[A monthly article written to help you
get more
people
to buy—or buy in.]Closely
related to
reputation, credibility is at the heart of
business success. As well as a great product
or service, you have to be credible.
So when you say "money-back guarantee" or "we
have the best customer service," you will be
believed.
This issue came to mind when I received a
newsletter from a potential supplier
recently. It contained a statistic that I
made me stop and wonder.
The newsletter stated—with some
authority,
I might add—that "the 40/40/20 rule of
direct-response marketing says that the
success of a campaign is based 40 percent on
targeting the right audience, 40 percent on
the offer you make, and 20 percent on your
creative execution."
On the surface, that sounds reasonable,
but being a writer of direct response
marketing, I was surprised that I had never
heard of this "rule."
I queried the author who told me that many
years ago, a fellow named Ed Mayer came up
with it. She called Mr. Mayer a "leading
authority."
As it turns out, his 40/40/20 "rule" was
actually a theory. In other words, he thought
it to be true but had no hard facts or
research to back it up.
So, in fact, there is no such "rule,"
despite what the supplier stated in her
newsletter.
Another example: A book on marketing
recently stated that a customer will tell
friends and family about a bad experience at
least 15 times. It also stated
that it's fives time more expensive to find a
new client than it is to keep
one.
Again, these likely have some
truth in them. However, when the author was
queried, she stated, "I've seen/heard/read
these two nuggets more times than I can
count. I consider them to be akin to the
tablets Moses brought down the mountain. I
have accepted them as legitimate and have
adopted them as truth."
Many people
believe in urban myths, too. It doesn't make
them true.
So, what's the big deal? Well, it's
discomforting to know that she
depends on that kind of junk science to make
business decisions or recommendations to
clients.
Now I find myself questioning everything
she says because her credibility—and her
reputation—is now suspect. Worse? It
may have
cost her a potential client.
Does your marketing material contain junk
science?