Marketing is an important part of growing your business. When you create ads, market with integrity as your ads, in addition to your actions, reflect your business and values and can make the difference between gaining a customer or loosing future business.
Through marketing, a company can relay information about their products and services. They also showcase their solutions to issues or challenges we as prospective customers may face. They may offer education or products and services designed to improve the quality of your life or business. What ever the message, marketing is an essential component utilized by all business professionals in order to help their business to grow and prosper.
Now I for one enjoy learning. I also love discovering new ways in which I might grow my business and provide a higher quality of service to others. This is one reason I sign up to receive offers from various businesses that appear to have similar values and offer quality products and services that resonate with me.
Every day I receive emails delivering tips and resources, information regarding upcoming events such as teleseminars and workshops as well as wonderful new business products and services.
It was through one of these emails that I learned about a particular business and the products they provide. Products designed to assist me in working more efficiently and productively in my business. So, I visited the website of this newly introduced company and signed up to receive notices regarding their products and services.
There were a couple of products this company offered that particularly interested me, however the investment was a bit too steep for me at that time. This business seemed interested in serving others and I liked what I had read and seen on their website. Then came the offer.
There it was in all it’s glory, sitting, waiting for me in my inbox. An email inviting me to take advantage of a fabulous sale offering 50% savings on all their products. I was thrilled and could hardly wait to make my purchase. I clicked the link included in the graphic and was immediately transported to their products page where I happily made my selection.
After entering the discount code listed in the email entitling me to receive the 50% savings, I happily awaited the link where I could download my wonderful new product. Instead I received a message stating the code was invalid.
Thinking I may have typed the code incorrectly, I returned to the email, copied the discount code and pasted it into the specified box on my order form. Still the message reappeared, stating the code was invalid.
No big deal. I had encountered this before with another company. All I had to do was contact the company and relay the difficulties I had encountered. That company had quickly resolved the issue which allowed me to easily and happily make my purchase. I was sure the same would hold true now.
I would contact the owner of the company and ask for her assistance by replying to the email she had sent me. It contained the invitation including the code to use for her fabulous 50% sale. I felt certain she would be able to work out the glitch and I would soon be in possession of that wonderful product.
Much to my surprise, when she replied to my request for assistance, I learned the 50% savings would only be applied when purchasing bundles of her products. My heart sank. How could this be? I had contacted her from the email she had sent me which included the very ad she had sent. Didn’t she read it? I even copied the sentence stating 50% off all products, placing it boldly in my reply. Surely she could see as I saw, that the very first sentence of her ad clearly stated 50% off on all products. There was no mention of any type of bundling until half way down the ad. It was here that she mentioned you would receive 50% off on all bundles of products. I thought she was letting you know you could save even more through this option. No where could I find anything that referenced the limitation of the discount to bundles only.
Bringing this to her attention seemed to make absolutely no difference. She intended to only honor the discount on purchases which involved multiple products (bundles). I was quite disappointed – not just because I would not be able to purchase the product I had wanted at a price I could afford, but in the attitude and values of the business owner herself.
People do business with people they know, like, and trust. This company had just lost the opportunity to gain me as a customer. They also lost me as a potential referral source. All over the way they worded an ad. To me, this came across as misleading and showed a lack of integrity.
Perhaps loosing this one sale was unimportant to this company. But it wasn’t just one sale – it was all future business they lost as well as a subscriber.
Bottom line folks, when you create ads, market with integrity as your ads, in addition to your actions, reflect your business and values. If you make a mistake, honor it. After all, we are only human. And, if you truly are in business to serve, what better way to serve others than with integrity.