5 Simple Steps to Start Marketing Honest & Often

I believe that most consumers do not trust large older companies due to decades of ad-embellishing throughout the Great Advertising Era. Furthermore, I believe that for decades consumers have been actively searching for ways to circumvent companies they do not like or trust. Today, innovation has stepped in and opened up a market that was quickly monopolizing. A short history:

1995 eBay.com

Consumers could buy and sell items online to other consumers. With one fair swoop eBay brought us back in time to a place where people bought things from other people and not from conglomerates. Step one.

1999 3rd Party Review Sites

I can't say with exactness which site came first, but Epinions.com was the amongst the first online 3rd party review websites. This was an epoch moment in the surge of customer empowerment. You now had access to organic and neutral 3rd party reviews*. Step two.

2002 Friendster, Myspace & LinkedIn

These were the early players in the social media market. Any person with an internet connection could be heard by their peers. Nobody even understood at this point the power their opinion had. Step three.

2006, 2007 & 2008 Twitter becomes Twitter and The Facebook becomes Facebook

I was a late adopter, but I remember my girlfriend (now wife and mother of my daughter) said something so pivotal to me. My phone carrier was taking advantage of me and I was complaining to her about it. She said, "Tweet it out."

As simple as that - I sent out a tweet about my discontent and wouldn't you know it, I got a phone call from my carrier apologizing. After decades of large corporations taking advantage of fine print and contracts. We now have a power that even lawyers don't have - unless they use Twitter. Companies have been forced to be transparent all because we now have a voice. Step four.

2008 Social Economy

All of these things were combined in 2008 to create Airbnb. One of the most successful peer-to-peer selling platforms that became an epidemic now known as the sharing economy.

I was writing this article when I found a Ted Talk featuring Rachel Botsman addressing reputation as a currency. Rachel dawned upon the underlying reason why C2C business works: Trust & Reputation. Why else would you get in a car with a stranger or let someone stay at your house? You have to assume that their reputation is at stake.

Sites like Airbnb or Uber not only allow purchasers to review sellers, but sellers to review purchasers. A mutual review system where everyone has their reputation at stake - so be on your best behavior! It has created a new form of trust so powerful you'd let a stranger sleep in your bed while you are away.

It has created a new form of trust so powerful you'd let a stranger sleep in your bed while you are away.

As a person, I don't like generalizations that are not backed up with facts. I made one in my first sentence stating, "most consumers don't trust larger older companies." If you think about it, it is difficult to argue. How else would all these C2C social-sharing companies become so successful if people weren't looking for alternatives? There are 500,000 Airbnb stays per night and one million Uber rides per day. Sounds pretty successful.

I started my business in late 2008 and I was tired of being lied too, especially in my travels. Tourists are a prime target for scammers as they are micro-term residents. I decided that transparency of our products would be among my main priorities - I wanted everyone to know what they were getting. It was just a concept that piggy-backed off this idea of reputation as a currency, but I myself later defined it in three words and an ampersand.

Market Honest & Often

It is simple, but beautiful. It describes how I feel about business and how I want to portray our brand, The Roman Guy - to our audience, you. It also creates a simple rule for my team. Market us as we are, as often as possible.

Here are 5 simple steps to start marketing Honest & Often.

1 - Define Your Values

This is more business advise, but it is a quintessential part of your marketing mix. If your business is successful you need to understand why. That why is the reason you are doing well and should be part of your core values. These core values should become your foundation which should always be present in all of your internal and external marketing. I have spoken about this in many other posts as it is the most important part of your marketing strategy. I read The Advantage by Lencioni and have converted to his school of thought - I recommend you do too.

Don't over complicate your values. They should come naturally. When Lencioni talks about defining values he states that they differentiate you from your competitors. What makes you unique.

Once you've defined your core values, maybe 3 or 4 things, you can sow them into the fabric of your branding. The words, messaging, colors, pictures and faces should convey those values. You don't have to share them externally, but portray them in your marketing mix.

When you create marketing materials and campaigns you should ask yourself if everything is aligned with your value system. If they are, you are being honest with your customers. If they stray from your values, consider modifications.

2 - Establish Your Identity and Own it

I was speaking to a journalist on one of our tours and she asked me why I got into the tour business. I told her that it was because I don't like tours.

That may not make sense at first, but it's true. If you go to big cities that draw crowds like London, Paris or Rome - guides can get complacent due to all the demand for tours and the products suffer. I have a high maintenance attention span. I want to be inspired.

Many tours come off like a college course. Most of our guides have masters degrees or PhDs, but most people don't go on vacation for a lengthy lecture. I think a tour should be a combination of a magic show and stand-up comedy, while reading like a children's story. Easy to understand, funny and engaging. Passion is a big part of this.

Why? I was once recommended to read "A Little History of the World" by E.H. Gombrich. I loved the book and read it without putting it down. I then realized it was originally created for children. Gombrich created a version of history that was so easy to understand, and relatable. From that point forward I used the same angle for my tours instead of using the 3 hours to look like a historian. That was the point where I became most successful.

My point is that I was clear and honest with the journalist about who we are, instead of being afraid of breaking norms. When I speak to customers on the phone and explain that our tours are fun first, then informative, I see a high conversion rate. That causes me to trust our strategy and share it openly instead of acting like we are private educators.

3 - If Possible, Be Funny

I have an advantage as a tour guide, because I can see when I'm loosing people's attention. I used to watch magicians to see how they held their audiences' attention. They'd snap, wave their hands, move around and sometimes throw things in the air. In the audience you may see this as strange, but what you don't see is people dosing off.

When marketing online we have to translate those same attention grabbing techniques into our copy and imagery. One of my favorite companies, GEICO, uses humorous ads to keep people engaged all the time. These ads have nothing to do with car insurance until the last line, but they speak about the company's sense of humor and make you feel good. If you want to save on car insurance call GEICO. When you call, the people on the other end are happy, bubbly and fun just like the commercials.

I love this because it is honest. I don't know what they are comparing 15% to, but I always get a low quote from GEICO so it's good for me. I also get a laugh from their commercials which makes me remember them. I feel ok about paying my bill every 6 months.

We create a lot of video content explaining Italy. I was interviewing someone for our marketing team and she said, "I love your videos because they are almost like blooper reels." I was so happy. I told her that we are just being ourselves. We made a lot of stiff rehearsed content and our team felt dishonest. Then I thought we should just be ourselves on camera and keep filming if we make mistakes. We were nervous because we thought it would disqualify us as experts, but we're getting a ton of views on our Youtube Channel and conversions on our website from it.

Everyone in our company comes to work to do a job, but we want to have fun too. What you see on video is still only a watered down version of how we are in person.

4 - Brand Yourself

GEICO creates a surprise element, but once you get past the joke their logo is huge in the middle of the screen. I am not saying you should put your logo on the same page 15 times, but it should be visible to your captive audience or else you are wasting your time.

Branding is not a quick topic, but for the sake of this article, focus on consistency - that would be the "often". Use the same fonts throughout your branding, websites, email signature etc. People will associate your fonts, colors and style with your brand. For companies like Apple, all you need to do is see their font and you know it's them.

Try to get your brand reps to rock the brand too. Ask them to share your videos on their Facebook pages. Create cool company swag. T-shirts, sweatshirts, trucker hats etc. Just make it cool so everyone wears it. Tote bags work really well too. We use a company called Custom Ink which has been great for us.

5 - Sell it like it is

My last and most important point is to sell things as they are. Your website or packaging is where you need to concentrate your effort. Explain your product as it is and do not embellish. These days, people talk.

For tours we have to post plenty of waivers and details about what to expect. We are always refining our descriptions to manage the expectations of our costumers. We don't want people writing bad reviews so we work hard to ensure people understand what they are purchasing.

After you sell it like it is, get other people to review it. Journalists, bloggers or anyone with a pen and paper.

There is a lot more to a good and honest marketing strategy, but this is a foundation. The basic idea is to represent your product and company as it is, and to do it often. If you are not selling your company as much as your product you are missing out.

If this article was helpful to you then please share it - others may think the same. I appreciate any likes I get as well - it motivates me to keep writing. If you have a question or comment leave it below and I will respond.

*Note - Consumer reports existed long before Epinions.com, but is not a 3rd party source of reviews. While reviews are trusted, they simply speak about the value of a product and do not mention the customer service aspects or purchasing experience on a majority of reviews. eBay also had reviews on their website prior to Epinions, but once again, Epinions was a completely neutral website for expressing opinions about products.