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Spin, Hype & Credibility

by PaulintheSticks
11 replies
There seems to be so much spin and hype in marketing these days (esp online) that one begins to lose faith in any marketing and marketers in general lose credibility with me. As soon as I read a headline like "How to effortlessly make 1,623.32 per month", I click delete.

I wonder how much of an issue this is with offline business owners in general and when you write up an ad with a headline like the one above do you risk losing the trust of your prospect/client? Is it possible to REALLY be honest in your marketing and make a comfortable living or do you need to sell your soul?
#credibility #hype #spin
  • Profile picture of the author Blase
    Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks View Post

    There seems to be so much spin and hype in marketing these days (esp online) that one begins to lose faith in any marketing and marketers in general lose credibility with me. As soon as I read a headline like "How to effortlessly make 1,623.32 per month", I click delete.

    I wonder how much of an issue this is with offline business owners in general and when you write up an ad with a headline like the one above do you risk losing the trust of your prospect/client? Is it possible to REALLY be honest in your marketing and make a comfortable living or do you need to sell your soul?
    This is a very interesting topic, your observations are correct, but I think on this forum my reponse will get a lot of hate mail.

    Hype advertising for the most part is not effective right now.

    We are currently experiancing more of a group mentality. It's not so much
    about the indivudal as it is the group.

    Please don't missundertand WIIFM, "what's in it for me" still
    applies you just have to be a lot more subtile about how you get there.

    That's why social media is so hot right now, it's about us.

    That's proably why Obama won, it's a social thing, it's about
    what's good for all of us, not the indivdual.

    A few years ago Allen Says had a memebership on this forum
    that dealt with the herd mentality, he was right on.

    Others call it the "tribe". There you go.

    That's where we are right now.

    Human nature does not change, but how it recives
    the message does.

    Now go sell something.
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  • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
    Absolutely, it's possible. In fact it's the only way to sustain a business.

    Maybe you are confusing Hype with Lies.

    Made up figures and weak proof are simply bad marketing. New (or uneducated) marketers mistake noise for selling.

    You can make sales arguments that create huge demand, without lying.

    On the other hand, if it's true...it isn't hype.

    Just my thoughts.
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    +1 Claude...

    Hype = An Unproven Claim

    The basics of successful direct marketing have changed very little in a hundred years.

    It all starts with correctly identifying who your customer really is, and entering the conversation they're already having with themselves, inside their own mind.

    You make a bold promise, and prove that you can deliver on it.

    You identify and dimensionalize their most vexing problem. You understand them.

    You help them imagine themselves already benefiting from what you're offering them.

    You explain the action you want them to take, specify exactly how to do it, then provide a compelling reason(s) why they need to do it immediately - as in NOW.

    You reverse the risk, add extra value or otherwise push the wishy-washy off the fence.

    You measure and analyze the results, then incrementally improve those results.

    Lastly, you don't worry or whine about the state of the world/market/people - you USE that.

    Best,

    Brian
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    Brian McLeod
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    • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
      Originally Posted by BrianMcLeod View Post

      +1 Claude...

      Hype = An Unproven Claim

      The basics of successful direct marketing have changed very little in a hundred years.

      It all starts with correctly identifying who your customer really is, and entering the conversation they're already having with themselves, inside their own mind.

      You make a bold promise, and prove that you can deliver on it.

      You identify and dimensionalize their most vexing problem. You understand them.

      You help them imagine themselves already benefiting from what you're offering them.

      You explain the action you want them to take, specify exactly how to do it, then provide a compelling reason(s) why they need to do it immediately - as in NOW.

      You reverse the risk, add extra value or otherwise push the wishy-washy off the fence.

      You measure and analyze the results, then incrementally improve those results.

      Lastly, you don't worry or whine about the state of the world/market/people - you USE that.

      Best,

      Brian
      Pay attention, people... what you just got in that post was
      an advanced education boiled down into a few paragraphs.

      And you got it free. My advice is to pretend you paid
      several thousand dollars for it and act accordingly.
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      If you knew what I know you'd be doing what I do...
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by BrianMcLeod View Post

      +1 Claude...

      Hype = An Unproven Claim

      The basics of successful direct marketing have changed very little in a hundred years.

      It all starts with correctly identifying who your customer really is, and entering the conversation they're already having with themselves, inside their own mind.

      You make a bold promise, and prove that you can deliver on it.

      You identify and dimensionalize their most vexing problem. You understand them.

      You help them imagine themselves already benefiting from what you're offering them.

      You explain the action you want them to take, specify exactly how to do it, then provide a compelling reason(s) why they need to do it immediately - as in NOW.

      You reverse the risk, add extra value or otherwise push the wishy-washy off the fence.

      You measure and analyze the results, then incrementally improve those results.

      Lastly, you don't worry or whine about the state of the world/market/people - you USE that.

      Best,

      Brian
      I agree with Tsnyder. One of the most intelligent, pound for pound, posts here. Your last line (bolded) is one most people never think about.

      On a related note, Use what you have.

      I got a call last night from a friend that owns a karate school. He asked about how he could market his school when there was so much competition. I said "Look at you! You are 5 foot 4 inches, and weigh less than 120 pounds. You can mop the floor with any of your adult students. You used to be bullied in school, and now, at 58 years old...you look like a 40 year old. You are the dream of every little kid out there, and frankly I'm jealous."

      In other words, whatever you have, use that.

      Someone on the Forum asked about selling offline services when he is a brand new SEO guy that's maybe 19 years old. I said to use that to his advantage. He is on the cutting edge. He is using all the new technologies.
      He is current.


      Of course, at 58 years old, I'm established, trusted, and an authority.
      See? Use whatever you have.

      Good discussion here.
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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        One of the most intelligent, pound for pound, posts here.
        Beefy copywriting is what I've learnt most from "fingers of fury" Brian.

        Well worth studying his magic every time he writes,
        I certainly do.

        Best,
        Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    "Hype" is short for hyperbole, which basically means an exaggerated claim. It's by no means anything new. For some strange reason, most people when marketing automatically launch into hype, like all of a sudden they've become barkers at Coney Island.

    I've long noticed that on long island for example, when I see local cable advertising local businesses with their shoddy video quality, every frigging restaurant, every frigging store, every frigging car dealership, every frigging business is "the finest," "the Best." "long island's PREMIERE... dining experience, shopping emporium, clothing boutique, car wash, kitchen factory, closet organizer, dog kennel and credit union. How the f@#k does a car wash get to be the "premiere" car wash? I'm sorry, don't mind me, it's a MAJOR pet peeve of mine.

    Every year the local press hosts a "Best of Long Island" which amazingly yields the same winners every year, ranked by votes coming in from friends and relatives of the "nominated" businesses. One of those businesses near me just went out of business but still has its "Best of Long Island" sign hanging above its now empty, vacated store - so you know it HAD to be that good. I'm convinced the only reason long island uses the word "Best" anymore is because they don't seem to have a word for "mediocre."

    It's like Corporate Speak. Another affliction where people "provide a fully-integrated spectrum of communication including strategic message development utilizing modes which preclude elucidation" because they think they need to sound like a business. @#$$!
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by misterme View Post

      "Hype" is short for hyperbole, which basically means an exaggerated claim. It's by no means anything new. For some strange reason, most people when marketing automatically launch into hype, like all of a sudden they've become barkers at Coney Island.
      About once a week someone in my retail store will ask "Do you have the lowest prices?"

      I can't help myself, sometimes I say "Yes. You are in luck, out of the 25,000 places in the USA that you can buy a vacuum cleaner...I have the lowest prices."

      They will look at me "Really?'

      "No".

      When I speak about advertising, someone invariable says "Yes. We say we give the best service and sell the best product". And they stand up with their chest out, proud of their claim.

      And I say "Prove it. Describe how your service is better than everyone else's on the planet. Tell us what you do that nobody else does".

      "We're the Best!" What lazy.... sloppy....meaningless drivel....
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      • Profile picture of the author PaulintheSticks
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        "We're the Best!" What lazy.... sloppy....meaningless drivel....
        I tried to be a little more original with my USP..."Cutting Edge Strategies, Measurable Results". I'm thinking of upgrading it to something more specific even though in my local market, its probably adequate.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mwind076
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        About once a week someone in my retail store will ask "Do you have the lowest prices?"

        I can't help myself, sometimes I say "Yes. You are in luck, out of the 25,000 places in the USA that you can buy a vacuum cleaner...I have the lowest prices."

        They will look at me "Really?'

        "No".

        When I speak about advertising, someone invariable says "Yes. We say we give the best service and sell the best product". And they stand up with their chest out, proud of their claim.

        And I say "Prove it. Describe how your service is better than everyone else's on the planet. Tell us what you do that nobody else does".

        "We're the Best!" What lazy.... sloppy....meaningless drivel....
        Services/products are only valued at what someone will pay for them. I love that people will still walk into a store, or ask for pricing on anything and ask things like that still "do you have the lowest prices?"

        What that tells me is that you have no idea what price is the lowest, and that I have a blank slate to sell you on whatever product/service my client is offering...we just turn it into "well, let's discuss, do you want the lowest price or do you want the best service at the best price?"

        As always, good advice, Claude.
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  • Profile picture of the author sandalwood
    Originally Posted by PaulintheSticks View Post

    There seems to be so much spin and hype in marketing these days (esp online) that one begins to lose faith in any marketing and marketers in general lose credibility with me. As soon as I read a headline like "How to effortlessly make 1,623.32 per month", I click delete.

    I wonder how much of an issue this is with offline business owners in general and when you write up an ad with a headline like the one above do you risk losing the trust of your prospect/client? Is it possible to REALLY be honest in your marketing and make a comfortable living or do you need to sell your soul?
    Here are three people everyone should read:

    Edward Bernays
    Ivey Lee
    Alduous Huxley

    If you can't learn spin, hype and huff from these 3 people drive a school bus.

    Tom

    P.S. Read James Carville's latest book. He tells you exactly what is what and why is why.
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