Are dishonesty, stretching the truth, or white lies necessary to be a good marketer?

Posted by amabaie under Marketing
From http://www.highrankings.com 4824 days ago
Made Hot by: MrsZeus on September 8, 2011 1:32 pm

This is a great question that was posed to a large audience of marketers on FaceBook and Twitter. Read the answers and share your opinion, too.

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Comments

Written by Patricia Worth
4823 days ago

Hello Jill. I personally think that ALL marketing should be 100% transparent. And I agree with Eric. It's NOT necessary at all. If you're transparent, you don't have to 'cover up' anything, you don't have to put out fires and you don't have to know who's who. It will sort out all complications and you can 'sleep' better at night.

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Written by The Bad Blogger
4823 days ago

I just leave a long comment on this post, and my answer is it all depends how oneself look at marketing, some may be successful in lying and some can be as honest as a horse but still never make it, the world is full of scam - a life process we need to face in time.

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Written by jewel3000
4823 days ago

Compelling question. I don't think all marketers stretch the truth so much. But I am a believer in the marketing mantra, "Don't sell the steak - sell the SIZZLE." That's not necessarily the same as stretching the truth. :)

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Written by Marcana
4823 days ago

That's not stretching the truth, assuming it actually has the potential to live up to it. People want to be happy, and if they think something can help them with that, then nothing wrong with explaining how it can make a difference.

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Written by businessavante
4824 days ago

Hi David.

I read your comment before reading the text - to a person they all took the high road (of course I agree - lying is for crooks). But the people represented were all above board, all talking "best practice" - a tally of spammers & crooks might've been: "Sure - you gotta lie", or "Everyone does" (which is one way crooks justify it to themselves) - imagine a round table of '30's Chicago gangsters.

I agree about testimonials & reviews, too - they're bunkum.

Duncan

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Written by amabaie
4824 days ago

Well, naturally. The people who lie won't truthfully tell you they lie. They might avoid responding, or they might defensively lie about not lying.

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Written by amabaie
4824 days ago

For people too rushed to click through to the article, here is how I answered in the comments section on the blog.

The answer is simple.

"Yes", if your product sucks.

"No", if your product is good.

Most sales pages on the Internet are full of s**t . (Can I say that? Are we on air?) There is even a fake testimonials and fake reviews industry sprouting up (which means there is a big market for these).

One thing being in this business has taught me is not to trust any testimonials I read online.

On a rare occasion (thankfully, very rare), a client has asked if he should do this. I do not believe that is ever a good idea.

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Written by m4bmarketing
4824 days ago

Your reply was spot on David. Some testimonials are okay if you give details of the person and company so someone can contact them. Didn't know about an industry sprouting. I don't tend to trust them either especially if they are from peers and displayed on sales pages.

Susan

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