Just stop faking it already!

Attention all advertising agencies, marketing professionals, corporations, bloggers or human beings in general: Just stop faking it already! Why?

Because you can’t get away with it anymore! And in the end, it’s going to cause you much more damage than it’s worth.

Think about it.

We’re well into the 21st century and the game has changed a LOT in the last 50 years. The sophistication and advancement of technology has completely revolutionized the way our entire world operates. And people have changed, too,  in how they consume, aggregate and distribute content; what they care about; and how they communicate. Today, it’s all about transparency, authenticity and integrity. These attributes are no longer an option, but a necessity for everyone. Let me explain by giving you a few examples:

If you’re an advertising agency, don’t fake it to your clients.

It’s no longer acceptable to over-promise services or results that you cannot deliver on at your client’s expense. For example, as you all know the economic crisis has encouraged many companies to pursue more cost-effective forms of communication, like social media. This, along with the sexiness of the word itself, has resulted in a surge of agencies adopting the “fake it ’til you make it” approach, claiming to be “experts” in order to get a piece of the pie. But the reality is that no one is an expert when in comes to social media. (Check out this article from The Buzz Bin, or for a good laugh read this one.)

It all comes down to results. Unfortunately, there are still agencies out there that create marketing campaigns that never measure whether or not their efforts actually helped achieve their client’s objectives. Social media is not a be-all-end-all solution to marketing. It should be part of an integrated campaign that ultimately drives revenue, builds awareness or achieves whatever measurable objective(s) you’ve identified. Yes, I understand we can only make a correlation, but measurement and evaluation still must occur – otherwise, how can we gauge success, evolve and improve our initiatives the next time around? No matter how hard you try to hide something, the truth will always be revealed. And even if it’s not from your clients, your industry peers are going to hold you accountable.

If you’re a marketer, don’t fake it to your consumers.

As I mentioned above, the marketing landscape has significantly changed over the last half-century. Consumer behavior and media habits are different, as are their relationships with brands. They’re more outspoken, less tolerant (or “obedient”). Mass media no longer exists as all communication channels multiplying and fragmenting. People have more choices, more distractions… and more of a voice than ever before.

Traditional one-way methods of marketing don’t cut it anymore. Public relations professionals can’t get away with putting the “spin” on stories like they used to. Consumers will no longer allow big media, companies or any salesperson to lie to them. They want to know and understand exactly what you are selling them, more importantly, will verify what they hear with their peers. Companies and brands are now fighting for trust from their intended audiences and are under increased public scrutiny thanks to the evolution of social media. However, this is an opportunity for organizations to use these tools to be genuinely transparent in their marketing initiatives and other matters that are important to stakeholders. And an opportunity for you to actually listen and engage in conversations with them. This is how you truly get a loyal customer base who will advocate on behalf of your brand.

If you’re a corporation, don’t fake it to your employees.

You have to be transparent about your company culture and work environment. Period. Companies that do this have an edge at attracting and retaining talented individuals. But more importantly, it’s going to improve your business results. Just look at Netflix, for example. Don’t put on a facade that your company is forward-thinking, risk-taking, innovative and collaborative if it really isn’t. If that’s the image you want, you have to honestly create that culture from within before you go out and use it as a recruiting tool. And if you are authentic, those employees will become your own spokespeople and brand advocates  (in fact, give them access to social media networks and encourage their participation on them!) If they come to your company and find out that they were deceived with false promises, they now have the ability to cause some serious damage to your company’s reputation – and rightfully so.

If you’re a blogger, don’t fake it to your community.

Rebecca Denison wrote a fantastic post this week about this very topic. She talked about the importance of being genuine  and letting your entire personality shine through in your online interactions. In my very first blog post, I felt vulnerable, so I openly talked about how that felt. This also applies to how you position yourself to your community. You have to be honest about who you are and what your motives are if you truly want to engage and build relationships with your readers. Yes, I am a marketing professional, but I’m much more than that. A large part of why I started this blog was to connect with other professionals  so we can have lively discussions around issues and trends in the industry. I’m not pretending to be an expert, because I’m certainly not one. But I definitely want to learn and grow, in hopes to become the absolute best professional and person I can be – and also hope that my blog can help others who are in the same place in their life or career as I am. Here’s a great article from Problogger a few years back that I also suggest you read.

How do you feel about the whole “fake it ’til you make it” approach? Do you think that there are still a lot of companies/agencies/people who are so eager to “drink the Kool-Aid” that they forget the importance of being honest, authentic and transparent? What are the short- and long-term repercussions?