Deceptive marketing practices are on the rise, contends a Brandweek article which includes several quotes from yours truly. In an age of increasingly jaded customers, I said the practice harms all marketers — and that it runs counter to truly engaging with consumers:
"The public is exposed to so many messages that when a growing percentage of those messages turn out to be deceptive, the result is yet another upward ratchet in consumer cynicism," said Tom Chandler, a 20-year ad copywriter and consultant based in Mount Shasta, Calif., who operates ChandlerWrites.com. "That growing suspicion of marketers and brands has become so profound, some companies can’t even get customers to open envelopes containing real documents."
Engage, Don’t Deceive
One of the pillars of engagement marketing is authenticity; deception doesn’t create engagement (for long),
There’s also the larger question of brand value; I have to ask why anyone would risk their expensive, carefully cultivated brand with a cheap trick designed to get an envelope opened?
"What I don’t understand is why organizations allow deceptive practices to undermine their carefully [and expensively] cultivated brand images in the first place," said Chandler. "I recently received a series of envelopes from a large credit-card bank where I held an account. All shared the same alarmist stamp that "Important Information" about his account was enclosed. "Of course, it wasn’t important information," Chandler said. "It was a series of cross-selling pitches. After a month or two, I canceled my account."
While some marketers will always be tempted to cut ethical corners, it’s simply not possible (nor desirable) in the engagement marketing world.
Is there a silver lining in the rising tide of misleading (however slightly) marketing practices?
For engagement marketers, I believe there is. The more jaded and fearful consumers become, the more secure your engagement marketing bond.
[...] Deceptive Marketing Practices And Your Brand: Another Argument for… "I recently received a series of envelopes from a large credit-card bank where I held an account. All shared the same alarmist stamp that… [...]
I think credit card companies will stoop to anything to get their letters opened in this age of online banking, after all, how often do you open letters from your credit card company? All mine go in the bin, even the statements.
In fact, I now put ANY mail labelled IMPORTANT in the trash can because you can be so sure it is just a marketing ploy to, as you say, get you to open that envelope!
Perhaps we are one step ahead of the multi-national companies: why waste all that paper and ink when they could open a blog for their customers with daily posts of a really interesting nature, possibly even just stories by customers (about anything!) – this would be a world-beating marketing strategy since we would welcome these rss feeds/blog posts daily, we would respect the bank for making an effort, boosting customer rapport & satisfaction, and we would be open to suggestion of some new product the bank wanted to market to us.
Especially if it was marketed as a review: “Tom from London reviews…tells us how it works for him…and how he benefits”
WOW! If banks (and other big companies) got in under our skin through blogging and story telling, well, it doesn’t bear thinking about, the huge increase in sales and profits.
And I always like to think – what a large section of forest it will protect, saving all that paper!
In all, a truly win-win-win marketing solution from zowoco!!! Thanks xxx
Quote
I’d say standards in the financial industry have not skyrocketed over the past few years, and some of their antics have been truly awe-inspiring (and not in that happy kind of way).
I’m willing to go out on a limb and suggest a credit card company blog would likely fail; most successful blogs target a pretty narrow interest group, and credit cards would be stuck creating and populating a few bazillion blogs — and competing with people who really had a passion for the subject.
Quote