In marketing, there’s no such thing as a Little White Lie. Every lie, no matter how small, has the potential to become big and toxic when it’s exposed.
Everything changes
When we discover someone has lied to us about something, it causes us to question everything else they say. We wonder what bigger lies they could be telling us. This changes our relationship with them in a major way.
- It changes how we think about them.
- It changes how we feel about them.
- It changes what we say about them.
That last point is huge
We used to say that if someone had a bad experience with a business, they would tell a dozen people. Today, thanks to the mainstream adoption of social networking sites, people have the power to tell dozens, hundreds or thousands of people. That little white lie now has the potential to travel throughout the marketplace at lightening speed, negatively impacting how people feel about the business in question.
Thankfully, the reverse is also true
When someone finds that we have delivered on a promise, exceeded their expectations or provided great value to them, they can share their delight with thousands of people. This is why it’s so important to build trust at every opportunity.
Playing it straight in business has always been the professional thing to do. Today, it offers a direct commercial benefit too.