New marketers are the key to consumer trust
As marketing professionals, we all want to promote our products and services as the best. It’s our job to increase revenue or bring in more clients, but many inexperienced, new marketers don’t realize that using superlatives such as “we’re the best” or “we have the highest quality” can be very dangerous – and sometimes illegal.
You hear it on the radio, see it on TV and billboards, and read it online and in print. It’s a very common mistake when you rely on media sales staff to write your script. These media companies typically don’t know the laws in your industry. They don’t know your products or services better than you do, so they oftentimes just say the only thing they can come up with… claims that your product is superior without substantiation, and it’s a slippery slope best to avoid.
When you claim your company is the best, you may have to prove it or face consequences. Your competitor may challenge your claim in court. And in many highly regulated industries – healthcare, legal, pharmaceutical – your company could face significant fines and even risk losing its license. As a professional marketer, you have the responsibility to protect your company (and yourself) from that happening.
Find the niche
The most important thing you can do as a marketer is find out what your company’s competitive advantage is. Where does your company excel?
- Did your company establish a product or service in the industry? (If you were the first one, be sure to use “premiere” rather than “premier” to avoid claims)
- Does your company serve a special population, clientele, or geographic location?
- Is your company’s culture something unusual where you can use a different voice or strategy to stand out?
- Is your customer service or return policy something that removes buyer angst?
You don’t have to be the top dog in your industry to gain a loyal following and build a successful company. Look at Häagen–Dazs® Ice Cream. They didn’t have to go head-to-head against Breyers. They created their niche, priced it at a higher value for a discerning consumer, and created a subset within their industry: micro-batch ice cream.
You’re the best, so back it up
But you really ARE the best, right? Some ranking agency has told you so. J.D. Powers & Associates or U.S. News & World Report has dubbed your company the best in a specific category. Just about every industry has an organization that recognizes outstanding companies in the field. In those cases, it’s perfectly fine to toot your horn. When you promote your company’s achievements, do so ethically and transparently:
- Use the exact verbiage used by the accrediting organization to promote your accolades
- Provide a link to how their methodology came about to determine your company’s ranking
- Disclose in footnotes whether or not you paid the company a fee or were required to pay for membership in the organization to be included in the ranking
- Be mindful of the dates for which your company received the awards
- Never, ever, ever Photoshop an award banner/logo to update it from a previous year to another year even if your company qualifies for that year
He can huff and puff, but don’t let him blow the house down
Avoid puffery, even if your CEO is pressuring you to do so. Writing content that makes claims you can’t back up can cost you your customers and damage your reputation. If you’re a smaller company with standard technologies and your competitors have the newest and shiniest technologies, avoid saying you have the “highest quality” because you actually don’t. That can be a tough pill to swallow especially when that higher quality technology costs millions of dollars. You may have the highest quality in your town, but if your customer traditionally migrates out of town for the same services or products, then you’ve lost.
When I worked at one company, my then-CEO asked me to promote our new CT scanner to the community using the term “most advanced technology” while our competition 20 miles away had newer, more advanced equipment. Out-migration patterns proved that patients sought medical care in the competition’s area because they had a higher level of care. Therefore, I couldn’t promote our technology as the “most advanced” because our clients’ out-migration pattern determined that our market share included that competition’s geographic location. More “advanced technology” than what we offered was within reach for our patients, and they were willing to drive to get it.
So the solution is to transparently promote the benefits of what you DO offer as well as your competitive advantages.
Keep in mind, customers and competitors are watching. Some will report you to the Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau, or your licensing agency.
As a marketing professional, stick to your ethical guns, provide evidence why you shouldn’t go down that path, and provide an alternative to your boss.
The American Marketing Association has a Code of Ethics that marketing professionals vow to uphold. One of the key tenets is “Represent products in a clear way in selling, advertising and other forms of communication; this includes the avoidance of false, misleading and deceptive promotion.” This is essential because so many times, consumers lose confidence in companies based on what we do and say as marketers.
Be the best – at your job as a professional marketer
When I was learning marketing 20+ years ago, there were no stand-alone courses in college about marketing ethics. We learned on the job, through trial and error, and by professional organizations teaching us values. Maybe, just maybe a college professor mentioned it in class one day.
There are still plenty of unsavory marketers out there, scamming people, breaking the rules, and shattering customer confidence. Don’t be them. Rise above it all and be ethical, transparent, and trustworthy as a marketing professional. If you’re reading this blog, you are taking the first step to becoming the future of ethical marketers.
PEARLHUNTER • Margaret D. Minuth 