At an early age, many of us were taught the distinction between a lie and a white lie, with the latter being a socially acceptable lie – one that serves a benevolent purpose.
In fact, for years bending the truth a bit has been an acceptable marketing practice .
Remember the film Forrest Gump? Even Forrest, a prolific do-gooder, endorsed the Flex-O-Lite ping-pong paddle he never used because his mother said there was nothing wrong with a little white lie to get a nice check in return.
Times have changed. We are now surrounded by media that is doing what it does well – illuminating every aspect of our lives, past, present, and future.
The Time For 100% transparency Has Arrived
About fifteen years ago I had just completed extensive training to become a meditation instructor. It was a side business.
My primary business was operating the landscape contracting company I founded, but I was nevertheless passionate about helping others learn a practice that had greatly helped me to manage the stresses of running that seasonal business.
One of my first marketing efforts involved a presentation at a local bookstore. To my surprise, about 25 people showed up. I was pretty nervous in front of an audience back then, but things were going well – up until one gentleman in the back of the room asked me a question.
“How many folks have you taught?”
I though for a moment, took a breath and told him the truth – none.
I was crestfallen. Right or wrong, I went from feeling like a trained expert to a fraud.
About six months later I was greeting the guests for my usual weekend sessions and guess who showed up with 4 of his friends? Yep, the same guy.
At the close of the two-day workshop I asked him why he signed up for my class when he knew I didn’t have much experience as a teacher. His answer was simple and direct.
” You confirmed my intuition. You proved you were trustworthy. That’s why I’m here.”
I’ve been known to tell my share of white lies, but for some reason I just couldn’t do it that day. And it proved to be a powerful lesson.
The truth is what media demands from all of us today – especially social media, because everyone can now easily determine the difference between the truth and a little white lie. You don’t even need intuition because you have Google and many other search engines to do the work for you.
Times have indeed changed.
Learn From the Mistakes You See Every Day
If you follow the media at all you are getting a PR lesson just about every day – usually from the blunders of notables that should know better – athletes, politicians, and administrators.
Of course, we see it on a much smaller scale all around us. The most common example is making false claims – stretching the truth, or covering it up.
If you are going to call yourself an expert you had better be one. For example, can you claim expertise as a blogger if you haven’t published in months – or years?
Why claim to be something you are not when being 100% transparent can actually be more beneficial, as it was for me?
Media amplifies – and that means little white lies can become big fat ones. It’s a risk that you don’t need to take.
If you have only one customer that is enough for the one who wants to be next. And if you have 23 years of experience, that’s what you have – don’t round up to 25 because it makes for better marketing.
Learn from the hard lessons that we see in the media everyday – with many of them ending careers.
New media and search have made the little white lie a thing of the past.
Be who you are and you will earn a lot more business, not to mention the power you gain from knowing your brand is untarnished.
How about you? Are you feeling that it’s time to say goodbye to marketing as we used to know it?
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Until tomorrow, Jeff
