As a business owner, you likely find yourself living two competing lifestyles. As a business owner, you want to sell your products and services in a way that makes people want to buy. As a member of society and a consumer, you do not wish to purchase something that is either oversold or untrue. Consumers today are tired of being mis-sold through dishonest marketing.
Today, there is a rise in appreciation for ‘honest marketing’ – companies that are genuine about what they sell and why. If you want to ensure that your business can build and retain a customer base, pushing to be more honest in your marketing is so important.
This does not mean overtly advertising your products’/services’ flaws; it means being honest about who can benefit. This is especially true if you sell products aimed at a very specific person. One quick example we can point to is one of America’s fastest-growing ‘new’ industries: the cannabis market.
One platform selling vaporizers is SuperStrain. When you browse the marketing wording that SuperStrain uses, you do not see a company making it out like its product is for everyone. Many ‘traditional’ users of this product might not appreciate vaping or might be looking for something different.
Unlike other vendors, SuperStrain does not focus on trying to tell the reader that everyone will like their products; they focus on promoting the benefits of their product to the people who want what they sell.
This is a level of honesty that is much needed in marketing.
It helps to ensure that the audience understands that what they are buying does what it says on the tin; it also helps them know that this product is – or is not – for them. Instead of trying to capture everyone, this approach to honest marketing captures the people who it should.
Honesty In Marketing Builds An Audience That Trusts
Especially if you are in the market selling products that could impact someone’s lifestyle or health, you want to be very upfront about what you are selling. For example, West Coast Vape Supply, a US-based vaporizer supply company, focuses on making it clear that it sells big-name brands, a great range of flavors, and products that provide longevity.
What it does not do, though, is espouse the benefits of vaping. While claims can be found to show the potential advantages of smoking vs vaping, they, unlike other vape firms, do not have a marketing approach that seems to sell vaping as something for everyone. Again, they target their specific audience with useful and worthwhile information that does not try to sell their product to everyone.
The worst thing your company can do is sell its product as the ‘best thing since sliced bread’ that is perfect for every person. This is likely only to cause frustration among people who might be interested in what you have to sell and is also expected to create distrust among people who are new to your product.
Honesty in marketing often means scaling back the grandiose proclamations and making it look like your product is the greatest thing in the world. That being said, it is a worthwhile change. While you need to give up the big promises, it means that those who do find your product are more likely to trust what you have to say.
Trust is the hardest thing to build and the easiest thing to lose. Adjusting your marketing to focus on the facts instead of a ‘sales hook’ might mean less impulse sales. Still, it also will lead to fewer refunds, less negativity about your company, and more long-term customers who stick around.
