{"id":55,"date":"2005-11-27T11:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-27T18:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fishingforcustomers.com\/lies-of-omission\/"},"modified":"2005-11-27T11:42:00","modified_gmt":"2005-11-27T18:42:00","slug":"lies-of-omission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/lies-of-omission\/","title":{"rendered":"Lies Of Omission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Probably the best definition of selling I\u2019ve ever heard came from Wizard of Ads\u00a9 <\/sup>partner Steve Clark<\/a>, who said: \u201cSelling is the transference of confidence from the seller to the buyer.\u201d
<\/em>
Well, advertising is selling, isn\u2019t it? Therefore, advertising should create confidence in the prospective buyer.<\/p>\n

Good advertising does. Much of it does not. Why doesn\u2019t all advertising create confidence?<\/p>\n

Because people assume that the advertiser won\u2019t say anything non-complementary about himself, his products, or his services when he\u2019s paying for the ad. The public is always going to be skeptical of anything an advertiser says.<\/p>\n

Should they be skeptical? Can advertisers be trusted? Humm. Let\u2019s look at some.<\/p>\n

Can consumers trust an advertiser that doesn\u2019t tell the whole story?<\/u><\/p>\n

Is not telling everything a lie of omission?<\/p>\n

Most ads are factual, but incomplete. Hardcore fraud is illegal, but consumers have learned to be suspicious of one-sided presentations. Many deceive by implication. Many deceive with \u201cweasel words<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And beware the \u201c*<\/span>.\u201d Whatever follows usually means \u201cforget everything else in this ad. Here\u2019s how we still intend to screw you.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust an advertiser that contradicts what they already know to be true?<\/u><\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

According to Al and Laura Ries<\/a> \u201cThe ground rules for a successful advertising campaign start with acceptance. Accept what your brand already owns in the mind and move on from there.\u201d<\/em> A few pages later in The Fall Of Advertising And The Rise Of PR<\/a> they also said \u201cThe true function of advertising is to reinforce an existing perception in the mind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A statement that your beliefs are wrong isn\u2019t going to persuade you to pull out your wallet. Any claim that runs counter to your preconceptions of the world is treated in your mind as a lie.<\/p>\n

\n

(Note<\/strong>: I\u2019m predicting the failure of Coca Cola Zero<\/a>. In the mind of the consumer Coke is \u201cthe real thing.\u201d So how does the consumer\u2019s mind perceive the \u201creal Cola taste with zero calories? As the phony real thing?)<\/p>\n

(Question<\/strong>: Are there too many varieties of Coke? According to Coke spokesman Scott Williamson “We work hard to minimize that by making sure all of our brands have distinct graphics and marketing.”<\/em> Good work, Scott. Lie to me in a different type face.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The keyword is verisimilitude<\/a> \u2013 \u201cthe appearance of truth.\u201d It\u2019s not enough to tell the truth. You have to tell it in a believable fashion.<\/p>\n

Are these claims believable?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll loan you thousands of dollars\u2026 even if you have bad credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake thousands stuffing envelopes at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBuy my cash flow system and quit your day job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a job, we can put you in a new car.\u201d<\/em> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No. They are not believable. They don\u2019t \u201cring true.\u201d They have no credibility. Customers will conclude they\u2019re probably lies.<\/p>\n

And no one can change your mind<\/a>, either. At least, not until they\u2019ve acknowledged the validity of your current beliefs, and then given you additional information to help you come to a new conclusion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust politicians?<\/u><\/p>\n

Every politician basically says, \u201cTrust me.\u201d Few of us do.<\/p>\n

Politicians know how to project the image of being expert, being sincere, and being on your side. Like many other advertisers, politicians flatter their targets by complementing their intelligence and taste.<\/p>\n

Cartoonist Dan Perkins<\/a>, (using the pen name Tom Tomorrow), takes on the absurdity of American politics in his weekly comic strip, “This Modern World.” Dan says that people naturally \u201cdistrust advertising and politicians.\u201d<\/em> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust an advertiser that lies by association?<\/u><\/p>\n

Evidence has taught us that there are entire industries that habitually lie. And it\u2019s not just highly capitalized energy companies or their big international accounting firms (Enron \/ Arthur Anderson).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve been hurt I\u2019ll fight hard to get you the money you deserve for your pain and suffering.\u201d <\/em>A Braun Research survey of 401 random adults<\/a> in March of this year indicates that 79% of Texans believe advertising by personal injury attorneys encourages people to sue even if they haven\u2019t been injured.<\/p>\n

Can we trust the pre-views of coming attractions to deliver the movie we\u2019re going to plunk down dollars to see? Can they give us some sense of what to expect? Or, do we secretly believe the movie industry would tell us anything to sell another ticket?<\/p>\n

What about car dealers? Stock brokers who call us at home? Long distance telephone service providers who call us at home?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust an advertiser that speaks in superlatives?<\/u><\/p>\n

Amazing. Astounding. New. Improved. Bigger. Stronger. Faster. Highest power. Highest quality. Most secure. Least expensive. Revolutionary breakthrough. Better than you ever dreamed.<\/p>\n

Why can\u2019t we trust people who exaggerate?<\/p>\n

Because exaggerations are lies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust an advertiser that speaks in vague generalities?<\/u><\/p>\n

Quality, beautiful, efficient, huge, none better.<\/p>\n

OK, what quality? How does one measure it?<\/p>\n

How beautiful? How does one measure it?<\/p>\n

None better? Isn\u2019t that another way of saying \u201cwe\u2019re the same?\u201d<\/p>\n

To gain credibility, be very specific<\/a>. You can be specific and still engage the imagination. \u201cThe vaulted ceiling is eighteen feet at it\u2019s peak \u2013 so tall even Michael Jordan couldn\u2019t jump that high.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust a braggart?<\/u><\/p>\n

A Fosdick Ad Readership study<\/a> of 14,000 business-to-business ads shows that ads boasting about the company were four times as likely to receive low readership scores.<\/p>\n

Companies who talk about themselves are like the guy at a party who won\u2019t stop talking about himself. Eventually people get turned off and leave in boredom.<\/p>\n

Congratulating yourself automatically keeps you from speaking of things of interest to your potential customer. \u201cWe\u2019re number one!\u201d<\/em> doesn\u2019t work. \u201cHere\u2019s how we can help\u201d<\/em> just might.<\/p>\n

Customers don\u2019t care how long you\u2019ve been in business, which associations you belong to, which awards you\u2019ve won, or your size vs. your competitors.<\/p>\n

As my partner, Roy Williams<\/a> has said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHeads look down and hands begin to write every time I say it in a public seminar, so I always give people time to write it down. It’s one of those things that’s so obviously true that people are surprised they never thought of it on their own. “Bad advertising is about you, your company, your product or service. Good advertising is about the customer, and what your product or service will do to change the daily world of the customer. Talk to the customer – in the language of the customer – about what matters to the customer.\u201d<\/em> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust an advertiser that advertises in a biased medium?<\/u><\/p>\n

DON’T advertise in media outlets that don\u2019t match your goals or standards.<\/p>\n

As a Democrat, would you believe anyone who advertised in a Republican newsletter?<\/p>\n

As a Christian would you believe anyone who advertised on an atheist web site?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can consumers trust you?<\/u><\/p>\n

Today’s customers aren’t just buying what you\u2019re selling, they’re also buying you. With all of the reasons not to trust advertisers, how can you be perceived as honest?<\/p>\n

Start by reaching the customer through the most truthful channel of all \u2013 her own experiences.<\/p>\n

\n

Find things your customer has experienced, and refer to those things in your ads.<\/p>\n

Promise a shopping experience that you can, and do, deliver. We call this the Personal Experience Factor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get satisfied customers to give you unscripted testimonials<\/a>. These raw, unrehearsed, and totally believable comments from other people will always have more credibility than polished and produced messages from the business owner.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And then? <\/p>\n

Tell the truth. Tell the whole truth. Even the non-complementary parts.<\/p>\n

According to the Sloan School of Management at MIT purchasers will trust the recommendations of a sponsored web site if it\u2019s clear the site will recommend competitors products. MIT\u2019s professor Glen Urban<\/a> calls this \u201ctrust based marketing.\u201d \u201cGive them as much information and advice as they need to make an informed decision<\/em>,\u201d Urban says, \u201ceven when it\u2019s not necessarily in your company\u2019s best interest.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The more truthful you are, the more comfortable, safe, and unthreatened potential customers are with you. They are more likely to purchase because they worry less about getting their money back, getting their purchase repaired, getting it delivered in a timely fashion.<\/p>\n

Call it honesty. Call it believability. Call it sincerity. Call it verisimilitude. It all comes down to this: help your potential customers to trust you, and they will buy with confidence. <\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Share This Article With A Friend.<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Probably the best definition of selling I\u2019ve ever heard came from Wizard of Ads\u00a9 partner Steve Clark, who said: \u201cSelling is the transference of confidence from the seller to the buyer.\u201dWell, advertising is selling, isn\u2019t it? Therefore, advertising should create confidence in the prospective buyer. Good advertising does. Much of it does not. Why doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3283,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions\/3283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop-my-site.com\/fishing2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}