Occasionally, when I’m asking a client lots of hard questions in order to understand their product’s true performance and advantage, they’ll quip: “This is marketing. What’s it got to do with the truth?”

I’ll share a laugh poking fun at my profession. And then I’ll make it clear that in my world, marketing and PR have everything to do with the truth. People who believe otherwise are simply bad marketers.

In Truth and Trust , Stever Robbins writes:

"The truth is, you can't regain trust. Period. You doubt? Think hard about the times you've been betrayed. Did the villain ever find their way back into your heart? If you're like the thousands I've asked, the answer is never. Trust can be gained once and lost once. Once lost, it's lost forever…. if you want to be trusted, simply be trustworthy. The pressures will be great to act otherwise, and if you succumb, well, you'll lose trust and you'll never get it back."

Robbins is writing about business communications, mainly internal corporate communications and public relations. But it applies very, very well to marketing and media relations.

What we’re trying to do is get people to trust our marketing and PR enough to take the risk and buy something from us.  If we succeed, and the product is not what we led them to expect, they know we’ve lied to them. We lose their trust, probably for good.  Not only is that customer unlikely to buy from us again, but the word will spread that your company is not trustworthy.

So to win and keep customers, tell the truth in your marketing, advertising and media relations.  Not just what you wish were the truth, either, like “we love our customers.”  Because unless every one of your employees actually does have a passion for your customers, even when those customers are unreasonable and cranky, it will show. 

Marketing and PR are not about how well you can lie, spin and fool people into buying your stuff. (At least not at any company I’d work with.) It’s about believing that your product is truly the best choice, for that customer, and then telling them why. In the most clear, compelling and persuasive manner that you can.

That’s good marketing. And that’s the truth.

By the way – Robbins’ article is a much-needed commentary on business ethics. It’s a great one to keep and share with your colleagues, especially any entry-level people you have the honor to mentor.

Lisa Schaertl is president of Tech Savvy Marketing. She has 15 years experience in marketing, sales and PR for international high tech companies.