Do any of you remember this guy? I grew up watching his variety show as a kid. For those of you who don’t, Flip Wilson was a comedic genius who was known for his character Geraldine who would often say – “What You See Is What You Get!”
All marketers (we are all marketers) would be wise to remember this. In fact it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to adopt it as a modo. It’s another way of saying:
- This is the authentic me
- This is my best version of the truth
- We’re completely transparent
Why transparent marketing is critical
Transparency or authenticity is important because good marketing can only sell your product, service, idea, etc, only once. There after it must continue to sell itself. It’s also important because today it’s easier than ever for duped customers to tell their friends and followers about their interaction with your brand.
Huge bottles or containers with concave bottoms are perfect examples of What you see is NOT what you get. Like when you buy a fruit salad in a giant plastic container and you think wow this is huge just to get to the bottom of the container to find that it’s upwardly curved shape takes up 20% of the space in the container. You didn’t have as much fruit as you thought. The marketing intent was to deceive you.
When your clients get to the bottom of your product, service, idea, etc, what will they find? Will it be the authentic you, your best version of the truth, will it be completely transparent?