An interesting question I sometimes face both in my own business and in assessing others is whether the organization is really what it says it is. Are we dealing with a “one man band” working from a basement or a successful, vibrant business (or is the one-man band actually a successfully, vibrant one-man (or person) business?
In real life, of course, most of us dress for our roles — we do this to project both our own values and the image we wish to convey. Inconsistencies in our external appearance and the current/potential client’s perspectives of what “should” be right create a jarring result. Sometimes you want this shock but usually it doesn’t help at all in your sales and marketing initiatives. When you are hiring a roofing contractor, for example, you don’t expect the person to show up in a three-piece suit at your home but equally you would probably shy away from doing business with a guy wearing biker leathers and tatoos. (And if you are a roofing contractor trying to sell a multi-year contract to a the head off of a banking network based in an extremely conservative city, you might of course check in advance whether they expect you to show up in a three-piece suit.)
Finessing and putting on an image of being bigger than we are is common for web-based initiatives. You can easily project an image that exceeds your actual operations with a little help from a web designer. This isn’t necessarily bad if you really can deliver the goods or services you are promising, but does it help if you are putting on a show you cannot deliver?
Similarly, lack of experience can be covered by creative wording or (better) ensuring you have a partner/colleague with the right level of experience available to help.
Sometimes I think you can go too far to finesse the story. I’m following the development of a potentially relevant association (I won’t name it here because I rarely speak negatively about individuals or organizations in any identifiable form on these blog pages.) It has a great website and all the trappings of something really huge. Trouble is, I’m not sure how much real grassroots support the organization actually has and I’m waiting for signs of that support to be apparent before rushing in to endorse or support the group. Is this association genuine, or just a ploy to advance a particular business’s interests. (Ironic, of course, because we generally join associations to advance our own business interests.)
In general, I advocate a truthful and respectful attitude and appearance when we are in the marketing space. But sometimes it is helpful to show our weaknesses even though generally we don’t need to make a big thing of them (unless the weakness actually is the explanation of another underlying strength.)
Its okay to finesse. It isn’t okay to be a phony.
Funny you wrote this. I was at a networking breakfast today for our local builders group. They had a roundtable discussion about marketing, a summary of which then was shared by one member from each table. Various comments came about, but I remember saying in the end that being genuine, authentic, and likeable is just as important as your marketing efforts. If people would work on themselves as hard as they do their own marketing I think it would be enormous, but introspection can be tough.