Don’t Lose Your Credibility with Misleading Marketing
May 1, 2019
Have you had this experience?
You get excited about a product based on seeing a picture of it online or in a commercial, so you order it. Then when you receive the product, you discover something that makes you feel like you were misled, or the product just doesn’t live up to what was promised.
An example that many people can relate to, is the burger commercial for a fast food joint. In the commercial, the burger looks tall and juicy and stacked with toppings. Then when you get it, the burger is wrapped tight and a quarter of the size with about half of the toppings that you expected.
Chris Shank, the Education Director at the PDCA shared a BuzzFeed post with our Marketing Director, Martin Morgan – 17 Design Choices That’ll Make You Mad… – that captures some perfect examples of this type of misleading marketing.
When you think about how mad or disappointed you might be if you purchased one of these products or the fast food burger mentioned above, you get a good picture of why it is so important that you don’t use similar misleading marketing tactics. As a painting contractor, you know that establishing trust with your potential customers is a good way to ensure they become long-time loyal customers. Anytime you start a relationship off by demonstrating that you are willing to be less than honest to get their attention, you are risking your credibility.
Chris and Martin discussed the BuzzFeed post and the importance of maintaining your credibility in a PDCA podcast entitled Leads Not Lies.
During the podcast the guys talk about the importance of being genuine in all of your marketing and not trying to portray your painting company as something it’s not. That includes everything from the type of experience you have to the number of employees you have.
They also talk about the value of under-promising and over-delivering. That includes pricing. Don’t get in the door for a bid by telling a potential customer that you offer low prices only to give them a quote that’s three times more than your initial estimate.
Chris and Martin then spend a few minutes talking about what steps you can take to give your website a quick examination to make sure that it is not misleading. We highly recommend you give this podcast a listen! Check it out at https://soundcloud.com/paint-ed-podcast/leads-not-lies-with-martin-morgan.
