presentation and
respond with, "What a bunch of hype," do you think they're
likely to buy from you?

So yeah, it's an important word.

Without getting into too much navel-gazing, let's see if we
can't come up with some practical ways to use it to our
advantage.

....

Instead of just guessing, I started a thread at the Warrior
Forum, asking people what they mean by the word. As of this
moment, it has 144 replies and 4019 views.

A very handy bit of research indeed, with a lot of well
thought out responses. You can see the whole thread at:

What is hype?

That's a redirect to the thread at the forum. The original link
is way too long for most email software to display correctly.

If you want the nuances, you can get them there. It's also a
pretty good lesson in doing research on forums in a way that
people appreciate, rather than objecting to. That's handy all
by itself.

I'll summarize it here, for folks who don't want to read
through the whole thing.

The goal of the thread was to get a sense for what most people
mean when they use the word 'hype,' and to develop a working
definition that you can use to remove the negative impacts
associated with it.

Basically, to make more sales.

The discussion got interesting.

....

It's a marketers' forum, so it wasn't surprising that some
people had positive meanings for the word. Those relate
primarily to the effect: Getting people interested in and
excited about your products.

That's a legitimate definition, to be sure. We can safely
ignore it, though, since it doesn't cause problems and isn't
likely to lose you any sales.

Notice that having a specific goal in mind allows you to
acknowledge differences and still move forward without having
to argue about them.

That's a trick that Jim Lanford showed me years ago, when
discussing the best way to get the results you want when
dealing with programmers. He summed up the process in three
little words:

"Define your output."

Remember that phrase. It's useful for a lot more than dealing
with programmers.

....

The people for whom the phrase had negative connotations can be
broken down into three broad categories. They defined 'hype'
as:

1. Attempts to evoke emotional responses that lead
someone toward buying the product.

2. Any claim which isn't proven in the message.

3. Lies or exaggerations.

There were a lot of different ways of saying those things, but
they were the majority of the responses, by a large margin.

Let's look at them in order.

....

1. Emotional language.

This is one that a lot of people have trouble with. You'll
often see people claiming that they only want the facts. A list
of features, the guarantee, and the price. They claim to buy on
pure logic.

If you believe them, you're screwed.

Logic can support and regulate emotion, but it does not cause
action. All voluntary human action is the result of emotion.

Buying is, despite what some copywriters will tell you, a
voluntary action. People buy things because of some
expected/desired change in their internal state. Often that
change will be the result of external changes, but the internal
change is what they're after.

Remember "Myers' Marketing Maxim":

Benefits exist in the head and the heart.
Everything else is a feature.

....

You can't just remove all emotion from your communication.
That's a disaster in even the most logical markets.

There are some folks who are uncomfortable with any noticeable
level of emotion. We don't need to get into changing our
communications to appeal to those people, no matter what their
reasons, because that would put us in the dead zone, sales-
wise.

We need to recognize that most people who object to emotion in
sales copy are objecting to exaggerated or non-associated
emotional content. These are legitimate objections.

By non-associated, I mean things that don't relate to the offer
in any meaningful way. The most common example is the attempted
use of fear when there's no actual threat involved.

This is most commonly used by suggesting that not getting some
potential benefit that you don't already have is the same as a
crippling loss.

Wrong tactic. The way to promote something that offers a new
benefit is through rational optimism, not fear. If you use
fear, you're going to trigger the "inappropriate emotion"
filter. That causes a disconnect, and can lead to the "hype
response."

Exaggerated emotion is a different story. That's pretty
obvious. Making a bigger deal out of something than it really
is turns almost everyone off.

It's also unnecessary. Rather than going for one big response,
the better approach is to find a whole lot of benefits your
product offers and go for an appropriate level of response for
each one.

This has a number of benefits. The biggest is that it tends to
be much more believable. It also creates the same total
emotional desire for the product, while giving the logical
rationalization needed to support the decision to buy.

Much better results, and much easier to do. Copy written this
way tends to be easier to craft and a whole lot more powerful.

....

There's another circumstance where emotional content becomes a
problem: When you misread or inaccurately assume what really
matters to your market.

Do this in a technical market and you're doomed. That's the
most common source of the "I buy on pure logic" response, by
the way. Technical types actually believe that.

They don't respond well to direct emotional appeals, but
phrases like "set and forget" are music to their ears.

Selling to this crowd is an art, and way past what this issue
is intended to cover. The key is that these folks are not
motivated by the same language and "feature sets" as people in
most other markets. Ultimately they want the same things, but
they have a very different internal syntax for achieving them.

If you aren't completely sure of the things that are genuinely
important to your perfect prospect, you need to keep digging.

Don't stop until you hit bedrock.

....

To illustrate the point differently, a story...

I spoke at a conference a few years ago, and mentioned the
concept of "Ultimate Benefits." One of the people there asked
me for an example, so I started asking him questions about what
he wanted to achieve with his online efforts.

The end result: He wanted to feel like a good father.

Note that the guy already IS a good father. What he wanted was
to feel like one. Those are two different states, and it's not
useful to argue with someone about subjective desires. Just
take them at their word.

"Feeling like a good father" is not the real "Ultimate
Benefit" in this case, but it's the point just before it.
That's the safe spot to address. Your sales copy can connect
with that desire. That will be the benefit in your offer that
he judges for credibility, because it's what he wants most.

That's just one thing he wants, of course. Most offers involve
a lot more complicated network of desired benefits. There are
commonalities in most groups that you can work with.

The trick is to get as many of them right as possible, without
introducing effects that conflict with anything important.

What has this got to do with hype and emotional copy?

If you start addressing someone's deepest desires, you'd
better get it right. Push the buttons too hard without
establishing acceptable levels of credibility, and you're going
to trigger the "hype response."

You're getting close to home. Pure emotional drives. Balance it
right, and show them that you can deliver, and they'll let you
in.

Get it wrong and they'll put out the "No Trespassing" sign.

....

2. Claims that aren't proved.

Fact: You can't "prove" anything in a sales message.

What you can do is offer evidence. If you do so, you need to
keep in mind that the credibility of the evidence is based on
two things.

First, the credibility of the source.

If you're the source, your evidence will be subject to the
attitude that the rest of your message evokes in the viewer. It
works like this:

Anything a person hears which supports an existing
belief or preference tends to be given more credibility
than it deserves. Anything one hears which contradicts an
existing belief or preference tends to be given less
credence than it might warrant.

People will interpret any evidence presented in a way
that leads to that evidence supporting their existing
beliefs, even when it is, on its face, contrary to
those beliefs.

The result?

It takes a lot more evidence to change an opinion than it does
to form one. This is why the headline and first part of a sales
letter or other persuasive message is so critical. You begin
the process of forming opinions at that point. It's your best
chance to move things in the right direction.

This is also why so many of the big launches could sell out
without any real sales letter at all. People already believe
the claims, so they don't need to read the pitch. They're
convinced, and that's enough.

If the claims in your evidence exceed the credibility you've
established with the rest of the message, the evidence will be
viewed skeptically at best. You're verging on 'hype,' even if
you're telling 100% truth.

If the source is external, that is, a third party, their
credibility is separate from yours. Examples would be
independent web sites, testimonials from known individuals,
confirmable media sources and the like.

In these cases, the credibility of the source affects the
credibility of your message.

Choose wisely.

....

The second thing affecting how your evidence is viewed is the
reader's belief system, as based on their own experience.

If someone believes that it's impossible to do XYZ, it's going
to be very, very difficult to change that belief.

If you show them a dozen people who've done it, they'll either
refuse to believe it, claim that those people must have
cheated, or give all sorts of reasons why they can't do it
themselves.

I'm sure you've run into that.

This one's tougher than most, but there are ways to soften it.

....

One of the most effective ways to encourage someone to believe
something is to get them to say it.

There's an old truism in marketing: If you say it, it's just
something you said. If they say it, it's the truth.

This is especially effective when you're dealing with people
who simply don't believe the higher end possibilities in your
claims.

The technique is very simple. As an example, suppose you're
promoting a system that shows people how to get more visitors
to their web site. You would explain how each step affects the
process, and ask them, for each step, something like:

"If you were to use just 3 of these techniques, how many
new visitors do you think you could get to your site
every day?"

Let's further suppose that your system shows them how to
improve the conversion rate for each step. Ask them how much
they believe that using your system, assuming it works, could
increase their conversion on each step.

Now, show them how to figure the improvement. Or, even better,
put a calculator in the page itself that lets them plug in
their current numbers along with the improvements they believe
could be achieved. Let that do the math for them, and show them
the results.

They will believe those numbers.

Why? The first set is what's already happening. No reason to
doubt that. The second set is their own estimation of what will
happen. If they didn't believe they were possible, they
wouldn't drop them into the calculator.

Of course, the final result is the number of subscribers
they'd get after a year, using the current and projected
figures.

Things like this work. And the results can be surprising.

For example, suppose your prospect gets 100 visitors a day, 30%
of them sign up, 40% of those people confirm their
subscription, 6% of those buy the offer presented after
confirmation, and it pays a net of $25 per sale.

At the end of a year, that is 4380 confirmed subscribers, with
a profit of $6570 on the first offer.

Let's say you believe that you can triple the number of
visitors with the right techniques, increase your sign-up rate
to 45%, your confirmation rate to 60%, and the sales to 7.5%.
(These are very doable numbers.)

At the end of a year, the number of new subscribers using these
figures would be 29,565. The profit from the initial offer
would be $55,434.

Almost 7 times as many subscribers, and more than 8 times the
profit.

Think that would motivate them?

Notice that you make no claims at all in this process. None.
The size of the increase is set by the beliefs of the reader.
The big jump is demonstrated by showing the result of the
compounding of the different increases and calculating it over
a year's time.

There's an additional benefit to this, aside from increased
sales. More of your customers will actually use the information
you supply, since they'll have believable goals staring them in
the face.

That means lower refunds, more credibility for future offers,
better testimonials, and more back end sales. Not to mention
much happier customers.

All by letting your customers set the level of expectations.

Everyone wins.

That's a Good Thing.

....

Of course, not everything is easily converted to mathematical
formulas. That doesn't change the process itself. It just makes
it necessary for the prospect to imagine the feeling of the new
results, rather than getting out a calculator.

It has the same effect.

As long as you're not exaggerating the potential, there's no
more honest way to demonstrate what your product can do for
someone than to let them make their own predictions.

The thing that makes this work is that people tend to be much
more likely to achieve a goal they really believe is possible.

Simple, elegant, and amazingly effective.

....

There are other ways to do this, but I'm sure you can think of
them on your own, if you look through your current sales
materials. For the moment, let's move on to the third thing
people define as hype.

Lies and exaggerations.

This one is easy to deal with.

If you're outright lying, stop. The suggestions above should
provide you all the tools you need to sell without it, unless
your product just sucks that badly. If that's the case, fix the
product or sell something else.

If you really are exaggerating, use the techniques above to cut
the exaggerations and move to more credible representations of
your product and the benefits it offers.

You now know how to do that.

If it's a matter of your prospect believing that you're
exaggerating, when you're actually representing the potential
honestly, you have what you need to fix that.

Wasn't that easy?

....

This could easily have been a complete product, but it's one of
those subjects where getting into any more specific info would
end up expanding the length way beyond what's appropriate for a
newsletter issue.

Hopefully, this will give you some useful techniques and
perspectives to significantly increase your leads and sales.

Test these ideas out. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at
the results.

To be as blunt as possible, simply do not lie to your customers.

Do not be conflicted about this at all. Just don't do it.

Yes.

This is perfectly acceptable, ethical, and moral.

Please do not forget that what you call negatives is usually a totally subjective matter of taste.

Do not think for your customers.

No.

Only deception is deceptive.

Maybe they have the data to back it up. Maybe they do not.

Your business is your business, however.

Agreed.

But it may indeed be the best product.

That is to be determined by the buyer. Sellers having opinions is not a vice.

Simply do not behave in the way you descibe above and you will have no problems.

Then do not manipulate people.

Please, however, do not confuse convincing someone with manipulating them.


Exactly.

We should have no interest in other people's business when we got enough of our own to take care of.

No. That is not the way it is.

Marketing is not lying. They are not synonymous.

We all market ourselves ALL the time...to our bosses, friends, family and even to ourselves.

You have nothing to worry about or be ashamed about if you behave honorably and convince as many people to purchase what you have to offer as you can.

Marketing is not lying

God speed to you.

...

Two things...

First... do not lie to anyone to sell anything at any time.

Second... the question about car manufacturers making gas
mileage claims. Yes... they do have an authoritative source to
back those claims. The numbers are published by the U.S. government
and printed on the window sticker of every new car, light truck, van
and SUV. In fact, the EPA puts out a booklet that every U.S. franchised
dealer is required to make available to anyone who asks for it.

Tsnyder

I hope someone with more knowledge than I have will chime in, but I thought that under US law false or deceptive advertising was illegal.

Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road
Frequently Asked Advertising Questions: A Guide for Small Business

While not all Warriors are doing business in the US, I believe that those of us who are need to follow the FTC's advertising rules.

Peggy

Is marketing lying? That's a question that can't be answered. Is marketing inherently lying? No.

Whenever you want to persuade someone to do something they weren't planning to do anyway, you paint the offer in the best possible light. When you go to a Meet Market type bar to pick up members of the opposite sex, you make yourself look as good as possible and you highlight your best features. In so doing, you're not denying the not-so-great features' existence. You're just showing the best bits.

Best Fuel Economy In Class? Yes, that's required by law to be true. Best taste? Entirely subjective, and a pretty lame marketing line anyway. Not very many people are sitting at home watching TV saying, "Oh really? It has the BEST taste? WELL then. Honey, get the car because we're heading to Wal-mart." "Best" when unproven and unquantified doesn't convert very well anyway.

On the same token, "Some people think it tastes good and it's not actively bad for you" probably doesn't convert very well either, unless you're going for the contrarian effect.

As Gorilla mentioned, only deception is deception. Highlighting benefits is good marketing. Only 7 left? Well, if it's not true, then it's a lie. "Don't leave this page because when you come back it won't be here"? Ditto. "Price goes up at midnight"? Same again.

Each person needs to examine what they're morally ok with, but it's just like our mama's told us. If it ain't true, it's a lie.

In the process of meeting peoples needs it takes two to tango.

The marketer - may lie or may not.
The consumer - may do their due diligence or may not

You do not need to lie to market anything. You are identifying logical and emotional needs and presenting your information in a way that is likely to get a positive result.

Don't lie. Integrity is addictive when it comes to persuasion.

Marketing without manipulation is impossible... All marketing is manipulation...

Good or Bad, in order for you to buy you need an emotional change, thus got

manipulated...

Exapmle:

"You're about to discover a system that earn people as much as $20,000 a day..."

I know, sounds like some type of illegal investment system with borrowed money

or stolen cash. It's not.

It's true... I didn't belive it either until I made my first $2,000 in a single

day using this little-known online sales formula.

If you saw it you would understand the potential of my formula is unlimited, and

judging by previous results, there is no reason why you can't make $15,000 a day

following my blueprint.

Of course I guarantee nothing, but you have an honest ablitity to make as much

as $15,000 a day if you fully take advantage of the system... There are

thousands doing it as we speak.

Sounds like hype? Yeah... Really does... BUT, I know people who use part of my system on various occassions to make $1,000,000 in a single day, ALL online, and they do it with just some of these techniques...

They use the just some of the amazing tactics you're about to discover today.

I've personally used them to earn as much as $1,900 in one day myself... And

you'll get a step-by-step blueprint of how I'm doing it, and how these people are making this much money.

Proof:

Testimonials... Bla bla

More Proof:

My average client who half-assed plants the first seed of my proven formula,

waters it consistently, experience earnings between $5,000 and $8,000 a month...

Therefore it's in your best interest to do what I say, follow my lead and take

action now, because only a fool would ever expose how they are making this kind

of money.

Today You are lucky that I am that fool!

Trust me... would you show people how to make $30,000 a day or would you keep

making $30,000 a day, telling nobody?

I'll tell you what...

I would actually take my $30,000 a day to $40,000 a day showing people how I

made the $30,000...

Therefore... I'm about to unleash a new way of thinking about making money that

most people have never seen before... And if they have, they don't use it in

this way.

Bla Bla Bla... Testimonials, Proof, Income Proof, Images of other stuff...


You can safely secure a copy of "superduper system" for the remaining part of

today, because I cannot guarantee that this offer will be here tomorrow.

I guarantee you can safely secure Your Copy By Midnight of (date)!

Click Here to Send Me $9,997 now.

Ps: If you don't believe me, then you have no reason being down here... so go

click on "secure your copy today", becuase that's the link that will change how you see your life.

PS: I never knew how little money I had, until I started making some..."

Analysis...

Me saying that they can too is not false, nor is it deceptive...

Is it out of reach for them? Maybe, it's all up to them... I have outlined the

potential, and guaranteed results, conditionally if they FULLY utilize the

system.

All was truthful in this pitch... About almost ANY internet marketing product I could sell right now, because all of these things would be explained...

Since all of this reflects in reality... but still sounds relatively hypey in my opinion... I feel that it wouldn't be deceptive to put this on a sales page.

May be a bad example, but I've seen worse and it usually isn't as deceptive as you may think.

It's interpretation, perception, but most definitely manipulation...

-Chris

Here's Seth Godin's take on the subject: All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin

Hi enjourni,

Interesting topic.

re: "But it seems to me no matter what you do you really either end up lying or manipulating people when you try to sell something. Maybe that's just the way it is."

It may certainly seem that way when you look at how certain products are marketed. Please keep in mind that we can't control what others do to sell their products, but we can control what we do and say.

Marketing itself does not equal lying.Remember that lying is a choice. Truthful marketers will tell the truth regardless of the circumstances or which product or service they sell.


All The Best,


Tony

It's a mistake to think that marketing only applies to business.

Most people seek to present themselves in the best light. it's unusual for someone to volunteer negative information about themselves at first meeting.

If you've ever witnessed a kid trying to get something from a parent; a wife or husband from each other or if you've ever simply tried to convince somebody to do something, you'll be aware of the part that psychology plays in our daily lives.

We're all engaged in personal marketing. And not always completely honestly.

It's called human interaction. AKA: life.

Nobody's suggesting that you apply different morals to your business activities than you would to any other part of your life.

Do whatever makes you comfortable. It's your conscience. But don't turn this into a peculiarly "business marketing" issue.


Frank

PS Roger, mithering? Is that something I'd have to get Ms Standerline to translate? :confused:

Speaking as someone who has a relative working in External Relations and is actively involved in helping develop and phrase advertising claims, I can assure you that major companies, at least, all have the data to substantiate their advertising claims.

The real question is the way it is worded. If you look, for example, at pet food advertising carefully, it rarely says on the packaging that the particular food "slows down your cat's aging". Instead, it would say something like "helps slow down your cat's aging".

It's just one word but it's makes all the difference - particularly if you consider that what really keeps advertisers in check are the competition, who are always waiting to file a legal challenge if they believe an advertising claim cannot be substantiated by available research.

Marketing is not about deception; it's about phrasing the benefits of your product in a way that describes them in the best possible light without running the risk of legal challenges.

Have you checked this?

Amazon.com: All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of...

So someone knows that a controversial title will sell books- what does that really have to do with anything?

This is the lie I hate the most. It is almost impossible to find an honest, unbiased review of a product without being linked to an affiliate page.

I say give all the benefits you can without lying. I have been fed the crap in the past and now just laugh when I see it. I admit , in the ist of it all there are genuine limited time offers and great bonus offers, but unfortunately a lot of it now is just hype.

Marketing is not lying... as long as you act with integrity.

"It takes 20 years to build a good reputation and it takes only
3 seconds to ruin it."
-Warren Buffett

So think before you act, and always act with honesty.

"I don't get your logic with affiliate commissions - that is a selling expense. Do you buy cars? Butter, Milk? - according to your logic you overpaid because they paid a commission to the shop."

My logic is stunningly simple.

If I buy direct from the supplier, in 9 cases out of 10 off line, I can get a significant discount - this does not happen on line.

A commission is a totally different concept to a mark up to cover costs and selling expenses. No real world legitimate sales people earn 50% commission yet many real world autonomous sales people pay for advertising.

Just sell things that you are happy with, and make sure you effectivly communicate the best points. No lying needed.

Not really, I still have my pet rock and its exactly what was sold to me... a rock that is now, my pet.

My pet rock is conveniently placed on a stack of power of persuasion printouts... go figure!

Thought this was pretty funny:

Writing effective sales copy to increase your sales

OP: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...t-website.html

Very simply. DON'T DO IT! Eventually they, or at least someone will catch you at a lie or gross exageration. They may post that fact on a blog somewhere and your dead, your credability is gone!

I suggest you learn good copywriting from a Copywriting Mentor (see my mentor list below) then you won't need to exagerate the truth.

Yoda

This is a really great discussion.

I'd like to chime in about the focus, attention-shifting aspect that has been raised by interjecting how much of business is built on good faith or the reasonable expectation that the intent to deliver on the promise made is the result that will be delivered.

Faith, in itself, (as pertains to business) expects the best possible outcome within reason and works in combination with simple trust and hope that the promise made will be fulfilled upon the fulfillment of the action required in order to initiate the transaction.

Obviously, whoever is doing the investing or "the buyer" can't fulfill the order him/herself, so at some point, there has to be the trust and belief that what was advertised is what will be received.

This is why it is so important to mirror the promise made with the service/product delivered.

Peculiarly enough, usually focusing on the needs of the client takes care of fulfilling that expectation and builds upon that trust earned with future transactions in the relationship.

That's when consistency comes in as a factor.

Most business owners know it's much more cost effective to continue business relationships with clients who've already entered into a business relationship before, because expectations for both are that the process will at least be consistent with the previous transaction, if not improved upon.

With this in mind, adhering to a mirror-image of the word
or words used in advertising
becomes critical for continuing business and increasing business with satisfied clients who appreciate their trust invested was returned in like with value delivered. This is the client satisfaction department and should be continually improved.

Again, most of this is taken care of by focusing on the needs,desires,objectives and experience of the individual,company and/or entity(ies) responding to the advertising.

By focusing on the one receiving the goods more than simply fulfilling the order, the spirit fulfills the law and letter as the natural by(buy) products and creating the perfect transition from delivery, follow up to future business.

Of course it's wise to safeguard with necessary disclaimers in the event that the unforeseen transpires, but that's merely a formality and should only prove the advertiser is serious enough about his business to take it seriously enough to preserve and protect it...which in most instances, is best for the buyer anyway because it means they're usually just as intent on order fulfillment and client sastisfaction as well.

You know those drink commercials where the best looking people are having the time of their lives?

It says just as much to the person viewing the commercial that the advertiser expects the best for the person buying the product.

For instance, what would it say about his opinion of the viewer if the people consuming the drinks were made to look like imbecils and then showed horrible events happening?

That wouldn't be any more or less truthful.

It just goes to show that the essence of the good faith in action is that not only do you believe in the quality your new clients will get out of your products/services, but also that its very creation and purpose was to help make your life better in some way after consuming or using it.

Now when it is significantly different than described or advertised once received, that's when there has been a breach of trust which destroys that foundation necessary to continue business on the good faith.

Actually, the truth alone can either be glorious to behold by those who receive the truth or despised by those who reject the truth.

So the good faith principle in advertising is the simple trust that what's said is also what is done.

The exact delivery of that is a solid business foundation that can't be shaken and can be repeated again and again in a predictable way that is consistently providing value.

This is the same business principle at work that proves more business will be done with existing clients because of the trust, predictability and consistency.

So the advertiser who fails to show the best possible light has not only failed himself, but also his client!

For if the value of the product/service wasn't shown in the advertising,
then the client who would benefit the most from it would be denied the pleasure!

It's the experience we're looking for, sometimes even more than the benefits gained.

Show me I can experience that "time of my life" by using your product, deliver on the words you use and you've more often than not, netted a repeat buyer. :-)

I personally think people would rather have the real deal. People can only believe what they see, and I think that even in the business world....thats the most effective way of marketing. Lets say you advertise they comply only to find out that it's not what was portrayed in the beginning. In most cases people will be disappointed and want the money back. In a way it kinda makes it bad for the honest marketer because after being scammed so many times the customer wonder is the vast majority of online business a joke? Honesty+Quality Product=$$$$$$

On your car example: That can definitely backed up by EPA numbers (where do you think those gas mileage numbers come from), and if someone lied about that, I'm sure a magazine like Motor Trend or Consumer Reports (not to mention a dozen other magazines) would pummel them in seconds.

Your problem is actually a lot deeper, because you seem to be a tad ignorant on what real marketing really is. It's about filling an actual need want or desire they already have, not giving someone a sales job.

I would like to say thank you to all of you who posted replies, your responses are highly appreciated.

Don't mind me, I think too much!

I'm of the mindset that it's all controlled by how you choose to present yourself internally, and to be grounded in what you do. Language itself is subjective and highly personal. Thus the only "solution" is to make what you choose to support helpful, honest, and empowering. You focus on making it that way, and it is so.

In other words, don't fear who you are. Or more specifically, what is. Embrace what is and emphasize it truthfully, and you can't go wrong. (And even if someone else doesn't like it at least you stayed true to yourself!)

So many coherent, well thought-out answers! My pithy little contribution seems a little pathetic by comparison.

Being as ADHD-riddled as I am, I have to keep things like this uber-simple in order to keep my mind from going into an endless loop and accomplishing nothing. So I keep my set of rules on this one pretty simple.

Here they are:

1) Don't worry about what other marketers are doing. You have no control over them. You only have control over yourself and your own marketing methods.

2) Make sure you can comfortably sleep well at night, and look yourself in the mirror each morning by answering 'Yes' to the following questions:

a) Did I put my absolute best effort into everything I did?
b) Did I treat everyone with courtesy, honesty and respect?
c) Did I deliver everything I promised?

After wrestling for years with this subject, that's what I've boiled down to - 2 rules and 3 questions.

They give me plenty of room to operate and sell in my own unique way, while ensuring that I never have a reason to feel guilty over anything I create online for the purpose of selling.

~Mike

Marketing is only lying if the marketer is a liar! There's no such thing as a perfect product, because there are no perfect people. If you develop a product, you probably think it is perfect (even if only in your mind) and therefore only see the 'good' in it. It takes other people evaluating it to tell you the possible 'cons' with it. Now here's the kicker...just because someone tells you a 'con' doesn't obligate you to talk about. Thou it may be good business to mention it, and overcome the 'objection.' At the end of the day, each individual is responsible for their own due diligence so they don't get dupped.