The Invention of Lying and Liar Liar toy with the idea of being incapable of telling a lie. What if this concept was applied to the world of marketing? What would advertisements and promotions look like?

Easy Choices

If companies were incapable of lying about their products, consumers may have an easier time with choosing a product or service. Think about it, you’re shopping for a used car and you’re torn between two selections. If the salesman was incapable of lying, he would tell you that the radiator has a crack in it, and it’s been in a flood.
Consumers spend hours shopping around and comparing products and services, but if a company is incapable of lying then those countless hours could become mere minutes.

Trust

If you can’t lie, then there is no need to be skeptical. Consumers tend to be critical by nature, but if you remove lying from the equation, then there is no need to be.

Ethics

One of the best examples for questionable ethical behavior and lying are the cigarette manufacturers. They knew for years that cigarettes were harmful and dangerous, but they continued to market them in an innocent light. If you remove lying from the equation, companies would be incapable of hiding the truth from the public. A lie-free world would create a sense of transparency. In turn, more companies may engage in ethical behavior. Those that don’t would probably lose business quickly.

Business As Usual?

So you can’t lie, big deal. Well, sometimes we need to. If you take away the ability to lie, you take away a buffer. In a lie-free world, trade secrets could be compromised, and confidentiality could cease to exist. Do you think products like Krispy Kream would exist if people knew how unhealthy they were from day one? Let’s revisit cigarettes. If consumers knew about the health risks that were associated with them from the time they were created, would anyone purchase them? Some companies need to lie to survive.

Walk The Walk

How many times have you purchased a product or a service, only to be disappointed with it later? Was it because of false promises and pretenses? If it was, a lie-free world could eliminate this issue.
People can expect so much from a company due to its marketing, but if it was completely honest, customers would know what to expect and nothing more. Puffery, which is responsible for a large portion of exaggerated expectations, would probably stop being used since it is a form of a white lie.

What’s the benefit of realistic expectations? Higher customer satisfaction. Since the customer no longer expects the product or service to deliver false promises, they can evaluate it in realistic terms and base their satisfaction off reality.

Also, customers no longer have to take a gamble when they try something new. They’ll know what sort of outcome to expect.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly…

You’ll be able to tell these businesses apart and determine if they are a good company or a bad company. If a business can’t lie, they can’t spin the facts in their favor, or if they do, they will have to tell you.

Shifting Tactics

The focus for marketing may shift from big sales to repeat business in a lie-free world. Businesses won’t be able to dazzle their customers with lies and empty promises. Instead, they’ll be forced to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of their product and figure out a way to market it to be appealing to their customers.

Over the top commercials may shift to a more dialogue oriented style where the product is described for what it is, and nothing more.

Also, the fine print and disclaimers associated with a product may change. I have a feeling that the fine print of a product would be less confusing if people were incapable of lying. Rebates and warranties would be easier to understand. Marketing promotions would be a lot more clear-cut as well.

The event was held at AMS Pictures which on initial appearance looks like a movie theater or a bowling alley. However, to our surprise and our sense of intrigue, it was actually just an office. The decor inside was incredible. We got an opportunity to take a quick tour throughout the facility with Bryce Ledbetter, an Account Director, and he got an opportunity to show off the fact that they have been graced by the presence of the likes of Ross Perot, Mark Cuban and even Barney the Dinosaur . Thanks Bryce. BTW, we hate you guys for being so awesome. All in all the event was a success and we cant wait to be in the audience for the next event.

DOWNLOAD THE SLIDES OF PRESENTATION WE GAVE HERE

It’s been proven time and time again, one such time being the day Micheal Jackson died, that the people are the people’s news outlet. Nothing new to some of us who do marketing for a living, but it baffles me that some companies still don’t believe in the power of social media.

You may not have gotten tickets but we won’t let you freeze to death outside. We will be tweeting and broadcasting live segments of the Chris Brogan Dallas Social Media Club Sponsored Event. Go to www.cornersix.com/chrisbrogan to view the live feed as well as our Twitter Stream. Please note, we cannot take credit for this anticipated even, that credit goes to The Dallas Social Media Club @dallassmc. Thanks Mike and crew!

You may also follow us on twitter @corner6labs

As usual, it is out of necessity comes innovation and sometimes it is important to go back to the drawing board for that innovation to happen. It is with that in mind that we will modify our editorial calendar and our blogging style to fit our current situation. The first thought we had was to throw more resources at the issue. However, after careful evaluation, we decided that what we need to become is more efficient and innovative.

Over the next few weeks we will putting out a series of micro-content centered around remedying internal marketing pains, SEO, Social Media Marketing Tips, tricks and observations and any other tidbit we can find that you might be interested in. The content mediums will include pod casts, web casts, quick tutorials and more. We have also engaged a few guest bloggers whose work is sure to impress even the pickiest of readers.

Stay tuned folks…

The answer is to engage them in real conversations that are not automated and based on “sending” valuable information. Don’t get me wrong, you should do the standard automated lead nurturing explained above in parallel with having real conversations with prospects. You need to do this to play in the same field, but there are many other channels to nurture leads in a two-way communication channel. Here are 6 recommendations to start doing it:

• Find the prospect on Twitter and start following them. Make sure to tweet content that is aligned to what he/she is tweeting about and re-tweet their content also.
• Find if he/she has a blog and comment on their posts.
• Find him/her on LinkedIn and join the groups he/she participates in. Post questions and comments on those groups. Answer and comments his/her posts.
• Find them on other industry relevant online communities and engage with them there.
• Don’t invite them to become friends/contacts right away, engage in a conversation first and then connect with them.
• Once you connect with them in LinkedIn,  forward them profiles of people that could become their customers and offer them to make an inintroduction

Happy New Year!!!

Jose Guerra
Principal

- C6 Team

Tell us what you think. Should he quit his day job?

My recommendation is to pick three objectives for 2010 and create an appropriate mix of marketing activities and programs around them.  Start by taking the time to identify 2010 business goals, then look at your resources and constraints to identify the marketing programs you need and have the capacity to work on. You will probably have more ideas and initiatives that you ca handle , so pay attention to the three main objectives an make tough decisions. You may not get to go to your favorite trade show, or have enough budget to sponsor that golf tournament, or have enough people to effectively do some social media marketing.   But all that is ok, thanks to the nature of social media and many other online marketing programs you may now shift some marketing resources to these activities that will allow you to do more, accomplish more and spend less. You will probably be pushed to prove ROI for these initiatives, which is fine and should not hold you back because most online and social media marketing initiatives can easily be tracked and proved to be more profitable that many other traditional marketing programs. Below are 6 links to B2B marketing news, online marketing tips and resources related to social media ROI to consider in your 2010 plan:

• How NOT to network in LinkedIn
• Measuring Social Media ROI: Why it fails
• Microsoft Outlook To Become More LinkedIn
• Call centers target for social media
• LinkedIn Launches Custom Groups For Marketers
• Basics Of Social Media ROI

Check out this video, it is a must watch if you want to understand how to address Social media ROI.

Exito

Jose Guerra
Principal