For a long time I treated advertising the way many engineers do: with mild distaste. It seemed to me that advertising was the art of persuading people to buy things they do not need with money they do not have to impress people they do not like. That line has been credited to various authors, and it still describes half of the advertising market rather well. But over time, building systems for businesses and watching how clients actually choose their contractors, I came to the opposite conclusion. Manipulative advertising is not just unpleasant. It is doomed. And honest advertising is neither charity nor naivety, it is the only model that will keep working in the long run.
The bazaar is back
Picture a market in a small town a few centuries ago. A trader who cheated a customer on the scales could do it exactly once. By the next day the whole town knew, and nobody came near his stall again. Reputation was the only advertising there was, and it could not be faked, because everyone knew everyone. Then came the era of mass media. Television, radio and newspapers spoke in monologue: the advert shouted and nobody could answer back. You could promise miracles for years, and a deceived buyer could warn nobody but the neighbour. That is the era in which manipulation became the industry standard.
The internet, oddly enough, has brought us back to that same town market, only the size of the planet. Reviews, search, forums, social networks, price comparisons in three seconds. Any promise can be checked while the person is still standing at the counter. Today you can deceive a customer exactly once, and then they will tell not the neighbour but thousands of strangers, and that story will sit in search results next to your name for years. Manipulation stopped paying off not for moral reasons but for economic ones. That is the inevitability I mean.
Advertising as an exchange
Strip away the husk and advertising is an exchange. You take the most valuable things a person has: attention and time. A few seconds, a minute, sometimes an hour if it is an article or a video. In return you are obliged to give something. Honest advertising gives information the person needs: here is a problem you may be having, here is a solution, here is what it costs, here is how to check we are not lying. Manipulative advertising takes the attention and gives nothing back, and sometimes takes away trust as well. It is theft that simply has not reached the courtroom yet.
Honest advertising is when the right person learns that you have a solution to their problem. Everything else is noise you pay for twice: with money for the impression and with reputation for the disappointment.
I like the comparison with a good doctor. A good doctor does not scare the patient into buying extra procedures. He explains what is happening, what the options are, what they cost and what you risk if you do nothing. A patient who was once told honestly "you do not need this" comes back to that doctor for life and brings the whole family. Business runs on exactly the same mechanics, it is just noticed less often because the effect is delayed.
What it looks like in practice
A client once asked us to write on his website that he was the "market leader" and "the best in the region". I asked who had measured that. Nobody had. Instead we suggested showing a few real projects with figures the client was willing to confirm, and honestly describing who his service is not for. The client was nervous: how can you talk people out of buying? Yet that very block became one of the most read on the site, and the enquiries that came in were more precise. People the service did not fit simply did not call and did not waste the managers' time. Honesty worked as a filter, not as a loss.
At Ingello we try to live by this rule ourselves. On systems.ingello.com prices and work stages are open, and every case in the portfolio has an article with real screens of the system and diagrams. If a project has no public address, we say so instead of inventing a link. It is inconvenient, at times even boring, but everyone who comes to us already roughly knows what they will get and what it will cost.
Signs of honest advertising
- It says who it is for. And says just as clearly who it is not for. A product for everyone is, in practice, needed by nobody.
- It can be verified. Every claim is backed by a fact, a case, a demo or a price. If it cannot be checked, it is not a claim, it is a hope.
- It does not rush you without reason. "Today only" and ticking timers that reset when you reload the page have long been a joke even among schoolchildren.
- It respects time. The sooner a person understands whether the offer suits them, the more honest the exchange.
- You would not be ashamed to show it to the customer a year later. This is my personal test. If a year from now the customer opens your ad and says "yes, that is exactly how it was", the ad was honest.
Why it pays, not just why it is right
Honest advertising is cheaper in the long run. It attracts fewer random people but more of the right ones. It does not create a stream of refunds, complaints and angry reviews that cost money and nerves to put out. It accumulates: every satisfied customer becomes your free advertising agent in that worldwide bazaar. Manipulative advertising is like a loan at an enormous interest rate: the money comes quickly, but you will be paying it back for a long time. Honest advertising is like a deposit: barely noticeable in the first month, and a couple of years later it is clearly your main asset.
What to do tomorrow: open your website or your latest advert and cross out every claim you cannot back up with a fact. See what is left. If not much is left, that is no reason to bring the crossed-out lines back, it is a reason to collect real cases and real figures. That will be your best advertising.
