This is a chapter heading in the wonderful new book, Naked Conversations, an eye opening discussion on how blogs (=web logs like this one) continue to change lives - business and personal.
A central theme of Naked is how blogs are forcing businesses to be more transparent in the way they market and advertise. This is a good thing, because I for one never know what to believe anymore when a marketer starts talking. And it's not just me.
"Whatever happened to honesty in business?" they ask on the back cover.
There are countless examples of companies who have hidden the truth in their advertising and promotion, and some of those deceptions were discovered and made known to the unsuspecting public by bloggers.
Many people who are in a deception mode when they try to sell an idea, product or program, use descriptions like "white lies" or "tell her on a need-to-know basis," or they focus on an exaggerated fear of loss. (See "You are Pre-Approved" for the low-down on the cheap trick Chase Bank played on me.)
Be transparent. That's what authors Scoble and Israel advise all marketers and advertisers. That includes us promoting our business and products.
Transparent means not hiding things that someone will eventually discover later, which they will not like. Rememeber the yummie-looking fat red strawberries at the top of the basket, but then after you get home and unseal the plastic cover, you find the mildewy small ones at the bottom?
NOT a transparent transaction. You didn't get what they made you think you were getting, did you? And of course you found out later, AFTER you got home and had already made the purchase. I know I look extra hard at the sides and bottoms of these fresh fruit containers now, except when I shop at places where I know they would NEVER knowingly do that.
Now cut to our business. How was the business presented to you? Did they tell you the yummie good stuff, and kind of wait until later to tell you the maybe not so yummie stuff? Or maybe they never told you at all and make you feel like it's somehow YOUR fault? Like how much work it really takes to make a go of the business? Or how hard it is to find a good business builder?
I've offered a short list of things, that people often "forget" to mention when they're promoting the business. In case.
Lack of transparency. That's one BIG reason people don't trust marketers, advertisers and promoters. Including network marketer recruiters. We're perceived as less than transparent for reasons we all know and maybe have been guilty of ourselves.
Assignment:
What would you tell a prospective recruit today about your business, so that you'd feel like your presentation is transparent?
