July 25, 2008
Marketing With Outrageous Claims
"[My Father] would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy..." -- Dr. Evil, from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
I don't know why that quote always comes to mind whenever I visit a website where the company makes preposterous claims about being the "#1 company in..." or the "best in..." or the "market leader in...". More often than not, the company's name is unrecognizable, their customers' names are unrecognizable (if they have many customers), and their market position is anything but 'leading'.
So why do companies choose the bravado approach? It may very well be that the culture of that company is such that they actually convince themselves they are leaders. I know of one company in the digital asset management arena where this niche player actually believes they have the leading product in the marketplace. Alternatively, I once worked for a man (before I founded DPCI) who truly believed if we touted that we were "the market leader in content management solutions" that people would actually believe it -- that it would come true only because we said it!
In general I don't think people like to be sold a bill of goods, on the Web or anywhere else -- at least I don't like it. When I make up my mind to purchase something, I first go through a period where I do research -- usually on the Web but also using other resources like visiting a store that carries the item, or reading about it in a trade publication. I'll often ask friends or colleagues about their experience with that product or service and what they recommend. And I'll try to go to a reputable source for comparative data to see how different vendors measure up.
If a salesman interrupts me at a store (its ok for me to ask him or her a question, of course!) then I tend to get annoyed. I know, I'm a bit of a hard nose! But I DO love informative people AND informative Websites that sell stuff. Great example: Yesterday I went into Sam Ash Music in midtown Manhattan. I needed to buy a MIDI interface for my Kurzweill PC88MX controller synthesizer to connect with my PC. I have been needing such a device for quite some time and had done my research on the available models. The sales person at Sam Ash was very knowledgeable, very helpful, and not at all push. At one point I actually wanted to buy MORE stuff from him beyond just the interface device. How opposite a reaction I would have had if he'd have tried to sell me a top line device that did not meet the more simple specifications I discussed with him.
Aesthetically speaking, if I land on a Website that has hyperbolic marketing assertions, I almost invariably get annoyed and bounce off the site. I actually get an immediate negative reaction to that brand or the product that the company is trying to sell. I really just want facts, and the Internet is a good place to TRY to get facts by comparing information from different sources. I tend to buy quickly once I have all the facts, and if the website that I am visiting presents those facts to me about its product(s) in a fair context to the marketplace, I become a customer pretty swiftly.
Once in awhile someone on staff here at DPCI writes some content for our site, and hyperbole creeps in ("we're the greatest development shop for content management systems since the dawn of all humankind" sort of thing, or slightly less hyperbolic than that). I don't know why it happens, except I observe that the writer is often very proud and passionate about the work we do, so he or she lets that bravado creep in. To write in a slightly muted 'just the facts' tone about one's company can be a difficult thing, but I imagine it is an important part of marketing communications for any company that DOES want to grow to capture any portion of market share.
So maybe I find Dr. Evil somewhat endearing because he, too, is honest about his negative reaction to his father's outrageous "marketing" claims about inventing the question mark?
Posted at 12:03 am by Joseph Bachana
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