I counted no less than 11 emails I received this past Monday offering to reveal ‘secrets’ to me. I’m well aware that there are words like ‘free’ or ‘new’ or perhaps ‘secrets’ that are proven to capture attention.
Here’s my big ‘secret’. The words you choose have to be the truth if your claims are to be believed and sustainable.
So I looked up ‘secret’;
Se-cret (se’-krit)
Adjective – Kept hidden from knowledge or view something kept, or to be kept, hidden
Noun – Something kept hidden from others or only known by one’s self or a few
One of the emails I received was from a ‘business coach’ who claimed his ‘secret’ has helped thousands of upstart businesses to succeed. Is it really a secret if thousands know about it?
Another email claimed, "This secret is so big it won’t be revealed until after you join my webinar." Wow! It’s not just a secret, it’s a BIG secret.
In sales and in advertising, building trust is paramount, and making false claims or exaggerated claims, simply compounds the skepticism for your message.
I know of one station that changed its format two years ago and still promotes itself as ‘the new 103." Don’t you think listeners who’ve been tuned to that station for 730 days know it’s no longer ‘new’? And doesn’t this claim cast a doubt on the validity of other claims made by that station or their reps?
In a world of hype and exaggeration, maybe the secret magic words used to capture attention should be replaced with honesty and integrity. Being real is so unusual that just telling the truth stands out amidst all the hype today.
