At dinner this week, the topic of persuasive essays came up. My 12-year-old has to write one for English class and he shared that he had recently watched some videos that were very persuasive. When we probed a little more, we found that the videos covered extremely conservative positions about personal rights and the gender pay gap.
While my son is a very critical thinker, I wanted to watch the videos so we could discuss the difference between the facts they are presenting and their opinion. As I watched two of them last evening, I was clearly watching them with my guard up. I expected that they were going to try to convince me their perspective is right. So, I was looking for ways to refute what they were saying.
This is the way most people view marketing. They take in everything with their guard up. Why? Because most marketers keep their guard up when creating messages. They only show the rosy, perfect side of what they offer.
In a world where the average American sees more than 5,000 marketing message per day, it can become exhausting to process. That is why there is a lot of power in letting your guard down. Of course, you want to present your product or service in the best light. However, it is important for you to admit it is not perfect.
I have recently started telling prospects that the lead generation we do is a test. Yes, we think we can get results for them, but it is not guaranteed. And, I even give some examples of campaigns that have not worked out.
This goes a long way towards building trust. They realize from the start that I am going to tell them the truth, even if it is not convenient for me. That allows them to let their guard down so we can have an authentic discussion about what they are looking for, and how we can best help (or not, if it is not a good fit).
So as you are developing your marketing message, think about how you can let your guard down with prospects. It goes a long way towards them reciprocating and then you can have an authentic conversation.
If you would like to figure out how to make your marketing and lead generation more authentic, let’s talk.