I received a bit of spam from an individual named Stephen Sands, who made me an offer I could so easily refuse. His spam began:
“With stronger web placement on the major search engines, your online results could be infinite.” That was all I needed to read to know that I never want to do business with this guy, even if he’s right. I have a kneejerk reaction to people who toss around promises with the concept “infinite” in them: I figure they’re probably just blowing smoke in the first place. They’ve got nothing and they’re trying to hype into something, so it’s no worse a lie to hype it into ‘everything.’
Perhaps Stephen Sands actually has a lot to offer, I don’t know; but his opening line made me certain that I’ll never find out.
In an atmosphere of so much competition for communications channels, the temptation to speak ‘louder’ is more intense than ever. But we also live in an atmosphere of consumerist defensiveness and distrust, where hyperbole often has a negative impact. That means we need to be both careful and thoughtful about what we claim in ads, sales literature, and other statements about products.
Careful, because some statements may have legal implications such as an implied warranty.
Thoughtful, because inflated claims create a credibility problem.
The first job of advertising and sales literature is, certainly, to get attention. But we all know from grade school that there are both productive and unproductive ways to get attention. Don’t choose a way that torpedoes the second job, which is to create the foundation for trust. If the nature of your claims is too good to be true, people won’t believe them. If the tone you set is over the top, people will be suspicious. If the crafting of the message impairs your credibility, it doesn’t matter how good your product is.
If, on the other hand, you can state some significant truths in an interesting manner, readers may trust you long enough to find out more.
Resist the temptation to hype, for truly, it is a fate worse than death. (Oops! I mean, resist the temptation to hype because you’ll probably do yourself more harm than good.)
The simplest test is to step back, look at your literature, and ask yourself, “If my competitor were saying this, would I believe it?”
“With stronger web placement on the major search engines, your online results could be infinite.” That was all I needed to read to know that I never want to do business with this guy, even if he’s right. I have a kneejerk reaction to people who toss around promises with the concept “infinite” in them: I figure they’re probably just blowing smoke in the first place. They’ve got nothing and they’re trying to hype into something, so it’s no worse a lie to hype it into ‘everything.’
Perhaps Stephen Sands actually has a lot to offer, I don’t know; but his opening line made me certain that I’ll never find out.
In an atmosphere of so much competition for communications channels, the temptation to speak ‘louder’ is more intense than ever. But we also live in an atmosphere of consumerist defensiveness and distrust, where hyperbole often has a negative impact. That means we need to be both careful and thoughtful about what we claim in ads, sales literature, and other statements about products.
Careful, because some statements may have legal implications such as an implied warranty.
Thoughtful, because inflated claims create a credibility problem.
The first job of advertising and sales literature is, certainly, to get attention. But we all know from grade school that there are both productive and unproductive ways to get attention. Don’t choose a way that torpedoes the second job, which is to create the foundation for trust. If the nature of your claims is too good to be true, people won’t believe them. If the tone you set is over the top, people will be suspicious. If the crafting of the message impairs your credibility, it doesn’t matter how good your product is.
If, on the other hand, you can state some significant truths in an interesting manner, readers may trust you long enough to find out more.
Resist the temptation to hype, for truly, it is a fate worse than death. (Oops! I mean, resist the temptation to hype because you’ll probably do yourself more harm than good.)
The simplest test is to step back, look at your literature, and ask yourself, “If my competitor were saying this, would I believe it?”