I know several of you questioned the sanity of such a move. Many evaluated Domino’s mea culpa strategy and determined, correctly, that it could only work if the company’s new pizza recipe tasted significantly better than the old. Failure would expose Domino’s as a fraud and harpoon its sales. That’s true. If you can’t support the message you’re sending, then don’t send that particular message. Redirect your resources.

But I want you to focus solely on the believability of Domino’s message – not the follow-through of its strategy.

By revealing an uncomfortable truth, and thereby risking its reputation and prestige, Domino’s message sliced through the noise and peaked the public’s curiosity. Rather than delivering a message weighed down by clichés, Domino’s told the public that which it already knew to be true – “yes, our pizza sucks.” This powerful admission elevated the believability of the company’s statement of creating a better tasting pizza.

As I’ve said before in greater detail, your customer’s attention span is in short supply – suffocated by a noisy world. Furthermore, your customer has been anesthetized by prolonged exposure to ads that are saturated with ad-speak and hype. That’s why your marketing message must account for credibility.

But few marketers run their message through the filter of believability – a critical ingredient most take for granted. And unlike Domino’s, most companies are afraid to invest the resources required to boom credibility, preferring to stick with safe and familiar clichés. But clichés are the enemy of credibility.

Are you willing to take the road less traveled?

Remember, credibility is earned not by the words you speak, but by the actions you take. Be courageous. Take action.

You demonstrate confidence in your product or service with a credibility investment.

Saddleback Leather Company brazenly dares you to compare the quality of its bags with those made by its competitors. The company’s website even makes it easy for you by linking to 14 rival bag companies, including Coach, Swaine Adeney Brigg, and Louis Vuitton. By spending the currency power and control, Saddleback Leather’s power statement of manufacturing the world’s most durable bags brims with believability.

Likewise, Progressive Insurance spends power and control by offering comparison rate quotes online, including most rival insurance companies.

Yes, Progressive’s admission of being more expensive might scare off price-conscious shoppers. But this credibility investment allows Progressive to communicate that it’s trustworthy and easygoing, which attracts plenty of customers.

It’s what my friend and partner, Roy H. Williams calls the Law of Polarity, which states, “Your business’ ability to attract customers cannot exceed its potential to repel.” In other words, a powerful message that attracts one group of consumers, will be the identical message that repels another.

So, are YOU willing to spend a little power and control to lift the believability of your marketing message?

Few companies have the courage. But unlike money, power and control is a currency any business can afford. And demonstrating the virtues of your product or service is much more persuasive than telling your customers about the virtues of your product or service.

Michele Miller recently commented on her WonderBranding blog that sliding sales have caused the head honchos at Burger King to finally wise-up and understand who buys their product. Women.

Yes, women. Which means, Burger King has been targeting the WRONG customer. For the past few years, the fast-food chain has been trying to woo males, ages 18- 34. (Oops!)

But here’s the kicker: Burger King’s marketing was equally ineffective at persuading this male demographic.

Allow me to explain: Burger King never tried to convince male consumers that buying a Whopper was a good thing to do. Instead, Burger King tried to entice male consumers with images of sex, which included mind-numbing, cheesy gimmicks such as the Super Seven Incher, Sponge Bob Square Butt and meat-scented body spray.

Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. You see, marketing ploys and gimmicks are equivalent to falsely screaming fire in a crowded theater. These tactics have a short shelf life, and will eventually hurt your credibility.

At the heart of it all, Burger King’s marketing was focused on being surprising and entertaining. But, entertainment is NOT the goal of marketing. The goal of marketing is to persuade. Just know that ploys and gimmicks rarely persuade because they lack relevancy. And your brain immediately discounts that which is irrelevant – even if the information surprises you a little.

Make no mistake, selling a bushel of rotten apples will cripple any company’s credibility. But Toyota’s recent quality and recall headaches are especially devastating.

For more than three decades, Toyota has been synonymous with quality. The reliability of Toyota’s vehicles became a linchpin for the company’s credibility, and it’s most defining trait. So iron-clad was Toyota’s quality that Consumer Reports magazine would regularly assume an average reliability rating for the company’s newest vehicles, all without ever relying on survey data from Toyota owners.

Consumer Reports no longer gives Toyota a free pass.

And neither do consumers. Quality is a characteristic that you and I no longer associate with the company.

Yes, the halo is broken.

Watch Toyota’s recent television ad below. The ad is brilliant. But do you trust the company now when they tell you that Toyota vehicles are the world’s most reliable?

I didn’t think so.

Here’s a more accurate barometer of the public’s opinion of Toyota:

“I got this beautiful car, now I’m afraid to drive it,” said Maria Ciresi of Smithtown, New York.

I don’t mean to kick Toyota when it’s down. Really, I don’t. I only want you to appreciate that YOUR company’s credibility is inextricably tied to its defining characteristics. And this relationship is fragile. Betray your company’s defining characteristics and your credibility will surely tumble. Just ask Toyota.

2010 Edelman Trust Barometer Highlights:

• The survey reported a modest global rise in trust in business. The rise was fueled by a handful of Western countries, especially the U.S. where trust in business leaped 18 percentage points to 54 percent. It appears U.S. companies are on their best behavior in an all-out effort to rebound from the Great Recession.
• The other side of the coin: trust is fragile. Nearly 70 percent of respondents expect business and financial companies to return to “business as usual” after the recession.
• Only 17 percent of respondents say product and corporate advertising is a credible source of information. Product and corporate advertising ranked lowest on the credibility scale of any information source surveyed.
• Transparency now outranks high quality products or services as the number one factor influencing a company’s reputation.
• Nowadays, companies must build a “mosaic of trust,” which means companies need a multi-channel and multi-spokesperson approach. In my humble opinion, this underscores the importance of social media as a tool in fostering trust with consumers.

“Last year, we learned that people need to hear something about a company three to five times to believe its veracity, pointing to the importance of a multi-channel and multi-spokesperson approach. To advance reputation, companies need to be everywhere, engaging everyone.” – 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer

So what are your thoughts? What does the Edelman data mean for your business?

Sometimes it’s good to just cut loose and have some fun. (But if your marketing looks anything like this, we really need to talk.)

Enjoy the video (from the show, Family Guy) and have a great weekend!

Big thanks to my friend Tamara for sharing this video.

Yep, you read correctly.

You see, the self-proclaimed sexiest website in the world maintains a high standard of beauty, and will grant you membership only if you are deemed to be physically attractive. After registering, existing members of the opposite sex vote to determine each applicant’s fate.

Said Robert Hintze, founder of BeautifulPeople.com, “As a business, we mourn the loss of any member, but the fact remains that our members demand the high standard of beauty be upheld. Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”

Ouch!

Now, I realize what many of you are thinking: The founder’s comments are tasteless, hurtful and politically incorrect. Furthermore, BeautifulPeople.com perpetuates society’s artificial and lofty beauty standards, all of which drive low self-esteem and unhealthy behaviors. And in no sane and just world should this type of business be permissible.

Yes, I agree.

But now that we’ve got that off our chest, let’s agree to move past how you and I feel about the company and discuss what we can learn from it.

Are you clear-eyed and objective? Okay, let’s move on.

By choosing which customers to lose, BeautifulPeople.com creates a point of differentiation that’s needed to successfully compete against juggernauts eHarmony and Match.com.

Remember, your company’s success is related to standing out – not fitting in.

BeautifulPeople.com gets it. The company understands that adopting a liberal admission policy would only dilute the exclusivity it hopes to build. So to protect its credibility, the company made the correct decision when it exiled overweight members – no matter how unpopular and politically incorrect that decision might be.

Do you agree? Are you willing to do the same for your company and choose which customers to leave behind? Let me know what you think.

FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY: Sign up for my FREE newsletter (located on the right sidebar of my site) and I’ll mail you a FREE copy of Currencies That Buy Credibility. (No strings attached. Limit one per person/mailing address. Supplies limited.)

Here’s what I learned from Chris Brogan:

1. Social media extends you and gives you greater range to deepen relationships.
2. Regardless of your job title, YOU are in sales and customer service.
3. When your readers commit to you by opting in, YOU OWE THEM to write a better newsletter. So please stop whacking them over the head with sales pitches.
4. You have a voice. You are the media. Express yourself.
5. You should be listening at the point of need. Consumers use social media to share their buying experiences. Use these opportunities to heal broken relationships, or attract a new customers.
6. Never presume people on the web are there for you. Help others first.
7. Become a corporate story teller. Find and tell stories about people you hope are your customers. This is significantly more effective than boring your listeners with self-congratulatory happy talk.
8. Online networks are your farm. You must cultivate them over time.
9. Be proactive rather than reactive. Get out there and develop relationships before you need them.
10. New to social media? Not sure where to start? Begin by listening.
11. Expanding on #10: Vanilla Ice gave you the blueprint for social media way back in 1990 when he said, “Stop, collaborate and listen.” (Extra props to Chris for being able to make Vanilla Ice relevant once again!)

What do you think? Got anything to add?

* Hat tip to Ed Skimin and the Emerge, Inc. staff for putting together a top-notch seminar.

** Photo credit

Most business owners simply don’t have the courage. They prefer to turn a blind eye to any uncomfortable truths about their business. You know, those stomach-twisting characteristics or traits that might cause customers to bolt for the nearest competitor:

Drawbacks to a product offering.
Gaps in knowledge or expertise.
Shortcomings and oversights in service.

To further mask their vulnerabilities and insecurities, business owners project a slick and polished image of infallibility. And this controlling behavior breeds the habitual corporate-speak, hype and chest-thumping clichés that consumers have come to loathe and reject.

But Domino’s Pizza bucks conventional wisdom by having the courage to face criticism and reveal an uncomfortable truth. By listening to its customers, the company learned the harsh reality about the quality of its pizza:

“Pizza was cardboard”
“Mass produced, boring, bland pizza.”
“Processed cheese!!”
“Microwave pizza is far superior.”

No longer willing to ignore the truth, Domino’s took action and reformulated its product to create a better tasting pizza.

Sounds great so far, but how do you convince the skeptical public that your pizza has improved and no longer tastes like cardboard slathered in ketchup and processed cheese? How do you persuade consumers and get them to trust that this isn’t just another marketing ploy or gimmick?

You reveal your warts – a credibility investment of power and control.

And that’s exactly what Domino’s is doing with its pizza makeover marketing campaign. The company readily admits that its old recipe was universally offensive to taste buds.

Yes, Domino’s admission seems counter-intuitive. But when you admit the drawbacks of your product or service, you automatically elevate the believability of your message. Now no one would question Domino’s sincerity in trying to make a better tasting pizza.

And you might recall that Domino’s is no stranger to making bold credibility investments. By risking material wealth, the company revolutionized the pizza industry — way back in the 1980’s — by guaranteeing delivery within 30 minutes or your money back.

Here are two things that you can learn from the latest marketing efforts from Domino’s Pizza:

1.) Listen to your customer’s unvarnished opinions about your business. You’ll likely be provided with an eye-opening perspective, which will help you improve your products or services.

2.) Credibility requires an investment that goes beyond words. And every business or organization can invest Power and Control. Begin by looking at what you are keeping from your customers, and have the courage to stand naked.

(Watch the videos below to gain a better appreciation for Domino’s credibility investment. The first was taken from Domino’s website. The second is a tongue-in-cheek promotion that recently aired on The Colbert Report.)