Hyperbole, Exaggeration, and Half Truths

You’ve seen the webpages. I’m sure you have.

They dissolve on your computer screen in a flurry of red headlines, black text, and little yellow boxes filled with gushing platitudes and exclamation marks.

I’m talking about those one-page websites filled with promises to make your life easier, your wallet fatter… designed to make your wildest dreams come true.

They’re the ones that claim to teach you such indispensable skills as how to “manifest” as much money as you’d like (up to $100,000!) simply by following a five-step “system.”

Or how would you like to attract potential clients to your business until they’re “tingling” to give you their money again and again?

Or better yet, did you know you can purchase a “100% 'Legitimate' Way To Quickly & Easily Drive Targeted Cash-In-Hand Prospects And Visitors To Any Of Your Websites at NO Cost.” PLUS you can even watch a “'shocking' play-by-play underground video” that’ll “prove” this person’s claims.

Based upon the number of these little one-page sales gems, I’d venture to guess that this form of selling is probably pretty lucrative. After all, if these sites didn’t generate an income, they wouldn’t exist.

But I have to wonder who would actually fall for these sales pitches.

Seriously. Does any reader truly believe that any one product would live up to the hype generated on these sites?

Probably not.

And yet, people buy.

At least, that’s what we’re led to believe….

Each morning I begin my day curled into my Lazy-Boy rocker reading. I read anything I can get my hands on, but I particularly enjoy marketing books.

This past week, while soaking in book #3 in the Wizard of Ads trilogy by Roy H. Williams, I’m struck by his most humane view of his client’s potential customers.

Williams says that instead of writing to a greedy non-faced entity whose only goal is to pour dollars into their pocket, he suggests that our readers are human beings. People who live a complex life as family members, brothers, sisters, parents.

According to Williams we shouldn’t insult our readers by expecting them to believe anything less than the truth. He says, “The simple truth is that nothing sounds quite so much like the truth as the truth, and most people seem to know the truth when they hear it. The truth is never full of loopholes and generalities. The truth is made of specifics and substantiation, it’s solid. That’s why it’s easy to spot in a world full of paper-thin lies, half lies, and hype.” (Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads, page 15).

My suggestion? Avoid hyperbole, exaggeration, and half truths and instead focus on each product’s benefits and USP (unique selling proposition). If you do this, you can avoid most of these unbelievable claims made by markets who should know better than to dehumanize their audience by appealing to the most base of human nature.

After all, I like to think we’re writers bent on making this world a better place, not hucksters out to make a quick buck.