Should Your Marketing Efforts be Transparent?

It’s a pretty good bet that, at some point or another, you’ve asked yourself “are my marketing efforts working?” You’ve probably signed up for Google Analytics, read about what day is best to post on Facebook and tried to track that direct mail campaign that you sent out. But how do you know if it’s working? Is your content strategy the right one?

The answer is simple. Are you being transparent? Because you should be.

Transparency leads to simplicity. The more straight forward your message is, the easier it is to understand. Without worrying about saying the wrong thing or appearing too small, you target your intended audience with straight up honesty.

In the age of the digital world, so much can be found out about anything or anyone. The Internet rules.

Here is a quick checklist to transparency:

• Did you do your research and determine your target market? If so, great! The hardest part is done. If not, get on it! You can’t market to someone you know nothing about.
• Determine the language your target market speaks in, and use it. Speaking in oranges won’t do when you are trying to sell apples.
• Are you using fluff? The best way to get a message across is to keep it simple and to the point.
• If a 10 year old doesn’t understand what you are trying to say, you’re complicating your message.
• And last but not least, is everything you are saying in your marketing message the truth? Has anything been blown out of proportion? If so, take it back a few steps and simply market with honesty.