Creating Honest Content Marketing

August 21, 2008 · Comments

Yellow Place Content marketing has an opportunity, should you decide to take it. Instead of going the route of old marketing, you who create content with the intent of building business relationships could try going the route of being honest, being genuine, being human. It’s no more difficult than the alternative: crafting something that’s dishonest but perhaps shinier. The thing is, if you start with honest and genuine, there’s a chance that people will give you extra points for it, in the longer run.

In a recent post, Seth Godin offers some storytelling suggestions, and the best of it is at the bottom of the post:

Start with the truth. Identify the worldview of the people you need to reach. Describe the truth through their worldview. That’s your story. When you overreach, you always fail. Not today, but sooner or later, the truth wins out. Negative or positive, the challenge isn’t just to tell the truth. It’s to tell truth that resonates.

In her post about a series of viral videos created by OfficeMax, B.L. Ochman quotes Vinny Waren about how words get shifted one notch higher in marketing speak: “..funny becomes HILARIOUS. and interesting becomes FASCINATING.”

That’s exactly where the troubles start.

Keith Burwell writes on Better Closer about GM’s employee discount pricing program, and the fact that we all know that just means they’re not selling enough cars.

See a thread here?

Make your creations honest and open. Why not? It strikes me that most things would work better that way. Am I wrong?

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  • Chris--thanks for the ping. And that is exactly the point. I think that honesty drives loyalty. Loyalty drives business expansion. Expansion drives reputation and closes the loop. It's all about creating long term relationships, not simply transactions.
  • How often have we seen this mistake repeated?

    The Internet and social media is making it easier and easier to evaluate the depth and honesty of brands, people, and services.

    If you try to fake us out--we won't tell you that your busted--we'll just click to your authentic and *honest* competitor.
  • I am new to blogging and learning a lot from you whenever I am able to keep up with your prolific posts! I saw a passing Tweet wishing you Happy Birthday. This "comment" is just HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
  • I find many companies are guided by their agencies who have been used to the shout-- which as you point out is often the reason the descriptive/creative gets exaggerated. Too often companies are looking to control which leads to something other than the truth. It is hard for companies to think about ways they can be informed by their customers rather than them informing the customer. Understanding social media at a contextual level is hard from companies to embrace, because as one exec shared "its spinning out of our control" yes-- but how do you engage in a way your customers want.

    Truth, authenticity and honesty all resonate in the language used by companies-- having a way for them to get insight on the language to use is key-- the language problem reminds me of the lyrics in the men at work song "Down Under" do you speak my language-- she just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich. The she is the company in this metaphor simply smiling and trying to do what they want to do.

    Thanks for the post-- great stuff.
  • Hi Liz-- That Tweet thing says happy birthday to anyone who uses the word "birthday" in a tweet. I just sent happy Birthday to @shelisrael. Sorry. Mine's in April : )

    @Keith- really a big fan of your work.

    @Dan- You're spot on. There's a change coming. And if people don't get behind it, it'll be like the dinosaurs all wondering why the wooly mammoths are all dressed up.
  • Chris,

    Totally agree. Using clear and simple language has been my main push with anyone that I have worked with on messaging strategy as well. I've worked with many tech companies over the years, and they can be the worst with using inflated language - the end result is that they all sound the same. Everyone offers "bundled solutions" because you don't just want to sell product, you need re-occurring income. As a copywriter, I refuse to use certain terms and words when writing, because they are so overused and meaningless.
  • Re: "Make your creations honest and open. Why not? It strikes me that most things would work better that way. Am I wrong?"

    If you don't have a persons' best interests at heart, we're going to find out sooner than later! And if we don't like you for the bad person that you are, in today's information age it's easier (REAL easy!) to move on and find someone else who's going to deliver a better brand experience!
  • All I can really say to both the blog and the comments is . . .

    AMEN!

    It's so nice to find people with the same points of view. :)
  • sebastianfranck
    Chris, reading this post warms my heart immensely. I love the wide-eyed innocence of your closing: "Make your creations honest and open. Why not? It strikes me that most things would work better that way. Am I wrong?"

    Honesty and openness. Two of the most important virtues of any marketer - and that means any business. And in this post you practice what you preach.

    Forgo the posturing, embrace humility. The world of business and the world at large will be the better for it.
  • Honesty is a big problem in the advertising world. Us advertisers try the best we can to be honest but sometimes we need to exaggerate things a bit to gain attention and to stand out.
  • Hi Chris. I totally agree. One of the reasons I'm so hopeful about web strategy and social media is the balance of power it creates between brands and consumers.

    While hyperbole and creative exaggeration (not lying) may still be a necessary component of mass media print and broadcasting--in the online world advertisers can quiet down, get to the point, and talk like real people.

    I've found that the advertising agencies I consult, the ones that have been doing all the "shouting" and overstating (at best) are themselves refreshed by the more human interchange of social media--once they understand it.

    An article by Lynn Upshaw last year in AdvertisingAge expressed the impact of conversational media on traditional adverting. (I think you have to register to get this-- http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id...).

    Thanks for your post!
  • I completely agree here, social media is marketing for the people by the people. I wish there were better ways to limit the amount of spam created through twitter along with other social networks to make it a more human network. Some companies are creating products which address the problem but I would like to see less automation and more genuine connection.

    Recommendations from people I know are human and trust, make me 10 times more curious and accepting of the product or service.

    Plus they don't exaggerate like ad companies.
  • Chris,

    I'm a long time reader, first time poster. I absolutely agree. Honesty and transparency are prerequisites. Nobody gets away with anything less these days. If the product or service you're marketing and/or selling doesn't measure up... fix it or kill it.
  • Thanks for the shout out. Ad agencies just don't want to believe that social media = media+opinion: our opinion, not theirs. We're bombarded with so much hype that we tune it out.

    No overkill is required when content and copy are great. You don't need to tell people what to think.
  • I'd just like to share that not all Marketing Firms/Ad Agencies operate in what's considered the "traditional" fashion. Some still do believe in honesty, open communication and integrity and they did long before online networks, communities and social media came into play.

    And it's so much better now that buyers are more aware and educated not only about products but even about entire industries before making purchases. I am personally thankful for the tremendous increase in personal consumer research as well as all the sharing about the positive and negative aspects regarding businesses, products ands services.

    Sometimes advertisers and sales figures need to learn to simply stop selling and start sharing and educating.
  • So glad this is in your "Best of". So simple and on point. A classic.
  • joramarentved
    No, you don't seem wrong to me, you're onto something, & even if my experience is that money can officially exist as no true ↔ happiness, for your own sake, please re-ceive some more info of mine, so that I can of course tell & e.g. help us both etc. find out, what a future is, based on, why we're honest, even with ourselves, each other etc.
    Greetings, 'J.A.,' Santiago, Chile.
    arentved@in.com.
  • kcheyfitz
    Here's the problem, Chris. Like you, I believe in and practice honesty and nothing but honesty. But I think we all need to come to grips with the power of a lie to resist truth-telling, especially if the lie fits with someone's preconceived ideas.

    The current national debate over health insurance reform -- a debate being conducted across all media -- is a great lesson about truth and lies. The Harris poll on September 21 startled me by reporting that "large numbers of people...believe damaging misinformation about the health care proposals..." Specifically, Harris cited a few complete untruths that are widely believed, including:
    32% believe the president’s proposed reforms would phase out Medicare
    25% believe the president’s plans would “promote euthanasia to keep costs down”
    And so on....

    I was surprised, frankly, that such large numbers of people believe such patently false assertions. But there it is.

    I'm convinced, of course, that this kind of magical thinking extends well beyond healthcare. Unfortunately, lies can be indistinguishable from the truth and no one can rely solely on the online zeitgeist to keep the record straight. Quite often, large communities are dead wrong about a fairly large number of things. The common wisdom is not always wise.

    What do we -- as people, citizens, marketers -- do about this? Well, naturally, we remain open and honest. But beyond that, we need to create a renewed respect for information over disinformation; a new community of support for verifiable facts.

    Any ideas about how we do this would be welcome, of course.
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