How honest is your tone and communication style?
Does the information you provide earn trust?
These are critical questions to ask yourself because your customer is very savvy, suspicious and intuitive today. They have wised up to the fake and they’re not afraid to tell you, tell others and walk away altogether.
Here’s why being genuine is so critical in marketing and what that even means.Prefer to listen, rather than read? Here’s the Podcast summary!
Marketing has come a long way – so has your audience.
Decades ago, brands called the shots. People were incredibly influenced by basic commercials on TV. “Eat this cereal.” “Buy these shoes.” And then they did! Consumers revolved around advertising because it was so prominent and so powerful.
The tables have turned: advertising now revolves around individuals. The abundance of choice, the multitude of platforms and profusion of information has put them very much in charge, making their attention more valuable than gold. Marketing now has to prove its value and be worth their interest, or they won’t spare it a second’s glance.
The abundance of choice, the multitude of platforms and profusion of information has given your customers extreme power today.
Let me explain.
Have you seen the comments section?
Nothing proves my point more than user comments under an advert or social media post.
It appeared a bit forced.
Then I looked to the comments section, and people were actually tagging the influencers featured in that advert. I clicked and they were all gym enthusiasts who were professional bodybuilders long before this supplement came along yet were claiming the product was the reason why they were so fit! The comments section was (understandably) full of people accusing them of this. One user tagged the influencer, and said: “how much did they pay you to say this? As if these tablets made you sweat like a waterfall like you said!”
Sure, there are always nasty commenters out there. It’s a sad reality of today.
However, there were a lot of people calling the brand out for being ingenuine, presenting a false scenario – and I have to admit, I feel they were right. I’m sure this cost them quite a lot of sales.First of all – there was absolutely no way that the model in the advert had never used skincare. But worse was, everyone in the comments section was saying the same and mocking the poor acting. I’m pretty much certain that this product lost a lot of sales because of this too.
Here’s the “What if”
What if these brands had have taken a more genuine approach?
Instead of the claiming the buff guy or the model were transformed by this miracle cure, that they showed a more legitimate message?
For instance, the skincare brand could present a real case study of someone using the product over a month and showing the difference. If it really worked, then there wouldn’t be a problem showing it for audiences to see.
What if the supplement brand showed actual evidence? Or it was honest that the people in the video used the supplement to enhance their gym routines rather than touting it as the miracle cure.
Yes, while marketing’s goal is to highlight the best of something, all of this reiterated something for me: being genuine is really important.Genuine marketing has more weight than most brands realise
This got me thinking: customers respond best when they can resonate with a genuine message.
Customers respond best when they can resonate with a genuine message.
Customers today want to understand the substance of a brand so they can decide if they want to be associated with it. This can include elements like corporate social responsibility.
Before you think: “well, my brand isn’t curing cancer. We’re just here to just do a good job”, that’s exactly what I mean. You can be genuine about this.
When you stand for being there to perform a quality service or provide a great product, and you show it through your marketing, people start to notice. They flock to you, actually. Why? Because you’re in it for the right reasons and customers prefer this.
Conversely, if you lie, stretch the truth and make false claims, people see through it and they aren’t afraid to call you on it.What’s the point of this blog?
They aren’t stupid and they have a natural instinct for detecting the false from the real.
Yep, marketing always has a spin. Marketing messages are designed to focus on benefits to spur a reaction from an audience. However, don’t push it into a point where you’re hoping people fall for it. Don’t make false claims or set up false scenarios and hope they won’t notice.
They do notice.
And they tell both you and the world.
This is why influencer marketing is starting to lose its power with audiences today. While it was genuine originally, today, businesses pay big dollars for endorsements that are often not legitimate. The person speaks highly of a product that they’ve never used before and people have wised up to this.Being genuine is the way forward if you want to earn long-term trust with your audience.
7 ways to be more genuine with your marketing
So, how do you make your marketing more genuine? Try some of these tips.
1. Be firm with your brand’s vision – this is the purpose behind your brand.
2. Know your audience’s purpose too – they like to associate with brands that share their personal “why”
3. Create content that shows examples of your purpose – such as posts that demonstrate your team enacting your vision. This could be giving to charity, spending time listening to clients or collaborating together in a supportive environment.
5. Network with like-minded brands that share similar passions as this will help you leverage off other similar groups.
6. Sense check your message – have a professional marketing copywriter offer you some external perspective
7. Hire a professional marketing copywriter to help create genuine content that connectsHow Can Melotti Media Help You?
To engage your customer and achieve ongoing business success today, you need a powerful message, quality copywriting and consistent content. However, this is easier said than done.
Perhaps you’re time poor and spread thin, or writing may not be your expertise.
So, let us take care of your message marketing, copywriting and content marketing needs!
For more information or to speak to a quality marketing copywriter to get the results your business deserves, contact me now at enquire@melottimedia.com.au.
Our Message Marketing services can sharpen your words to achieve your goals, today.Melotti Media | Copywriting & Message Marketing Bureau
www.melottimedia.com.au