The main trap of marketing and PR or what happens if you lie

I continue to talk about human marketing. When England entered World War II, there was a very remarkable episode. Military propaganda is something that not everyone usually does not always believe. Official channels downplay losses, exaggerate successes. I'm not sure about the numbers right now, but the very first radio message from the front about air combat was about 40 British fighters being shot down. Later, information came that less - 34. A couple of days later they found another pilot who made an emergency landing.

The people of England began to believe in what was broadcast on the radio. Because it was noticeable that they were not trying to lie. Moreover, the Germans also focused on their reports.

There is the first iron principle of good marketing and PR - never promise a gram more than you can do. And never lie. It’s worth it to get a little carried away - and at some point you will begin to deceive yourself.

"Wolves, wolves!"

Why can't you lie? The first reason is that a reverse reaction is developing. Compare the two headings. Here is Alizar’s topic: “Pornhub, Redtube, and Youporn have joined a general protest with a symbolic“ slowdown ”in the Internet.” He slightly reframmed the headline: not “everyone is doing the action here”, but chose the words that attracted the most attention. The meaning has changed a bit. He has such a job, to make the news interesting - he does not affect them, only changes the angle. And here is another good old example - “Accelerating the loading of Windows for fun and profit”. Sounds against the backdrop of such big names of topics as some kind of kindergarten from the sandbox, right? No, rating +500, see for yourself - habrahabr.ru/post/106684 . Why? Because a wave of enthusiasm for how cool it is inside.

A trailer should not be better than a movie. An innovative, unparalleled unique phone - there are twelve of these in a dozen.

About the announcements, there is one more thing. They are very fond of marketers and PR specialists. The fact is that in environments with high criticality (for example, on Habré) you can coolly announce what is not yet available. Because the advantages are obvious, but you won’t get to the bottom of the problems - the device is not in the hands. A fairy tale of pure water, but it works. I won’t poke my finger, but the next time you announce something insanely cool new, just keep this fact in mind.

The difference is between a hamburger on a billboard and in reality. Something personally your flat, faded and a bit dumb. We must go out and look again at the shield.

“We guarantee that we will do it in 48 hours. Do you want right now with you, have 15 minutes? ”

The second reason is disappointment with perfectly converging impressions or a discovered flaw. To promise more, give less is the path of one sale. If your business is based on selling at least 2-3 products to the same person (telephones, haircuts, board games, food, etc.), you are not interested in taking one and hiding in horror, but to get him back. And he returned again. And further.

So, when you pick up a new phone and expect from it the coolest in the world right by the announcement, and it slows down when viewing a photo - this is hellishly unpleasant. When you find more and more small chips - this is a completely different calico. My old Nokia knew such usability that HTC Hero did not know how - if I deleted the capital letter and typed a new one, the capital letter was printed again. But Hero had perfect mobile mail. And in the Apple reader, when you copy a sentence ending in a word, the transfer of which goes to the next page, it gets to the clipboard completely. Such trifles give rise to emotions.

On the other hand, when you too aggressively announce something, reality can also give in the face from the foot. Even if the product is exactly the same as intended, there will be no feeling of delight from discoveries.

“This is the best microwave.”

The third reason is that when you lie, your employees know this. Sellers. And they begin to lie to the customer about your product. And this is very unpleasant. Like any lie, it takes away the resources of memory and emotions. Further employees do not hate you for this, but themselves. Then, of course, you too, but first yourself. It becomes impossible to work. There is no purpose. Motivation falls - and the person either leaves or opposes leadership. For example, he steals, because these bastards got caught up there, tripling the Chinese goods.

Confidence in your product is the first part of internal marketing, and I will talk about this a bit later. Now the main thing is to understand that there is no better sale than sincere. When the seller is confident in the product and would buy it himself, this is felt. With this, you always need to start internal marketing. The easiest way is to start publishing a combat leaflet and raising information about what the company is doing, why, and how the actions of one department influenced the other. Everyone likes to see the result.

“It turned out even better”

The fourth reason to do well is that we live in a social world. In a game with closed information between sellers and buyers, the latter have the opportunity to exchange pieces of extracted data. A specific example is the same reviews. Guess when there will be more positive reviews - when will users themselves find something cool, or when will they wait for this from the marketing booklet?

Practice

So you:
- Do not step back from the truth. Not because you can be checked and taken for a causal place, but because it is unprofitable.
- Underestimate the merits of your product in markets where there is more than one purchase per person.
- Open information about the actions of the company when it is needed.

Example 1, attention grabbing.2011, we have a novelty for geeks (the first geek game released by us). We are silent as partisans until the release. One of the representatives of the audience finds the game in the store 12 days after the release. Photographs, spreads the topic. The community rejoices in the game and is outraged, as we have not told them so. Begins to follow our news. What, in fact, I wanted to get. It is a surprise to get more than you expect. This strategy is good to learn from Apple with their old presentations.

Example 2, stars.Different people regularly knock on me with a proposal to do co-branding. In the sense, to exchange mail databases - we advertise them in our mailing list, they are in our - us. Usually this is a stock or some kind of freebie. I always ask if they are ready for me to become their first client before the newsletter, and then I will tell you everything in detail and honestly. With all the stars at the top of the letter in capital letters, with my personal opinion. One way or another. And - you know - something they merge. The principle is very simple: I can only tell my clients what I’m sure of.

Example 3, not mine. The online food store puts a small gift in each delivery. A can of cola, a big beautiful apple, a chocolate coin, and so on. I have a friend in VKontakte who is extremely sober and knows much more about social engineering than some experts. She posted a photograph of the package and wrote that this concern touched her. This is a little more than you expected.

Example 4, negotiation.Today, I rarely have negotiations longer than 20 minutes - we are extremely open, contractors are open (or we send them three letters). We immediately ask for numbers and talk about our intentions. We are not afraid of the word "no." So, while we were going to such Zen, it turned out that big serious guys believe much more if you warn them about the risks. Well, like: “We will do it, everything will be buzzed by chiki-bunches, I give a tooth” - this is a good setting. But even stronger: "We will do this and this, and here it depends on the supplier, we can spend a day." The interlocutor understands that you are not trying to “paralyze him" and for the first time in your life is glad that someone is telling the truth before taking money from him. Everyone is happy. One recognized truth about your flaw makes all other realistic promises instantly much more reinforced. If you are not afraid to talk about cons - it means that the rest in your opinion is balanced and justified. In business, to warn the counterparty about the risks is real happiness.

The most constructive dialogue after the jamb:
- Why such a garbage with a circulation?
- I’m a moron, I didn’t look at the original layout.
And that’s it. No attempt to knock down the joint, no sharing of guilt. The funniest thing is you won’t get to the bottom. And while you think, the continuation follows:
- Today in the night we will collect a new batch, close pre-orders, tomorrow at 16:00 there will be a main circulation.
Clear and understandable. Nice to work with such people, right?

Example 5, delivery.Every day we have minor disputes in the wording. Once we signed up with a new shipping company. Seryoga, the head of the online store, sends the update to the site - everywhere “from 3 days”. I slow down the update, please send at least once to the indicated regions and only then indicate the period more realistic. Seryoga says that it’s not necessary, he already watched the tracks at the talks. Depending on the season from 3 to 14 days. But he is afraid that 14 is a very dofig. As a result, we write with a fork, it was enough to explain the position above. Will come in 5 days - there will be delight. Will come for 14 - will be approx. All is well.

Example 6, a tech support case.This is an abstraction that we drove to business class in Cape Town. You are a local Euroset, a customer who buys the first large-screen shovel phone on the market is knocking on your support. He says that she wanted him, but he sits down in a day. Explicit marriage in her opinion.

The Arabs of my group decide to send a client - like, excuse me, this is the peculiarity, "grandmas are clothed." Nadine-Marie from Lake understands that it is necessary to explain in detail that this is a retribution for a large beautiful bright screen; Like, not a marriage, but a feature. Germans from Lufthansa offer a refund with an apology. I defend my decision for a very long time, almost to a fight: explain to the client according to the version of Nadine, offer a return according to the script of Chris, give a discount on any next phone or on a second battery, and clearly indicate in the seller’s script that the client should be told what the charge is this shaitan machine lasts a maximum of one and a half days. And to offer along with it immediately by selling the battery. I’m sure I would have earned more and the customers would have been happy. Check, due to the abstraction of the case, failed, of course. And I'm still upset that we decided not to waste time on this client - I just give a tooth, she would always take the phones from us for another 5-6 years. On the way home I read the exact same case about "Newman and Marcus" and the return of the dress, which sat down after washing. The owner lost about 40 thousand dollars, and the client then bought for tens of years by several million.

Example 7, a situation of knowingly losing.Our sales training, situation analysis. A person comes into the store and asks for a game that obviously does not exist. But then it is in the Children's World in two blocks. The first attempt is to unobtrusively propose an analogue. If you need a specific position - print a map and explain where to find someone else's store. For most sellers, it sounds like idiocy. But let's look at the options from the point of view of game theory: the seller can try to tell that no one has such a position. To lie. Result - the client learns the truth (but hard not to find out) and is offended. Less three years of shopping with us in expectation. The seller can do nothing by simply saying that there is no game. The client will leave, everything is at zero. Then he will find somewhere or forget it. The seller can advise someone else's store. The buyer will go and buy his position. And will be happy. And will remember that we are so frostbitten that we help even in such cases. Guess where he will go next time to buy a friend's birthday present? That's why we recommend doing just that. But at the same time, we know that only a very well-understanding seller will do this - although, for example, they checked the distant Samara a week ago, and advised there.

Example 8, emergency envelopes.Large companies are constantly on the verge of public scandal. When and what happens is unclear. An example is a recent unexpected man with mail. Each emergency package includes somewhere at the level of 30 minutes from the fall of services or the discovery of a global problem the item "provide maximum information about what happened to the PR department." The next step - PR opens this information to the call center, experts, users or journalists. Look at the topic about draining Yandex passwords - dozens of assumptions on incomplete data, when as a clear and sober certainty of employees I am very happy. And - openness. Nobody plays the unconscious. The problem is openly confirmed in the comments, it is indicated that they are engaged, the time is indicated when there will be more information. Information comes - a response topic in the same vein. There is a ready-made solution inside Yandex, to block mail until the password is changed - someone thought in advance that the ass is happening. And compare with the answer to a similar unanticipated mail.ru. Google also gave the postanalyst in the spirit of "there was no need to worry so much."

The strategy is that in case of problems there will always be losses. If you are silent as partisans and say that it’s all a lie and vile insinuations, the truth will still be revealed. The optimal game is to quickly accept minimal losses, that is, immediately recognize everything and say what is being done. During the leaks of the iCloud photo, those stars who immediately joked and recognized the situation won more than those who tried to say that they were fakes.

The problem is in the client service - it’s not scary. This is, in fact, an occasion to strengthen relations with the client. An adequate person understands that garbage sometimes happens. And if from the first minutes they understand him and begin to solve the issue - this is very cool. By the way, technical support of providers, I’m for you, yes.

Back to England

Yes, but about England at the beginning of the war and the loss of 40 aircraft - I am almost sure that there was a catch. Their social engineer most likely intentionally exaggerated the losses in the first report in order to gain the trust of his people. For better or worse, I don’t know.