Avoiding Deceptive Marketing

It’s pretty easy to make something appear better than it actually is through deception. You may remember a time back in elementary school at the lunchroom table when kids would trade lunches with each other because his or her lunch looked more appealing. If you took part in such trade, you probably encountered deceptive marketing, as many children seem to exaggerate the goodies in their lunch bags in hopes of eating something better than what they brought. Although the phrase “no trade-backs” should’ve been a bright red flag, you probably learned of the frustration deceptive marketing can bring the hard way. Whether you’re in grade school or marketing your own business, lying will never produce happy customers.

However, there’s more to deceptive marketing than blatant lies. As you can probably see just by browsing our website, McCauley Marketing Services works with many clients in the medical field. When researching for a client I came across an article on deceptive photography that discussed before and after photos and how certain lighting and angles can dramatically change a person’s perception of results. It also discussed the use of Photoshop® or other similar editing programs on pictures that are supposed to represent “real” patients and “real” results. Our graphic designer has to continually consider these aspects and avoid using photographs that could mislead readers.

So you may be thinking that this doesn’t apply to you. While the art of deceptive marketing goes further than pictures, it’s important to understand that even if you don’t use before and after photos on websites, you still have to consider photos you use in advertisements. These photos have to represent the product or whatever you’re advertising honestly. For instance a common complaint to business owners is, “It looks way bigger in the picture.” If the product appears larger on an ad than it actually is, make note of it on the advertisement. You have to consider everyone within your possible audience, both within and outside of your target market by considering not only the messages images will convey, but also the implications of the ad’s other written and graphic design content.

Wording on flyers and advertisements is also very important. Editors and copy writers have to think about how readers might misconstrue the meaning of their words and create confusion that can result in unhappy customers. Although some businesses purposefully make wording confusing to sucker customers into a purchase, the McCauley Marketing team knows the importance of customer relationship management and strives to eliminate any potential confusion in our work. Elements like expiration dates and disclaimers are also very important to remember to keep customers happy.

The worst part of deceptive marketing is that there are times when marketing efforts can appear deceptive even if that wasn’t the intention. Therefore, it’s important to consider all the details in every piece of work your company produces to avoid public relations blunders. For more marketing tips be sure to continue reading our blog. We also share marketing news and articles on Facebook and Twitter, so be sure to connect with us and join the conversation.