Is Your Business a Lie?
What you see should be what you get
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I like to explore new businesses when they come to town.
I’d seen Grand Opening ads on TV, and in our newspaper, for a particular store that appeared to have some items I was interested in, so I thought I’d check them out.
Imagine my surprise when I got to the store and discovered that the physical plant looked nothing like what I saw in the ads.
Make An Honest Presentation
Creative camera angles were used to make shelves look fuller and longer than they actually were.
The huge selection that appeared on TV was dwarfed when confronted with things in actual size.
Sort of like seeing your favorite movie star that you thought was over six feet tall, only to find they are much shorter.
I began to wonder how much money this store owner had spent trying to make the best possible first impression, when he or she must have known that the business image had been greatly embellished.
Or were they only seeing what they wanted to see? No matter what the reasoning, the point is still the same.
When you present your image to a customer, in the form of advertising, it must be an accurate image.
Advertising and Marketing Messages Are Tools.
Advertising and marketing are, in a sense, employees of your company.
Their job is to bring customers into your place of business to make a purchase and tell their friends about their positive shopping experience.
Their other job is to build confidence in potential customers before they arrive at your doorstep.
I brought one of the stores’ ads with me, and asked one of the clerks about the sale that had caught my eye.
The employee looked at me like a deer caught in headlights.
He looked at the ad, then back at me, and told me he had not seen the ad and would have to check and see where the item was, and if it was actually in stock.
As it turned out they were out of the item because they had underestimated the power of the ad and…
